I was told by a prospective buyer of my '61 T-bird that the '70 390 that I'm selling with it would not bolt up the stock '61 T-bird tranny (Cruisomatic I believe). The guy I bought the car from was gonna help me swap it in and he just said the exhaust manifolds are different and we would just keep the T-bird manifolds hooked to the exhaust and then bolt up the '70 390. So does anyone know of any issues this guy may be on to I am not aware of? I figured I'd try here first then hit FE board if no one can say for sure. TIA, John (by the way my 1961 T-bird is still for sale, burried in classifieds somewhere....open to offers.)
The trans should be fine. ,the manifolds may not bolt up, though. your 61 units have the bolts aligned verticlly with the ports. Your 70 heads may have exhaust manifold bolt that are offset. Not all is bad, yet! You may have an unused set of holes that align with your old manifolds.
Hey thanks. I just took a look and it sure looks like the manifold bolts on the '70 motor are vertical. If they were offset is it very obvious or subtle?
You will also need to run the earlier flexplate. The tooth count for the flywheel gear is different. The manifolds should bolt up with no problem also the motor mounts on the earlier blocks use fewer bolts but I am not sure if this will be an issue. Dawg