All Small Six T5 swap on 1983 3.3 200

[awasson]

The issue is he has a big bell engine/block, they only came with an auto with a 164 tooth flex plate and no clutch/ manual trans. That I know of. They can be modded to use the 157 flywheel and its bellhousing which is more common or a 164 flywheel and its bellhousing but is unnessary for most and harder to fit. The 9'' 136 flywheeel will fit the crank but no way to mount starter.

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying that.

In the long run after he's acquired and modded the 157 flywheel and its bell-housing, he's got the advantage of using the bigger clutch that @Jmustang_65 has so it's more of a win.

Would I be correct in assuming the bell-housing that fits the 157 flywheel bolts up to a T5 without mods or an adapter or is that a top loader 4-speed bell-housing?

 

[Jmustang_65]

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying that.

In the long run after he's acquired and modded the 157 flywheel and its bell-housing, he's got the advantage of using the bigger clutch that @Jmustang_65 has so it's more of a win.

Would I be correct in assuming the bell-housing that fits the 157 flywheel bolts up to a T5 without mods or an adapter or is that a top loader 4-speed bell-housing?

That's correct. He will just need to make/drill to 2 upper holes to fit the block. It was a tight fit/on edge so I added inserts and ran a 1/4-20 bolt on the upper 2 bolts.

 

[powerband]

" the issue is he has a big bell engine/block, they only came with an auto with a 164 tooth flex plate and no clutch/ manual trans. That I know of. They can be modded to use the 157 flywheel and its bellhousing which is more common or a 164 flywheel and its bellhousing but is unnessary for most and harder to fit. The 9'' 136 flywheeel will fit the crank but no way to mount starter."
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That's why I find the 200 flange 157T FW from MDL so unique - it has no matching BH. Adapting a typical SBF V8 BH uses the regular 157T BH's starter mounting , same as SBF V8. Machine work for something similar could easily exceed MDL's FW cost.
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$ .02 more
the 157 T FW was used with earlier 302 blocks and with the typical 80's Mustang T5 Bellhouse. Early 157T (Toploader) BH's all used PUSH linkage with 'Throw Out' arms. Late 70's / 80's used CABLE PULL Throw Out setup. Cable PULL throw out can be simply converted to original early car PUSH linkage.

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80's Mustang SBF T5 157T BH / Cable to Push fulcrum with cable mount sawed off (E3ZR) :
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have (3 Pedal) fun