I am to the point of getting the flywheel, pressure plate, pilot bearing and clutch parts for my build. Can someone tell me what parts to buy. I think the clutch and release bearing would be the early Ford stuff, but the rest is unknown. Any help is much appreciated!
I don't know if the Mopar flywheel used a pressure plate close to the early Ford unit, but you may have to have your flywheel drilled to accept the Ford Long style clutch. You could go with either the 9" or the 10" pressure plate. This will match up for the large input of the 39 trans. Stay with the early Ford release bearing and its hub. The pilot bearing will need to have the 3/4" ID.
If a mid-to-late '50s Dodge pickup flywheel is used, a Borg & Beck style (9" or 10") pressure plate can be used, as on '49-'51 Mercs. (3-prong type, not diaphragm) Matching Merc clutch disc will fit your '39 input shaft. As Mac said, pay attention to the collar and release bearing/ pilot brg.
Most of the 50's pickups I have seen were equipped with 6 cyl flatheads. Wouldn't the needed flywheel have to come from a V-8 equipped vehicle?
something in the back of my mind says that the flywheel off a mopar 57-59 flathead engine is drilled the same as a V8 so this may give you another option. You need an 8 bolt flywheel. We did a v8 swap in a 1957 Dodge years ago and used the flywheel pressure plate clutch plate and bell housing off the 6 cylinder engine and the car is till running strong
For the early Mopes there are a couple of variations in flywheels. •First, all of the crank flange bolt circles (diameter) are the same. You will find 4-bolt, 6-bolt and 8-bolt cranks and flywheels. All of the flywheels will physically interchange and bolt up but.... •the 23" version of the 201-208-218 (US built) uses a deeper offset than the rest of the engines due to the amount of crank flange extension (as measured from the face of the block). This amounts to the face of the flywheel being 0.1875" farther to the rear, toward the trans. This flywheel will cause starter engagement issues if used on any of the other engines, L6 or V8. This flywheel is 'usually' a 4-bolt. •The rest of the flywheels are all basically the same up to 1957 when the tooth count changed from 146 to 172. •Along with the flywheel, the starter also changed. Up to 1956 all starters are 6V, 1956 only is 12V and works with the 146 tooth ring gear, then for 1957 the starter pinion changed with the new 172 tooth ring. •Generally, all of the early adapters were designed to bolt up to one of the factory starter mounting plates, and generally, they are designed for the 'new' 1957 12V parts. The adapter will need to be identified as to which oem parts it is designed to attach to. •If the adapter in question has a starter mounting pocket then you will still need to identify which diameter flywheel is required as well as which starter is to be used. Easy huh? Some additional info: http://www.qualityengineeredcomponents.com/?page_id=75 .
IIRC, all flat six pass and light-med truck bells ('39-'60) interchange at the block. Remember the starter and flywheel issues. I am a bit fuzzy on the rest of the '30's engines/bells. I have not seen so cannot comment on what the really big sixes like the 331 and 413 used. There is a light truck bell in the '57-'60 area that has both the flat six and the v-8 block pattern (A engines and EarlyHemi). All pre-62 v-8 bells, A engines and EarlyHemi, (excluding 51-53 331) interchange with the same starter/flywheel cautions. Flat eight bells fit flat eight engines. .
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