My neighbor has been haulin' metal to the recyclers to make a few extra bucks in his retirement, and came to get me the other day when someone gave him an old car that was sittin' out in the field. Turns to have been the remains of a 1955 Plymouth. Not a lot left, but the front frame half was there complete with the head-less 259 engine and straight shift tranny. My question: Would that flywheel/bell housing fit the early Hemi's? How much would that flywheel/bell housing setup be worth if it did? The reason I ask is that the neighbor has been kind enough not to haul this stuff straight to the meltdown shop, and instead drop it off with me to see if I can get him an extra dollar or two for the parts. I'd rather remove it and see it get into the hands of a deserving hot rodder/old car builder than see it melted down and turned into a Kia.. I figure if I can get a decent amount for it, and any other stuff there for my neighbor, it will encourage him to possibly give me another shot at future "junk" rather than just having it mindlessly melted down. The engine sat without heads in the open for years, so am kind of doubtful if there's much worth saving, and am not even sure there's much of a demand for them now. Maybe some of you know about that. There's also the front suspension, steering box and honey comb radiator from the old Plymouth. Any thoughts, advice would be appreciated.
The 3 brands (Chrysler, Dodge, Desoto) early Hemi, have one bell housing bolt placed behind the flywheel. So, to remove the bellhousing, the engine has to be rotated (turned over) while removing the clutch pressure plate bolts, to get to the flywheel bolts, and then to that one darn bell housing bolt. With a rusted, stuck engine block, that one bolt can not be reached! A cutting torch to the back two connecting rods, and then torch cut the rear crank area into two, will let you rotate the flywheel to get at the bolts?
All the early hemi/polys used the same bell pattern, so all that will work. If the block isn't saveable the crank, rods, main caps ect will fit the 241/270s also & have value if not ruined.
I had the problem of a 'stuck' engine a few months ago and know well the 'bolt inside the bellhousing' issue. What I did was to locate the bolt position from looking at another block I have.....then I hole sawed about a 1 1/2" dia. opening the bell and knocked the head off the bolt with the 'blue wrench'. Not done yet though, because the bell will only move back a 1/4 to 3/8" before banging into the flywheel. So, Then took my sawzall and went between the block and bellhousing in that gap and sawed off the bolt shank. With that, the bell lifted off the engine and the flywheel bolts (actually nuts on back of crank flange) are accessible 360* and easily removed. The hole I sawed in the bell call be patched or ignored, it doesn't weaken the bell in that location. Ray
No matter how bad it 'looks', the parts still have some value even if just used for mock-up. Rust can be stripped, some cracks can be stitched, cranks can be turned, and on and on. Even the worst case is worth more than scrap value. .
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