Hello all, So, I have a 55 Ford wagon that has a BW 259 3 spd trans. I am looking at possibly swapping out the Y block and was wondering if there is another bellhousing that would bolt to that trans and a 289/302/351? I'm ***uming there may be aftermarket ones, and any info on anything that would work would be helpful. Thanks
Around 66 or so Ford changed the top bolt pattern on their bellhousings so the early trans will not just bolt up w/o redrilling the bellhousing for the early pattern. Adding to this, the hole in the later bells are larger so the bearing retainer on the early trans is not a snug fit into the bell. I had the opposite problem when I installed a 4 speed toploader behind a 312. The bearing retainer on the trans was bigger than the retainer so I had to machine down the retainer in order to fit it into the hole. Fortunately, I didn't have a bolt pattern problem because I used a very early top loader that had the same pattern as the bell. Ford used this early pattern only in the first few years of the 4 speed toploader and may have used the pattern only in the 5 bolt bell (before they went to the 6 bolt bell on the small blocks
Ford changed the transmission bolt pattern in '65. The '49-64 were all 'narrow pattern', the '65-up are 'wide pattern'. The fly in the ointment is Ford also changed the bellhousing-to-block pattern from 5 bolt to 6 bolt on the SBF at the same time so the bells don't interchange. The common aluminum '65-up 6-bolt bells don't have enough meat in the right places to re-drill to the narrow pattern. Ford did make a small number of dual-pattern 6-bolt bells as service parts (primarily to allow installing the '65-66 motor in the '64-back cars in case of a warranty replacement without replacing the trans) but those are extremely rare. Equally rare is the cast-iron 6-bolt bell Ford used in some vans, but these can be redrilled to the early pattern. I've been told that Ford also cast some cast-iron bells for the 300 six in trucks that can also be redrilled that use the same bell-to-block pattern, but there may be an issue with starter location and flywheel choice. There is one off-t******lf solution. Lakewood makes a 6-bolt SBF ****tershield that has both trans patterns and 'adaptor rings' to fit the early trans. Not cheap though... 15200 Lakewood Bellhousing - Small Block Ford - JEGS It'll be cheaper to just replace the transmission if all you have is a three-speed. '65-up Ford toploader three speeds are out there, and the lighter-duty versions aren't big $$$ and should be adequate behind a 289/302.
An added benefit that Steve didn't mention that the heavier duty later 3 speeds were syncro n first gear.
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