I have this 1967 327 engine on a stand. Ready to go. I'm planning on putting it in a 56 chevy 2 dr. hardtop. I've got a line on a factory bell housing for the 56 car, not truck. What I need is a flywheel. A buddy has flywheels. most are for 10 1/2'' clutch. My concern is with balance. Is this an externally or internally balanced engine? What casting numbers should I be looking for on a flywheel. I'll betcha squirrel knows! Help, oh great Hamb.
A stock 327 is internally balanced so as long as something weird wasn’t done any sbc flywheel will work with exception of the 400 which was mentioned. I’m not an expert on the bell housing you have but I would guess it will only swing the 10.5” clutch which should be 153 tooth flywheel that it looks like your friend has. If the 168 tooth will fit you need to make sure the block is drilled for the correct starter. And with out a doubt squirrel will know.
The 56 car bellhousing has a provision to bolt a starter to it, and is designed for the 168 tooth flywheel. So...any 14" diameter 168 tooth V8 flywheel for a non 400-454 from 55-85 will work, but you need to look at the clutch bolt pattern, to make sure you can use the size clutch you want. The flywheel shown will fit the 11" clutch. I don't know about the 10.5" clutch, I think it works with the 153 tooth flywheel. To use the smaller flywheel, you'll need to mount the starter to the block, and might need to clearance the bellhousing to fit that starter. 3739423 is the GM part number for the 14" flywheel with the 10" clutch.
Just use the bell housing mounted three bolt starter. With some of the issues with rebuilt block mounted starters you know going in that the starter drive on the three bolt will have the correct clearance and require no checking or shimming. There will be no grinding on the bell or starter nose to get the starter to fit either. You didn’t ask but I’d use a diaphragm clutch too, preferably a bent finger one.
yup, 86-up use a smaller bolt pattern at the crank flange, and have a weight on them. That's why I specified 1955-85.
Bought the engine from a guy that I fully trust. He even gave me a money back guarantee. Still has the stock 4" bores. He said that he did a quick ball hone job and new rings. Gave me two sets of new unused cam and lifters. One milder, one wilder so it's my choice. Brand new roller rockers and pushrods. He built it for a Nova so it has the front sump oil pan set up. Which I'm probably not going to need, if anybody is interested. Stamped numbers say it came out of a 1967 full size car. Came with undrilled double hump heads, 64 cc. 1.94" intakes. I'm kind of interested in the aluminum double hump heads that Speedway sells. They come with 2.02 intake valves and are meant to look just like the originals if you paint them. The neatest thing with these aftermarket heads is they cast them with a taller surface for the valve covers to mount to so you can run stock valve covers with roller rockers if you wish.
Yes "Fordors", most likely go with diaphram pressure plate. Getting too old for a real stiff clutch pedal. And to "DDDenny", casting number is 8903352. Dont know about the windage tray since I have not had the pan off yet. Those trays are meant to keep the oil in the pan from splashing onto the rotating ***embly, right? If that is correct, I should probably use one so I can wind this thing up tight. Helps to have the smaller journals too. Wee! Should I move the redline pointer to 7000? Higher? And many thanks to all other responders for your valuable information. I'll use it wisely.
If you go to a rear sump pan and appropriate oil pump make sure you get the matching oil pump shaft. The shaft for the front sump oil pump is shorter and won't reach the distributor.
Hey Charlie, that's certainly good info. I will have to pay close attention to that when time comes. My question is why in the world would the designers at GM do something like that. Seems odd.
The front sump pan engine is a weird one...Chevy basically copied the Falcon when they designed the Chevy II, then they had to go through some contortions to fit a V8 into it a few years later.
The second gen. Nova/ChevyII 327/350hp engine with the front sump had a very specific windage tray to match the pan and that whole pan/pump arrangement was needed for the tight packaging regarding the steering ***embly on the early Novas. It never hurts to have a windage tray for high horse engines, not terribly necessary for street only cars. You really should consider a ****tershield, also, a Centerforce clutch, it will be much easier on the leg.
Jim pretty well nailed it in post 7. 168 Tooth flywheel for the internal balanced small block with the bolt pattern that matches the clutch you want to run. Personally I'd far rather run the 3 bolt starter that is bolted to the bellhousing even though it costs a bit more. you just flat don't have the problems with them that you do with the rebuilt a dozen times rebuilts or the after market "high torque" that can all too often be way more trouble than they fix.
I just had a conversation with a trusted friend and he suggested I view a pic from the internet . Here is a pic of what an original oil pump for a front sump Chevy 2 looks like . It is squashed all to be darn . I can’t imagine how it flowed very well at all . Thanks to Jim for the suggestion,,,LoL . Tommy
Not wanting to hijack this thread, but is it possible to use a starter from a later model car and swap the nose? Any issues with the pinion gear for a 168 tooth flywheel working with a 158 tooth flywheel? Thanks.
As already mentioned, the 168 tooth flywheel is what works with the stock 56 Bell housing and bell housing mount starter. Some of these flywheels were drilled for 10 1/2" clutches and some were drilled for 11" clutches. It seems like some were drilled for both, however, I'm not sure on the last point.
Yes, it is possible if using a 1957 or newer bell housing mount nose. The 55 and 56 starters were slightly different from the 57 - 62 V8 starters. The end of the solenoid and solenoid linkage was exposed in the 55 V8 starters. The 56 starters had a rubber boot to cover the linkage. It wasn't until 1957 that the starter solenoid linkage was enclosed. The 55 and 56 V8 starters use different solenoids that the 57 and newer starters.
I looked in the Chevy parts book, they listed 10" and 11" clutch for the earlier cars...not 10-1/2". That's why I said that I think the 10-1/2" was only used on the 153 tooth flywheel. But I could be wrong. and they are different flywheels for 10 and 11" clutches.
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