Been a while since I've been here, life keeps getting in the way.
I have discovered that the FE Pick-up bell-housing I have is deeper than the car unit. What year car bell-housing do I need to make this fit? Does the Z-bar attach to the engine or the bellhousing? Never seen this all together.
67 428 with a 67 Mustang 390 Wide ratio toploader.
Thanks everyone!
Kevin
Hey Kevin,
You need a car bellhousing. They will have a Z cast in them in the later years. I am using a Mustang Cobra Jet bellhousing. Wasn't cheap. The Z bar bracket bolts to the engine, not the bellhousing. The truck bell housings all have a T on them. That is typically what you see on eBay. You might be able to replace the input shaft on the transmission with a longer one.... I just rebuilt my toploader and it seems that was possible?? PM me if you need specifics. I have a few spare parts.
If yuou use the truck bellhouosing, which you can if you want, you just need to use the small block 4 speed, which has the pilot portion of the input shaft a bit longer, almost 1/2 inch or so. They did this so they only had to manufacture 1 3 speed transmission for all trucks, whether small or big block. Until the first of this month when I picked up a Lakewood scattershield, that is what I had my 427 set up with to put in my car.
I have a '64 Galaxie bellhousing (narrow pattern) and the three speed toploader that goes with it. The crazy thing I discovered is that the Mustang four speed (HEH) I have would not bolt up because the outer diameter of the input shaft cover was too large. I guess I was amazed how interchangeability was not as obvious as one would think. The parts look alike (like the bellhousings) so the reasons for the differences are really hard to grasp. If you decide to change the input shaft (if possible), David Kee Toploaders can help with info and parts.
Thanks guys, I found out on another site that Ford made an extended Pilot bushing for this exact issue. Its a longer bushing for the pick-up bell housing, so I don't have to spend $$$ for the car housing. The pilot bearing Part # is C5TZ-7600-D
Hope this helps somebody else in the future.
Kevin
Where did you find it? Did not know that...good info, thanks.
Very interesting, I've read that others had to make their own bushing to do similar swaps.