The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop bellhousing removal questions

while playing around with my '31 this weekend, i got stuck trying to figure out how to remove the bellhousing from the engine. how do i remove the four bolts that run through the bellhousing and into the engine? it seems like the flywheel is blocking the bolts. i tried removing the clutch/flywheel, but my engine is frozen so i can't rotate it to remove all of the bolts. am i missing something?

thanks,
ed

ps. does anyone want a '31 or '34 engine? both are frozen (bent valves), but they're free to anyone who feels like picking them up.

Well, that's a catch22, isn't it? You can't remove the bellhousing without removing the flywheel. There are actually six bolts. You may have to pull the pan and take off the rod caps to get the thing rotated.

that's not what i wanted to hear!! before i go through all this effort, can someone tell me if the 194 bellhousing will attach to my 235?

The clutch and pressure plate can be removed on a stuck motor without too much problems. I run into the same problem tring to get a bellhousing off a stuck motor in a junkyard,all you need is a swivel socket and extensions to remove the bolts that cant be removed from the acsess

edmurder, the 194 bell-housing will not fit the 235
If you pour some diesel in the cylinders through the spark-plug holes and let it sit a day or two you should be able to pry on the ring gear teeth back and forth,back and forth,back and forth, you will be able to get the flywheel turned eventually.
Patience,persistence and patience

thanks for letting me know that the 194 bellhousing will not fit on the 235. that brings up another question though -- what bellhousing will fit on the 235, and does that bellhousing have the same mounting 'ears' that the 194 bellhousing has?

thanks,
ed

216-235-261 bellhousings are their own bolt pattern, TMK no other standard tranny bellhousing will bolt to the back of a 216-235-261 other than one designed for that engine family.

good luck, chip

thanks for the clarification. do 216-235-261 bellhousings have the same from mounting ears that the 194 bellhousing has?

thanks,
ed

The bellhousing to use is the 48-up truck or 55-up car they have the modern trans bolt pattern. The 46 on back truck and 54-back car are made for a smaller enclosed driveshaft trans. You will have to fabricate a mounting for the clutch and brake pedals

jeff,

thanks for the reply -- i'm looking for one more bit of information. does the later bellhousing have mounting ears on it? if at all possible, i would like to reuse the trans crossmember. even if i can get the bellhousing mounts to work, it looks like i'll still have to modify the oil pan, but that's no biggie.

Im still unclear on what you want to do. Do you want to use a 235 with the stock tranny and torque tube? Some of the pre '55 truck bellhousings had mounts on each side to hold the bellhousing/tranny up. The pre-55 sedans had the tranny bolted to the x-member with no bellhousing mounts. What am I missing?

chip

sorry chip... guess i should have been a little clearer. here's the rundown:

1931 original frame
1962 235ci engine
?? bellhousing
later fully synchronized trans (t5?)
open driveshaft
open rearend

do you know if the bellhousing mounts on the sides of the pre-55 truck bellhousing are located in the same position as those on the '31 bellhousing?

thanks!
ed

The 48-53 truck bellhousing has the mounting ears that I know are the same as my 37. 55-7 car bellhousings also have mount ears on them,and I think all trucks have some kind of mount ears on them. Even my 67 C-20 had them too but as you know the later ones wont work. A local junkyard is loaded with 48 to 58 trucks if you need one

i just found some pictures of a '56 car bellhousing, and the ears are in the wrong spot to mount the 235 to a '31 crossmember. on the '56 bellhousing, the two ears are located on the tranny side. i need the ears to be on the engine side. does anyone know on which side the ears are located on a 48-up truck bellhousing?

thanks
ed

I've got an old '54 235 truck bellhousing, belive it was a small truck, 3100 series or smaller. Had a '62 235 and a torque tube 4 speed attached to it. The tranny mounts are on the sides or front of the bellhousing. If you figure out that this bellhousing will work, you're welcome to it if we can figure out how to get it to you.

chip

I just looked at the modified bellhousing that I got from jim carters which is a 48-53 and the ears are on the trans side. You might have to move the crossmember back or use a different one to mount the 235 in your 31. If I can remember correctly I heard people talking about moving or replacing the crossmember when installing a 235 in the 36 on back chevys