i just found out that my 65 289 bell housing wont bolt up to a later 289 why does ford have to change everything?
You've just entered into the universe that drives people to use brand X because everything is smartly designed to fit together to keep you coming back for more. Maybe not always the best, however it is the easiest. I have the same problems as you but it makes the search so much more challenging. Good luck, Tim
Well later 289/302 belhousings are easier to find so it is not the end of the world but yes it sucks...Henry want to make you use ALL those tools you bought. Chebbies you just need a 1/2 a 9/16th and a slot and a phillips...
Engineering I would imagine that the 6 bolt bell housing ( in use since the mid 60's ) is stronger than the older 5 bolt bell housing. The 5 bolt bell housing is a little more narrow than the 6 bolt
'65 bell housing will bolt up to any later 289,302, 5.0. And 351 w or c, you must have a 1964 or earlier 289.
I had a 54 ford for a while and looking for parts was pretty challenging for different motor and trans setups. My apache has a small block. Granted not the coolest mill ever, but a clutch setup with bellhousing, starter and a muncie was relatively cheap and easy to find. Gm parts are so interchangable its very appealing and i see why so many people run them Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Thank you, now I don't have to say a "word". Ford, why? exactly, I mean, Ford = square beg and round hole. Get out the BFH.
I've got a friend who's a die hard Ford fanatic, he won't run anything else. When we go to a swap meet I just can't believe how much stuff he looks at and discards because Ford changed it mid year or something. I've always been amazed at how he can keep all that straight in his head, or why he'd bother, or why he'd pay the ridiculous prices he pays when he is lucky enough to find something. Worse yet is he gets home with his new prize and half the time it won't fit. His loyalty to Ford may seem admirable to some, but it seems silly to me since he's a custom guy who never opens his hood anyway,and his stuff never seems to run very good, often breaking and holding the rest of us back on trips, so why put yourself (and us) through all that? Oh well, "to each his own" I guess.
'64 1/2s were titled as 65s as they came out mid model year. But, they had 260s or 170s, not 289s or 200s. What's worse is that subsequent models might have previous year's components until the assembly lines ran out of the older parts. (@Roddinron: beat me to the mid year parts swap comment!)
You know, I poke fun at Ford and it's not because there no good. They have awsome cars and engines. But for the life of me, I just can't figure out why?, WHY?, a man/company that is famed for mass production and part's interchangleablity, went to such a crazy messed up system. In my mind, Ford should be the one like Chevrolet. Make sence?
no your rite its a 64 ......my bad....so im thinking ill just get the rite bell housing for the late motor ... ah no..... the trans wont fit .............man i am half tempted to drop a ch... in it, no i will freshen up the stock motor f... , thanks ford
Chevy was easier to modify as a broke high school kid because of the interchangeability. Ford looked like a nightmare to swap parts on.....and that was when I only knew half of the problems with Ford interchange!
With the 289 making its appearance in '63, I can only guess that Ford went to a six bolt in '65 due to increasingly better power.
just my .02 ford realized performance was increasing and needed a stronger connection between motor and trans. think about it from the accts point of view. maybe a few hundred thousand engines that needed additional tooling, bolt hole, webbing to strengthen the block and an extra bolt. adds up to a lot of money they could have saved if they stayed with what they had. since the cream rises to the top maybe they just wanted to keep the chevy guys away ! just kidding i own chevies and fords
I know a guy who has a Chevy that always runs like shit...must mean all Chevy owners are shitty mechanics..
The Die Hard Fans of both Fords and Chevys and Mopars who really look into things will find "things that fit". Ford needed to change things as the SBF evolved and the Ford-O-Matic was replaced by the C4's and the old 3 speeds sticks were upgraded and the T-10 and toploaders came into being.How many of you Chevy guys would want a cast iron Powerglide in front of a 327 or 350? How many Mopar guys would want a Gyro-Matic ?
Reminds me of when I blew the engine in my '63 Galaxie hardtop in the fall of 1980. Had a 260/3-on-the-tree that I managed to drop a valve and punch out the side of a cylinder wall. Cheapest thing to do was to get a 5-Star rebuild long block - heck, I'll drop a 289 in it. Engine came in to the shop, found out it was out of a '67 but with a 6-bolt bellhousing instead of the 5. Everything else swapped out-front cover with the oil filler tube and dipstick, but this set off a chain reaction - had to spend a couple of weeks hunting down a 6-bolt bellhousing around Omaha, then find a 3-speed from a '67 Mustang that didn't have the goofy offset trans-to-bellhousing bolt pattern, then get the driveshaft modified to work (don't remember if we lengthened or shortened it), and then modify the clutch linkage to get it to work. I learned that the 5-to-6 bolt change was midyear '65, and had I thought things through I should have dropped in a 390/4-speed. But, I will admit the combination got me through carpentry apprenticeship, night school and college, and when it left me in 1990 it was very used and abused.
You think your having fun with the bellhousing stuff, wait until you start messing with their harmonic balancer , pulley and water pump combinations.....
Chevy trans swaps are as easy as a pie. That's the beauty of Chevy, interchangeability. Ford is like a woman, they can't make up their minds.
I do not think that Chevy is interchangeable today as it was in the past. Their new engines seem to be completely different than the old 265 to 409. That interchangeability is what made Chevy so popular in the old days and it has disappeared. The Ford flat-heads form 1928 t0 1953 were interchangeable. This made Fords popular in the old days. Car manufactures could care less about interchangeability today. Part stores use to have parts on hand because they were all interchangeable. The parts stores do not have an inventory like they did in the past. They have to order from their warehouse and they can have it here on Wednesday. I would hate to be in the car repair business and have a bunch of cars waiting for parts. I think foreign cars would be a bigger problem.
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