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swaping 235 to a 261 in a 46 1 1/2 ton can I leave trans and flywheel housing in place and only pull engine thanks

There are four bolts holding the bell housing to the engine back behind the flywheel so you need to pull the trans, clutch, and flywheel. The bell housing can stay in place. In fact that is how I do it to give clearance to pull the engine. I also pull the water pump.

thanks

Dave, are you saying to leave the bell housing attached to the mounts?

Drop the transmission. Pull engine and bellhousing as a unit. Remove the radiator and the hood support rods to give yourself more clearance.

I almost always leave the bellhousing attached to the crossmember when pulling an engine for clearance purposes.
A lot of the vehicles I work on have nicely painted firewalls and I can't afford to scratch them.

Dave What are you working on? Small block chevys? It is not practical to pull a pre 1960 6 cylinder bellhousing away from a motor in the vehicle. On a small block chevy, the bellhousing is "open" and the flywheel and clutch assembly can pull through from the front.

On older 6 cylinders, the bellhousing has a small hole for the crank to go through. This means in order to leave the bellhousing on the crossmember, you would have to ...
1. Drop the transmission
2. Remove the clutch assembly
3. Remove the flywheel
4. Remove 6 bolts holding the bellhousing to the engine, 4 of which are behind the flywheel, and 2 of which are so close to the firewall you wouldn't be able to get a wrench on them.

THIS CLEARLY IS NOT PRACTICAL ON AN OLD STOVEBOLT.

On the newer v8 bellhousings, it is totally possible to seperate them from the engine and leave the transmission in place. On the old stovebolts, it is much easier to remove the radiator. In some cases the whole front clip can be removed in 1/2 half hour.

Most of my work, which is my full time job, is on 40's 50's Chevrolet's.
Everybody has there way that works best for them.

OK, I stand corrected.

I have pulled clutch assemblies and flywheels with the stovebolt 6 motors in place. I have even swapped bellhousings on a 1954 gmc without pulling the engine out of the truck.

Given my preference, I would much rather work the clutch assembly free and clear than have to fight it underneath the truck. This thread is about a motor swap afterall. The assumption I made was any underneath work would be done on the OP's back. Most of us are driveway mechanics and can't get the trucks up high enough on jack stands to make working underneath one enjoyable. In a proffesional shop, vehicle lifts, transmission jacks and an assortment of all sorts of specialty tools are readily available.

I appologize if I insulted you in anyway. I am constantly reminded of the old saying ..."There is more than one way to skin a cat!" In my case, it can usually be changed to "Knuckles"!

Cheers!
John

I'm fixing to have to pull 2 engines and replace one. I think I'll try it one time to see if I like it.

With a couple of short line up studs on the back of the engine installation is very easy.