I will be getting this International Blue Diamond 269 ci. engine for my International KB hot rod truck. I am new to these engines and was wondering what trans will interchange and what engines and bell housings are compatible with each other. I was thinking I could maybe use aT19 out of a Scout or Jeep. I might be able to make an adapter to fit the back of the block and use a Ford, Chevy, Jeep, International or Mopar bell housing. I know I am thinking way outside the box here putting an International in an International. Any thoughts or direction of someone who has done this would be greatly appreciated. Here are some pics and I hope to have the engine in the next few weeks.
Interesting,,,,a great TRUCK engine, but not much for a rod. Only about 100 hp @ 2800 rpm. What year is it?
Not sure on the year but think it is in the 50's because it has a 5 speed. The guy I am getting it from pulled it out of a REO. The plan is to put a blower on it eventually. The low compression ratio lends itself to being super charged.
The great thing about it is that if I don't like it I can change it because its a hot rod. I am having a lot of fun building this hot rod truck. Maybe I should go bigger with a Red Diamond like a 406 or a 501 nothing beats cubic inches, right? So after doing more research It turns out that It is most likely a Clark 5 speed and could be 1 of 3 configurations. One has a 6.2 first gear ratio and fifth direct, second one has a 7.17 first and fifth direct, third one has a 6.21 first and .832 fifth overdrive. I am not totally confident that I have identified it correctly and won't know until I have the engine and trans here.
No trans will bolt directly in place of that 5-speed, the 5-speeds have a specific bolt pattern but you can use a smaller BD or SD bell housing BD265 and smaller (265.264,241,240, 220) and be able to use a Scout2 , pickup-travelall t-19, T-18 or T-98 4-speeds. The 5-speeds use a larger piliot bearing then the smaller transmisson so you would have to swap that out for the smaller one. The 5-speeds used in the big trucks in the 1950's where not sycro'd, the later 1960's-where, they are not the funnest transmisson to drive, i have a 7:1 first direct 5th in a 1962 travelall and i would much rather have a 4-speed for daily driving, towing it is great.
Here's a block plate I use to make a Ford Six-to-Chevy Powerglide trans. You could do one similarly, with countersunk block bolts and studs to pick up the trans bolt pattern of your choice. You should reference all dimensions off the crank centerline and the input shaft centerline. Good choice on keeping the six, by the way. Be prepared to answer lots of questions on it when you open the hood.
Thanks for the bell housing info. So are the bell housing to block patterns all the same on the inline 6 engines GD, SD, BD? I would think that the RD series of engines have a larger bell housing due to their size but I could be wrong. I drove a 65 Peterbilt dump truck for 9 years that had a 4 speed main box and a 4 speed auxiliary trans set up in it with twin sticks so the crash box is not a problem for me. But it is a hot rod and that trans is not very hot rod like although it should never break.
I had thought about making an adapter plate and being able to use a variety of bell housing and trans combinations. I like the smoothness and torque of an inline 6 cylinder engine. Kind of tired of seeing the same old hot rod everywhere with a SBC engine in it so I went outside the box and down the street a ways with this set up.
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