Lakewood bellhousing in A-body conversion

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Hyper Henry

Hyper Henry

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Hey Guys

Doing a big block and 4-speed conversion in my 68 notch and just starting to mock everything up now. I have the B-block in there now with Schumacher mounts, with the 4-speed and Lakewood bellhousing. My question is do the Lakewood bellhousings hang down farther than a stock bell housing??? It sure seems to be low but this 4-speed stuff is all new to me so maybe that is the way they just are??? Also useing Scumacher headers. Anything else I should have concerns with???


Thanks
Derrick
 
Good luck, I had troubles years ago with a lakewood in my 68 notchback. It was a S.B. Make sure you have the proper Clutch fork and that Z-bar aligns properly. Everything on mine was at an angle, causing alot of problems.
 
i believe there is a special bracket for the lakwood to mount the Z BAR bracket to the lakewood housing,, yes they dont line up properly in an A body,,,as stated make sure every thing is straight,,
 
IIRC: I bought my Z bar pivot mount from Brewers for the scatter shield.

BTW: If you have plans on installing a set of TTI's you might want to consider a hydraulic set up.
 
highwaystar and fstfish66, the lakewood bells dont work well? i have a lead on a used one i was going to pick up for a sb and 4 gear. What is it thats so bad about them? id really rather not go with another quicktime after my previous experience with them
 
Like most anything aftermarket, you have to fix it to make it work.

I had problems with a Lakewood on my Dart and had to make a 3/8" shim for the clutch arm pivot. The pivot point was too far a from the flywheel face. If you have a stock bell, measure how far the pivot is away from the flywheel face and get to work making the lakewood the same. That usually fixes the pivot issue.
 
crackedback said:
Like most anything aftermarket, you have to fix it to make it work.

I had problems with a Lakewood on my Dart and had to make a 3/8" shim for the clutch arm pivot. The pivot point was too far a from the flywheel face. If you have a stock bell, measure how far the pivot is away from the flywheel face and get to work making the lakewood the same. That usually fixes the pivot issue.
Click to expand...

crackedback, when you are referring to the clutch arm, do you mean the fork, the z bar, or the ballstud bracket? im slightly confused as to which peice you are talking about, sorry
 
Do yourselves a favor and get a QuickTime bell housing......Lakewood's suck...
 
The hardest problem with my Lakewood bell. was getting the fork on the throughout bearing.Man that side hole is tiny,after many tries I finally got pissed off and jammed it in and boom it was on.WTF?:angry7:
 
crackedback, thanks for the clarification!

mopardude318, i pm'ed you back dont know if you got it...

also, quicktime will never get my business again...Ross can kiss my behind after creating a product that doesnt even work and then lying to the customer...im assuming your going hydraulic, so you wont have to contend with the issue the z-bar guys have
 
Well I had mine in all mocked up but it's back out now because I am getting ready to sand and paint the engine compartment. It was a fair bit of fab work though!!! Had to modfiy the ball stud bracket I got from Brewers for the mount on the bell housing. I cut it on an angle so it would be more inline with the fender ball stud mount and welded it to the bell housing. Also had to heavily modify the Z-bar, it now looks much like the one TTI sells for their headers and 4-speed setup. Also had to lenthen the collectors on my Schumacher headers so they would clear the Z-bar and clutch fork adjusting rod. And also had to notch the bell housing on both sides for the headers. When I get it all back together I will post some pics.


Cheers
Derrick
 
What starter are you using? I used an old school Ansen bellhousing on my '69 440 Dart with TTI headers. Headers were an excellent fit, but then I had problems getting a starter (regular and mini-starters did not fit). All the clutch linkages were was a starting point - everything had to be modified, re-jigged, bent, stretched, and otherwise re-engineered to work. I also opted for a V-gate style shifter as well. But it all works now and I'm quite happy. Good luck with yours.
Daryl
 
i dont know about 67 and up but for the early A 66 and older the lakewoods dont fit the car properly,,,i use an ansen scatter shield very hard to come by these days,,,i was liucky to find it new in the box in the late 1980s,,,i also have a quick time in the box,it was the first quick time scatter shield for a small block mopar for mopar and tremec dual pattern,,,not sure if ill ever use it,,,im waiting on the MC LEOD box to se whats with that

fst fish shift fork revival 002.jpg


fst fish shift fork revival 004.jpg
 
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