More prepping, plus clutch replacement, Warn overdrive refurb, and tire hacking

Continuing my pattern of having to do a few different tasks multiple times, I began this day with the removal of the bell housing.

 I discovered that the stock clutch and pressure plate I ordered to go with the 260 didn't work with the input shaft of the transmission.  The center gear bore of the clutch disc was too small (1 1/16" instead of 1 1/8" in diameter), so I had to get a different disc.  Unfortunately, no one makes a 10" disc with a ten-spine 1 1/8" center gear, but after a bit of digging, I found a 9 1/4" Centerforce clutch disc.

The stock clutch on the right, the replacement on the left.  Obvious size difference.

Here they are overlapped.  Centerforce is a good aftermarket brand, so I'm not concerned about the diminishment in size, especially since the new one is supposed to work on a late sixties Camaro (granted, with a six cylinder).  I also like that the new one has size anti-chatter springs.

Installed.

Finally, I have the right sequence.  The adapter and the bell housing go on the T90 first.  That way the release bearing will not fall off on installation.

A few refurbishments were in order.  Here's the mounting plate that sits under the T90 and above the rubber transmission mount.

Cleaned up.

And painted.

Waiting to meet the V8.

To kill a bit of time, I turned to the Warn overdrive unit.  Again, mostly aluminum here so no rust, but the grime and scaling still need attention.

A very old gasket.

Ready for some gentle scrubbing.

Scrubbed.

When I was working on removing the Warn, I pulled the cotter pin, but it was so shot that it broke.  Here's the new one in its proper place.

The rear cap installed and sealed up nicely.

The case itself needs some scrubbing.

Under all the crud, I found this, which delighted me.

Here's the rubber transmission mount.  It was equally grimy, so I worked it over and prepped it for paint.

This was a completely different task, one which I did after the kids went to bed. I needed to get an accurate measurement of the rims the Willys came with so that I could buy the right one (preferably used) for my spare--a must for an off-road vehicle.  Since this tire, the back left, was extremely flat and no longer doing its job, I jacked up the rear axle, put a jack stand under the left side, and pulled this thing.

I do like my Sawzall.  Time for the tire to come off.

First a wedge cut to gain access to the bead.  As I was doing this, I was having flashbacks to when I had to cut a tire off a rim to make an art project while I was at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana as an art major.  The assignment was to make a musical instrument, so I turned a rim into a snare drum with four springs in an X pattern and tissue paper over the top to function as a drum head (each layer held in place with thinned Elmer's Glue).  My professor, to test the strength of the drum head, beat the hell out of it.  I'm proud to say it worked well and sounded good.

When my son saw this, he giggled.

 It took a while, but I finally got through the bead cable.

Update: found a rim on eBay, seventy bucks delivered, which is a great deal.  The "new" one is on the right.  Of course, it's only new to me.  Apparently it's from a 30s or 40s Ford, which I like since the Willys is already part Ford.  I has the same dimensions (15"x8") and lug pattern (5x5.5") and backspacing (4").