Early A (65 Barracuda) with later 4 speed & bellhousing
The trans tunnel in my factory 4-speed 65 Barracuda needed zero modifications to clear the 10.5 inch bellhousing I swapped in a few years after I switched to a 340. I did have to mod a stock 340 z-bar to fit. As I recall, I used the 273 fender bracket, and slotted a bolt hole on the bellhousing bracket so I could move it to a different angle. May have had to grind a bit on the end(s) of the Z bar, too. Brewer's now offers a Z bar kit to use in an early A with a 10.5 bellhousing, and I switched to that when I installed TTI headers. The old one worked fine for years, but the new one clears the headers better.
I also swapped a 4-speed into my old 65 slant six Valiant. Found an original early A 4-speed slant 6 bellhousing (9.5 inch) and used a 4-speed with the early (3.09 low gear) gearset. Since it was an original 3-on-the tree car, I had to cut the floor for the 4-speed, primarily to clear the shifter and linkage. Cut area was a large rectangle that was covered by the floor hump. I just cut a little at a time until it all cleared. Other than the cut, no floor massaging was necessary to clear the 4-speed trans.
The trans tunnel in my factory 4-speed 65 Barracuda needed zero modifications to clear the 10.5 inch bellhousing I swapped in a few years after I switched to a 340. I did have to mod a stock 340 z-bar to fit. As I recall, I used the 273 fender bracket, and slotted a bolt hole on the bellhousing bracket so I could move it to a different angle. May have had to grind a bit on the end(s) of the Z bar, too. Brewer's now offers a Z bar kit to use in an early A with a 10.5 bellhousing, and I switched to that when I installed TTI headers. The old one worked fine for years, but the new one clears the headers better.
I also swapped a 4-speed into my old 65 slant six Valiant. Found an original early A 4-speed slant 6 bellhousing (9.5 inch) and used a 4-speed with the early (3.09 low gear) gearset. Since it was an original 3-on-the tree car, I had to cut the floor for the 4-speed, primarily to clear the shifter and linkage. Cut area was a large rectangle that was covered by the floor hump. I just cut a little at a time until it all cleared. Other than the cut, no floor massaging was necessary to clear the 4-speed trans.
