FE to C4 Bellhousing

[jayb]

Performance Automatics used to make these, but apparently they have stopped.  As a result these bellhousings are now extremely difficult to find.  I've toyed with the idea of tooling up to make these myself, but I am pretty well buried in my existing projects.  One of my customers has found a company who may be interested in doing this, JW Performance transmission in Florida. Apparently they already make bellhousings, and could tool up for these but haven't decided whether to go ahead with it.  This post is designed to get an idea of how many people would be interested in one of these if they became available in limited quantities.

If we approach this company and they don't want to do it, I might be interested in taking up the project when my work load lightens up a bit.  For anyone who doesn't know, foundry tooling for such a project is going to be expensive, in excess of $15K, so if I were going to do it I would need deposits from potential customers.  Then, as usually happens, it takes a long time to make the tooling, cast the prototypes, write the machining programs, finish the prototypes, test, etc.  before production can start.  So for me anyway, this is 1-2 years away.

If this post generates a bunch of positive responses I will contact this company and direct them here for information on interest in the parts.  Thanks, Jay

[blykins]

Did you check Quicktime?  They used to have an FE/C4 bell.

[mbrunson427]

The one we have on our race car came through QuickTime. They hadn't produced a batch in a while, but I'm sure if they saw a demand stacking up they would go ahead and make another batch. I would try and call Joel's on Joy transmission and see what he knows about that. I would venture to guess that he's the top buyer of those bellhousings.

[MeanGene]

I wonder if one could approach PA about purchasing their design/ tooling, and what their response would be? If they were getting enough interest in purchases, they would probably still be making them. The JPT unit it probably a dead horse considering the bad road the new owner took the company down

[blykins]

The PA bells that I've used were cast aluminum I think.  The Quicktime bells are steel.

RM-9056 would be FE to C4.

They are discontinued, I just checked.

[frankenfords]

I did not know that these were no longer 'readily' available, so I think there's definitely a market.

I've got a couple pan fill C4 cores that I've been sitting on for potential future service, so I'd probably be a buyer. There have been too many instances (like this one...) of me waiting out on buying something until 'the right time' only to find out that when that time comes what I was waiting to buy is no longer manufactured and impossible to find.

[jayb]

I wonder if one could approach PA about purchasing their design/ tooling, and what their response would be? If they were getting enough interest in purchases, they would probably still be making them.

Been down this road before.  Foundry tooling is typically specific to the foundry.  I have $14K in foundry valve cover tooling for my cast pentroof valve covers, but the foundry I was using went out of business and after checking over a dozen foundries I have not found one that can use the tooling.  I wouldn't buy someone else's tooling unless I could find out where it was cast, and with the way most foundries treat small businesses (again from personal experience), I wouldn't want to go that route without a lot of guarantees...

[jayb]

I did not know that these were no longer 'readily' available, so I think there's definitely a market.

I've got a couple pan fill C4 cores that I've been sitting on for potential future service, so I'd probably be a buyer. There have been too many instances (like this one...) of me waiting out on buying something until 'the right time' only to find out that when that time comes what I was waiting to buy is no longer manufactured and impossible to find.

A long time ago I learned from an experienced gentleman that when it comes to small market items, employ the principal of "scarfology".  When you see something that you might need someday, and it is available now, scarf it up!