question: early Hemi 331 with long bellhousing extension: what are the current build options ? Troy's out west cuts them off and welds a plate on, excellent job but shipping both ways/labor makes it pricey I've heard that Southern Automotive builds them with the long tail left in place- if so, how is it adapted ? Also heard someone in Florida is now cutting them tails off and adapting- anyone know who does it ?
Check out hothemiheads.com and there is a wealth of info in the hemi group on the hamb http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=273
Wilcap makes an adapter for a 727 Torqueflite behind a long tail 331. Doesn't matter which case you use (BB, SB or Slant Six) because you will be cutting the belhousing off of it and machining the pump for the adaptor. http://www.wilcap.com/Hemi.html#331318AT http://www.wilcap.com/331-318asm.jpg The 331-318AT adapts the 1951-1953 331 Chrysler ( Extended Block or Bellhousing) to Chrysler 727 or 904 automatic. This adapter uses a modified small block Chrysler transmission case. No modification of the block is needed. The three choices for installation are: Send us your transmission (assembled or case and front pump only), send us your transmission front pump, or we'll send you the adapter only. Adapter includes complete instructions for modification of your transmission and for alignment of the adapter to your transmission, flexplate, hub spacer, and fasteners. We also have the modern replacement 12volt mini starter available
This car has a long bell Hemi with a 700r-4 trans. We cut the trans housing back about 4 inches and welded a plate on with the engine's bolt pattern. There is a lot of set up and measuring involved, but it is an option...
There are also plenty of adapters for adapting to the TH350. A few adapters for adapting old Ford manuals are also floating around.
thanks for all the replies not necessarily only automatic, it can be a stick too if it's easier to do I have 2 early hemis here, 1951-52. One has the fluid drive unit with its own small oil pan reservoir and pump in the support plate, that is the 1952- converter with stators the other has no reservoir, and is the "sealed" type that has a fluid coupling (i.e. converter without stators) and the small factory aluminum bellhousing is a little bit shorter let me run this by you guys, see what you think- these fluid drives were basically stick transmissions with clutch splined into a converter, sort of like the later racing "clutch turbos" of the 1960-70's, but in reverse. Where the clutch turbos went clutch into auto trans, the fluid drives went converter into clutch into manual trans. I know a very good racing converter builder, who can cut any converter open and modify it with special machinery he has, then change the fans/stators inside and reweld it back together, and balance it. His workmanship is simply amazing. what if I had the fluid coupling/converter cut in half, welded up solid inside to eliminate the fluid coupling altogether and simply make it direct drive- then weld it back together- then put it back on the engine so it's a solid drive right back to the original flywheel/clutch into the original transmission- and just use the original stick trans without the fluid coupling effect ? run the converter dry with no fluid- with no moving internal parts, it would not need fluid anymore, it's just acting as a direct coupler/adapter from flexplate to clutch/pressure plate given, the stock trans/bell/extended bell setup is long in length- but it should work- no ?
I think you could cut out the female splines and use them to make a coupling much cleaner than keeping the whole fluid coulping welded up. Then you would have a questionaqble clutch and trans to deal with. I believe you can still buy an Offy adapter to almost any of the 3 and 4 speeds we ran in the 60s 70s and still today. I ran a Packard 3 speed behind mine years ago. It was good. But Packard transmissions are kind of rare today. I bought a new Offy adapter to any Chevy bolt pattern trans in the 80s. Sold it along with all my hemi stuff to afellow HAMBer a year or two ago.
your Offy adapter to Chevy bolt pattern, would it fit a long tail hemi though ? Or was it for the 1954-58 regular hemi pattern ? I have pondered that myself, the converter builder told me years ago, any converter over 9" diameter is a big horsepower sponge on the back of the engine, he built me a 9" converter to put in place of a 12" factory converter on my Pontiac and it really woke it up. He said the smaller the converter the better, and recommends 9" for street, and 8" for race. you have a point, looking at these fluid drives yesterday and noticed, the clutch assembly on the 1951 is noticeably smaller than the 1952 clutch, i.e. it would be weaker. These only had to deal with 180 HP new- but any mild 331 hemi buildup today would easily hit 300-350 HP using modern carb, intake, cam, headers- so it may very well just break the trans and welded coupler in short order. also talked to an old timer who is 74 years old, he said Chrysler put that fluid drive in because the cars were so heavy at that time, they didn't want to break any driveline parts, it was there to cushion the drivetrain shock
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