In my opinion, you would be better to find a smaller clutch and pp to fit the Kubota. We are using the 2.3 and 3.0 clutch and they are way smaller than yours and hold just fine. Using the ford starter could be an issue having enough power in cold weather because it's not gear reduced like the Kubota.

 

fwiw, you might check on the starter - if you can lift it without going "Wow that's heavy" you may already have a gear reduction starter. Ford used a lot of them in later years... I think the one I got for a 460 out of a late model van was 20 pounds lighter than the original.

 

Beagle, I love that description

The previous owner replaced the starter and alternator when they couldn't get it to start (ground problem). It looks like the new one is a gear reduction. Do I still need to swap out the starter wiring with the heavier gauge stuff?

I still need to do a couple measurements but I think I'll stick with the Ford flywheel.

 

I'm weighing all of my flywheel options right now. Keep in mind, the original Ford pressure plate is larger than the Kubota flywheel.

Option 1: use original Kubota flywheel. It already has holes drilled and tapped for a pressure plate. I'm working with a couple guys at O'Reilly auto parts on finding a clutch that will fit the bolt pattern. So far the closest has been the clutch from an 80's 2.3l mustang. The problem would be adjusting the measurements for the adapters due to the pressure plate being so much shorter. That leads to the input shaft being too long.

Option 2: Drill the Kubota crank bolt pattern on the Ford flywheel. The problem is that the holes wouldn't leave very much material left for strength, in fact it's as little as .013" of material left.

Option 3: Machine out a crank adapter, like the one that Red has, that can bolt to the crank then the flywheel bolts to the adapter. This adds extra thickness which is good for the input shaft issue, but would cost more since I'd have to make the tranny adapter that much thicker.

Please help me

 

Someone like clutch masters could build you one to fit cheap.

 

Ok, I've settled on the crank adapter for various reasons. To save on cost for the tranny adapter I would Need to drill the center hole in the crank 1 inch deeper. Would there be any issues if I did that? Or would it be easier to cut off the end of the input shaft? The shaft goes 2 inches past the flywheel on the Ford. This is really the only thing holding me up right now.

 

What you have not finished yet. I thought you said it would only take a month Drilling a big hole in the crank does not sound like much fun. If you have that much stickout, it sounds like the crank adapter is the way to go Did you do the math to see where the pilot bearing rode on the trans input shaft, and where the bearing sat in the Crank on the OE application?

 

School tends to get in the way of more important stuff like this project haha The bearing on the Ford sat in the crank, flush with the clutch side of the flywheel. The end of the input shaft extends 1.35" beyond the bearing into the crank. I could make it work if I make both the crank adapter and tranny adapter 1.5" thick, but that would be significantly more expensive than originally planned (I know these projects always turn out way more expensive than planned anyways). I'm just hoping for an easier/cheaper alternative. Thoughts?

 

that I is a bunch of stickout. I wonder why they did that. All the adapter measurements are keyed off the distance from the block/trans interface to the face of the flywheel. you have to build the adapters around that. That measurement is the set thing, you can work with the adapter thicknesses and flywheel thicknesses to get where you want to be which is to have the clutch pressure plate the correct distance from the clutch slave cylinder. I hope I said that correctly
Do you have any more pictures. the one pic you have in post #16 is pretty hard to tell. It looks like there is a shim on the right of the pic and bare block on the left? These measurements have to be very accurate, to .000" , not so much .00", or .0" like you have reported.
1.5" on the crank adapter sounds very doable, you could even make it thicker so your larger piece of stock (the outer bell adapter) does not have to be so thick and expensive. If you have to cut a bit off the trans input shaft and or drill the crank a bit, or BOTH, I am sure that has been done before, I would just make sure you leave enough input shaft to get through the pilot bearing
Also I have never heard of a Normally aspirated gasoline engine having a mechanical vacuum pump are you sure about that

 

The magic number is 1.166" from the clutch side of the flywheel to the shim (block). The input shaft extends .827" beyond the front of the transmission. 1.166+.827=1.993, how deep the pilot bearing hole needs to be. That hole on the Ford is almost exactly 2" deep. The hole in the Kubota crank is .5" deep as it stands. Pilot bearing is .732" deep meaning the shaft extends 1.261" beyond the back side of the bearing. I could make a crank adapter that is .5" steel with a .5" thick pilot bushing with a .672" ID then either drill exactly 1" into the crank or cut exactly 1" off of the shaft. Either way the flywheel and the bushing/bearing will be at the same place on the shaft as the stock engine. At least that's my reasoning of it. I will be machining out the crank adapter from bar stock so it will be more precise than just .5. I'll adjust that so I don't have to trim down the Ford flywheel.
You are correct, it doesn't have a mechanical vacuum pump. I saw the top of the control capsule and thought it was a pump.
I hope I've explained everything right so that I might continue receiving help