Clad welding a bell housing

So, I pulled what I hoped to be my "better" 258 apart last weekend, and needless to say, this puppy is a piece of crap. One of the head bolt bosses was broken off, the cylinders are worn real bad, the rod bearings look like crap, you name it, this baby is a cast iron stool sample. I may be able to punch it out and get the crank turned, however, I'm kinda leaning in another direction.
I've always been a Mopar guy first and foremost. I've got a few 318's kicking around, and would like to throw one in the '76. Of course, the transmission mounting point on the Dodge bell housing is totally different than the AMC bell housing. What i'm wondering, is if anyone here has ever clad welded bosses on to thier aluminum bell housings and ground them down and redrilled them to accept a different bolt pattern transmission?
Hopefully this is all coherent, as I have had more than one :stout: tonight.

 

no but have thought about it
http://www.jeeptech.com/oliver/Modifications/Transmission6.htm
like in this pictutre?

 

Sure, I'd think it could be done. Probably not done very much because it's outside the skills of most people, or else it would cost too much to farm it out. Another possibility would be to join two bellhousings.

You might be better off with a Dodge 4WD NP435 and a Dana 300. That combo might need a clocking ring, but that should be doable if you're capable of doing the clad welding thing. The NP435 would go well with your 318.

 

I have seen pics of two aluminum bellhousings cut in half and welded together to mate a nissan engine to a chevy trans. Something like that might work.

 

Not that I dont enjoy fabricationg more of my jeep than buying it, but I think checking with advance adapters would be your best bet. I bet they make the bellhousing you need to convert it. But I agree with putting the v8 in, I know you will love the horsepower gains.

 

http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/mopar_small_block.htm

 

Re the Dodge bellhousing, you need to make sure that the T150 input shaft stickout is compatible with the Dodge bellhousing. The T150 is basically a Ford pattern and stickout, and I think both are different from Dodge. Advance only lists a T150-Chevy bellhousing, according to their catalog.

The 318 is a fine engine, but even if you have it on hand, it may not be the cheapest route. 258s are cheap and available, as are 4.0Ls (242s). I'd consider selling off my 318s and using the money toward a 4.0L unless I were just bound and determined to do this swap.

 

The 4.0 is a good motor, but you cant beat v8 sound and horsepower. I say go big, or go home. (I may be partial to v8 swap, see signature below) But whatever you decide, remember it is your jeep, not mine, be sure you can live with your decision.I tried to cut cost before and ended up spending alot of money on a dauntless only to find out that I should have went with my gut and just removed it and started my swap when I bought the jeep. Not that it was a terrible motor, just not what I wanted

 

This is going to be interesting. I'm going to go and do some measuring regarding overall depths of the two bellhousings. The two top bolts line up, so I can test fit and see how the input shaft and pilot need to be fenagled.