200 install questions

'61 Draggin Wagon

Well-known member
Ok, life has finally given some spare time to start installing my 200 that I built into my '61 Falcon. It has a 144 with the original 3 speed & a 350:1 rear ratio....
My question is: what do I need to complete the swap as far as clutch, bellhousing, etc. The 200 block is a '78 & seems to have a larger bellhousing bolt pattern than the '61. Will a later bellhousing that bolts to the '78 block even fit under the firewall? I have a collection of bellhousings & even a couple of full syncro 3 speeds from later Falcons('67-'68) I even have the clutch linkage & crossmember for the newer trannys.
The engine is on a stand & I haven't tried mocking up the bellhousing yet, so thought I'd ask the experts.
The engine I've built is: '78 200, bored .040, all new bearings turned crank,etc. clifford 272 cam, solid lifters, offy 3 single carb intake, massive amount of port work done, about 9.5-1 compression, 3 angle valve grind, port divider, clifford 6 into 1 header, double sprung valves, three glass floatbowl Holleys, Duraspark2 with a GM ignition module & lopped off the vacuum advance.
This will not be a daily driver, so the fact that I went with solid lifters is a moot point. (got my chops busted over that before)
Thanks for any & all help.
Darryl
 
Your 78 block should have two sets of upper bell housing bolt holes. So your 61 bell housing, flywheel, clutch, and transmission will work. But the build on your engine will most likely shred your transmission. Your stock rear end is a little questionable also.
 
The '60 & 61' may not have enough tunnel room for a bigger bell without some hammering on the tunnel. I'm still using a 2spd automatic and haven't tried to fit anything else, yet. I'd bolt on your old setup until you break it. You should be able to get the engine all tuned up before having to set up a new flywheel to tranny to rear end drive train. Maybe someone out there knows where to hammer & how much to make a bigger one fit in there. I'd print out that answer for sure. And I was just looking under the hood of Dennis S's '60 Ranchero. A 5-spd is in Art's '61 Ranchero. But he's not online that I know of. And it's not driveable right now. But I'll ask them Thursday Cruz night. Art doesn't like the 5-spd.

Steve
 
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