Anthony,
The bell housing situation leaves many options. If you are going to a six
bolt block from a 5 bolt you need to determine if if you have a wide or
narrow pattern toploader. You should have a narrow pattern one. The early 6
bolt bellhousings had the narrow pattern bellhousing but subsequent ones
likely have a wide pattern and need to be modified to work with the narrow
pattern trans. This involves welding in some reinforcing material and then
drilling the new pattern and tapping the bolt holes. A HUGE caution here is
that they people doing the modification don't use too much heat warping the
mounting flange for the tranny and screwing up the trans locating reference
hole as this causes a TON of grief. It is repairable but will cost about
$45-$75 to repair. There are some aluminum ones that are dual pattern but
they are relatively rare. I used a Cast iron 6 bolt housing that required
some welding and a special block plate to locate the starter for my 5.0
motor. If you are doing the swap you really should think about a 5.0 rather
than a 289 as they out of the box with the hydraulic roller cam produce more
power more efficiently and likely more durably unless you have a Hi-Po 289
and then you will have some vacuum signal issues with the power brakes.
Right or wrong I went with the cast one for strength and it has worked
excellent. You do need to purchase the CAT 6-bolt bellhousing clutch slave
cylinder mount for $65. If you do NOT machine the cast bellhousing to
position the slave bracket farther to the front of the engine and avoid
using 3 washers under the bracket at one of the mounting holes (It will make
sense when you try to bolt it up) you will need to slightly dent the tunnel
to clear the slave bracket as there was slight interference and I did not
want to reposition the engine due to header clearance.
I just did this and went through all of the tribulations if you have
questions just ask.
Best Regards,
Tim Ronak
Business Development Manager
Akzo Nobel Coatings
OFF: (949) 305-5393
VM: (800) 234-6747 ext. 2257#
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