I'd like to take the 318 from my '83 Ram W150 and put it into my '51 Plymouth along with a A833 OD transmission for the highway. The Ram is 4WD and has the NP435 (4 speed w/ granny gear) transmission. My question is: Are all smallblock bellhousings the same? Will the A833 bolt up to the NP435 bellhousing? Any problems with the clutch linkage/z-bar? I'd like to use my '51 pedals (under the floor), but the truck setup is hanging pedals. Any concerns there?
No, the 4x4 tranny bellhousing won't work, you'll need a passenger car bellhousing. Different bolt patterns on the tranny. We put a slant six 3 speed into a 50 Dodge once, the z-bar needed some work, but we got it workin' good. The OD four speed and standard four speed have different sized input bearing retainers, you'll need an OD bellhousing, or have the input bearing retainer machined down to fit the earlier bellhousings. I had to do that for the OD behind my 383, because they never made a big block/OD four speed combo. That small block Chrysler should fit good in your Plymouth!
You can kick your 318 over to the passenger side about 2"-3" and have more clearance on the steering box, which is the biggest problem with putting aV8 in one of those. Gene
You can buy the bearing retainers right from mopar now. Get a passenger car bellhouing and use that, and get whatever retainer OD you need and bolt it on.
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