65 barracuda 4 spd Bellhousing

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PredatoryFish

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Hello,
I have a 65 barracuda project I am working on for my daughter and have run across something i have never heard of so I thought I would tap the communal knowledge pool here,

While getting the peices together to put the car together i was recently told that the earlier (65-66) v8 bellhousing was different in some way and that i would not be able to use it with my planned swap.

the cars origional 273 is long gone but it still has its original 4spd and bellhousing, i planned to put in a 360 with a 10.5 inch flywheel and use it with the origional transmission, is there something with the 1965 bellhousing that would prevent that? i was told i would need to get a 68 or later non overdrive bellhousing.

any help would be appreciated
 
PredatoryFish said:
Hello,
I have a 65 barracuda project I am working on for my daughter and have run across something i have never heard of so I thought I would tap the communal knowledge pool here,

While getting the peices together to put the car together i was recently told that the earlier (65-66) v8 bellhousing was different in some way and that i would not be able to use it with my planned swap.

the cars origional 273 is long gone but it still has its original 4spd and bellhousing, i planned to put in a 360 with a 10.5 inch flywheel and use it with the origional transmission, is there something with the 1965 bellhousing that would prevent that? i was told i would need to get a 68 or later non overdrive bellhousing.

any help would be appreciated
Click to expand...

They were for a 9 1/2 inch clutch, or 9 inch. I had one in 66 and would smoke that little clutch regularly.
 
Yes the early A bodies used a smaller flywheel in a smaller cast iron bell housing. (They originally came with an Auburn clutch assembly.) To use the externally balanced flywheel for a 360 you will have to swap to the larger 68 and up unit along with some modification to the linkage. It fits into the car nicely with a clutch lever from a big block (11-7/8" OAL) with the pivot from the early bell housing, and a bellcrank that is shortened to fit between the frame and the larger bellhousing. Or, check out Brewersperformance.com for required parts.
 
Just spotted my typo above... that should be 10-7/8" clutch arm.. You will also need to slightly modify the ball stud bracket for the new bell housing so the bellcrank will line up.
 
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