Web Forum for Singer Cars

Not all Singer unobtainium is exotic…take this unobtrusive yet vital part that is often missing.
It’s the gearbox bell housing strengthening bracket. The counterpoint to the casting on the other side created to cover the starter motor shaft and pinion. The two give strength to the bell housing that has to support the gearbox and take the torque of the drive to the rear wheels. The Singer design has no rear gearbox mount and the gearbox literally hangs off the alloy bell housing.

The result of a missing bracket is usually a cracked bell housing and sometimes a sticking clutch!

It’s been many many years since I’ve seen one of these and it was with great luck that the Canadian Singer Skunkworks team found an original amongst the piles of parts that came with NASOC President Paul Bouchard’s 1935 Le Mans Special Speed Model. We've used that to create a batch of new ones to fit to our cars, so if any of you need one, now is the time to let us know!
Here's the first being test fitted to CSSW Alumni Barry Phillip's '35 Le Mans Special Speed when I was last over working on the car with Barry.

Barry needed to notch his bracket to clear where bolts have replaced rivets, otherwise it was a perfect fit!

Another update on the bracket project...

My bellhousing arrived back from the welder and some time was spent dressing the repairs. He said besides the arched crack right where the missing bracket should have been, there were a host of stress spider cracks around the casting which needed attention. We bolted the bellhousing to a thick plate to avoid distortion during welding.
The shiny area of the housing on the side between the two lugs is the main crack repair. Once dulled down, it will be almost invisible.

Next job was to pull a rear engine crossmember from stock and check that the bellhousing was a flat, true fit and that the new extra-strength 'skunkworks' bracket fit properly.
After a bit of fettling, all looks well!

The next step is a new clutch cross shaft and proper bushings in the bellhousing. The wear is surprising here as the steel usually gets grooved badly rather than the alloy! The lubrication in this area is marginal and the clutch cross shaft should really have been drilled and tapped at each end for a grease nipple and then cross-drilled.

Gee, Phillip,

This looks fantastic!

Can't wait until these are available 'commercially'. Count me in, please. I would love to mount this as part of the drive train to make sure as much power gets to the rear wheels as possible, and away from the more fragile aluminium bits.

Thanks for your and Barry's work on this bracket.

Cheers,

David

Hi,
Just found this thread ...
Is it too late to get one of these brackets ?
If not, please, advise how to proceed.
It's missing on my car as well, - a 1935 LM.
Kind regards,

Likewise, not on mine nore apparent provision for one. I would also be intered in ordering one if still available.

I too would be interested as missing on mine!
Thanks
Neil

We'll look into making another 5 or 6!

Hey Pre-Warriors,

We're making up brackets for those of you who expressed interest.

PM me with your addresses, etc, please.

Price should be roughly @$50.00CAD (estimated)

Cheers,
Phillip

Hello, I'm new to the forum as a contributor but have been following it for a few years as I attempt to finish my 1934 LM. It has been featured in Octane magazine a few times, and on the Goodwood Road Racing Club website for which I used to write a column.

I'll post a few pics shortly, but in the meantime I, too, would very much like to buy one of these strengthening brackets. I'll be taking the engine out shortly to remedy a sudden and terminal-sounding bottom-end knock, so it would be great to reinstate the missing bracket when I eventually get it all back together.

Meanwhile, thanks for a very informative forum.

John

Hey John!

Great to see you on the forum. Been a long time since we last met up...at SNW as I recall. Love your work in Octane and have been following your reports in it. It's one of my favourite magazines, along with The Automobile.

My sample bracket that I used to test on my Sports in going to be in the hands of the fabricator shortly. I'll confirm an order of 6.

Look forward to seeing more about your latest Singer LM. I remember your green and cream '36 ( a lot like mine ) in an article called 'Rock Singer' some years ago. That car came back up for sale looking less than pristine as I recall!

Very sorry to hear of your engine woes and hope that things can be rebuilt without too much drama. I'll add your name to the list for the bracket. The prototype has been running in a '35 LM this season and has made a big difference to the clutch action and gear change. Guess they were there for a reason! lol!

Cheers,
Phillip

Ah yes, Rock Singer, the story of how I tackled the Edinburgh Trial. That was in 1985! I sold that green and cream '36 LM to a man in Scotland who was going to finish the work I had continued when I bought it in 1982 as an abandoned (and not very good) restoration, but he never did. He then sold it to a man in Cheshire, who did nothing to it other than storing it in a damp barn. So when he offered it for auction - it didn't sell - it was in a terrible state. Very sad. Before the auction I contacted him with a view to buying it back, but his view of its value was somewhat higher than mine given the huge amount of work it now needed. Someone who had owned it in the 1960s was at the auction and was hoping to buy it to restore, but he reached his limit before the Singer reached its inflated reserve. It was a real shame; he would have been the ideal owner.

Anyway, I bought my current 1934 car instead. That, too, has needed a lot of work to get it close to being right, much more than I expected when I bought it wearing the rose-tinted glasses that I wear too often when buying an old car. I almost thought I'd finished the job, give or take a propshaft vibration and some worn Silentblocs (they're still in the box), and then the engine's bottom end went critical. I don't think the crankshaft has broken - that happened once on the green-and-cream LM - but I won't know exactly what has happened until I've taken it to bits. At least I got it to Singer National Weekend before it broke.

Sorry, thread hijack... I'll start a new thread sometime soon.

John

Hello John,

That's a comely car if I've ever seen one.

Isn't it a stinker when things are getting close to right and something goes 'Bang'?

Just as Phillip opined, I hope fervently that your work is neither complex nor terribly expensive.

Very Best as you start the odyssey of taking it all back to bits.

David

Thanks David

I was never happy with the engine's low oil pressure when hot, and general lack of sweetness, so in a way it's good that disaster has struck. It means I have to fix it and I will end up, I hope, with an engine with all its wrongs righted and which performs as it should. Every cloud etc.

Hi All!

We had ten brackets made and they should be picked up next week.

If anyone wants one, please PM me ASAP with your address. Price turned out a bit more than expected, but still only $60.00CAD

Once I get your PM we can work out postage and packing and arrangements for payment.

Cheers,
Phillip

Hi Pre- Warriors!

Everyone who ordered brackets should have them by now, so if you have not got one yet, please let us know!

And thanks to everyone for supporting the project!