Steel 289 Bellhousing - 6 bolt

[1985 CCX]

289 Cobra Bellhousing | eBay

Nice part if you have a 6 bolt................

[MAStuart]

Hi Jeff, I emailed this gentleman inquiring about the bell housing. He claims it will take either the 157 tooth or the 164 tooth fly wheel. In the pictures in the add I could only see one set of starter bolt holes. I asked him if there were another set of starter bolt holes that I couldn't see. He replied that there one only one set of starter bolt holes and to use the different fly wheels you need a different starter nose and informed me that the 2 fly wheels were the same diameter but had different teeth count. From my point of view his whole story is BS. Unless he knows something that I don't know. I have played with small block Fords since about 1969, the majority have been with stick shifts. I have never seen 157 tooth and 164 tooth fly wheel that was the same diameter. As far as starter noses, there are 2 types of starter noses, automatic and manual. Some manual transmissions use the automatic nose because of the positioning of the ring gear on the fly wheel. Some are closer to the front edge and some are closer to rear edge. My biggest reason for asking, a Lakewood can take either fly wheel, but they also have 2 sets of starter bolt holes.

If anyone knows anything different than this, please enlighten me. Does the guy with the Cobra bell housing plain just not know what he is talking about.
Mark

[DAVID GAGNARD]

If anyone knows anything different than this, please enlighten me. Does the guy with the Cobra bell housing plain just not know what he is talking about.
Mark
Like

100% CORRECT..........which ever flywheel your using will determine which bellhousing you need..........correct on the starter also as well as the Lakewood bellhousing.........

The seller is full of BS.........this bellhousing is most likely for a 157 tooth flywheel and they were also an over the counter Ford part!!!!!!!!!

David

[Rick Parker]

[IMG][/IMG]

157 tooth McCloud aluminum Flywheel

This Belhousing has both patterns and is relatively heavy. I had to have the mounting sufaces parallel ground, as it was off quite a bit.

[MAStuart]

Thanks guys! Now I have another question. I know the Cobra bell housings were available in 5 and 6 bolt patterns for 157 tooth fly wheel, were they also both available for 164 tooth fly wheels? Did the 5 bolt bell housing have the wide and narrow bolt pattern for the transmission? Mark

[MAStuart]

Sorry, I forgot to ask, what did the original small block cobras come with? The aluminum bell housing and what flywheel?

[blue sky]

5 bolt bell housings only the have the narrow pattern. The wide trans mounting pattern came with the development of the J block (6 bolt). The 5 bolt block can only take the 157 tooth flywheel and the max pressure plate size is 10 1/2" (Ford long style, not sure on aftermarkets). To use the 11" pressure plate, one needs the 164 tooth flywheel.

[1985 CCX]

Original Cobra housings were aluminum 157 tooth. They did offer a steel unit however I do not think it was standard, probably option. To my knowledge the 5-bolt units are all 157 tooth and onlt take small T10 transmission.

I have a 5-bolt unit and have had a few come out of the woodwork however the cost is out of my realm of reason. Are they worth it, maybe, I am using the ally Ford unit.

In the mean time, I will keep an eye out for a steel 5-bolt unit I can swing....

[MAStuart]

Thanks for the replies. The cobra bell housing, at the beginning of this thread, ended up being a no sale at $910, reserve no met.

If I am reading, what you guys have posted, correctly:

1. 5 bolt motors only used 157 tooth flywheels, I always thought that the full sized cars used the large flywheel. For some reason I thought my 63 Galaxie wagon with a 5 bolt 289 used a 164 tooth flywheel. It has been a long time since I have had it apart and I don't know if I actually counted the teeth. Sometime I will have to because the ring gear has some bad spots.

2. If the above is true, I will never find a factory 5 bolt bell housing for the large flywheel?

3. Since the cobra scatter shield is an over the counter part for racing, I always assumed the 5 bolt one would have been made with the dual transmission bolt patterns.

4. Did they ever make cobra lettered bell housings for 164 tooth flywheel?

5. Does anyone know if there was a bell housing that came standard on a 6 bolt motor that has the dual transmission bolt pattern? I thought I had seen them before, but don't know what they were from. Possibly cast iron and from a truck?
Mark

[DAVID GAGNARD]

5 bolt,289 blocks were very early blocks, I'm not 100% sure, but think they went to the "standard" 6 bolt block/bellhousing for the 1965 model year production........the same used through out the 289/302/351-W production until it ended.........

Don't know if any 289s came with the 164 tooth flywheel either, but 302/351-W's did, mostly in larger station wagons and trucks and they used an 11" clutch disc,vs. the standard 10.5" clutch disc......

Not sure what the original Cobras had in them,but I'd guess the early cars had 5 bolt blocks......
5 bolt blocks are hard to come by,but they do pop up every now and then.......5 bolt bellhousing and 6 bolt bellhousings ARE NOT interchangable,bellhousing type is determined by block type....

David

[1985 CCX]

5 bolt block ended mid-year 1964

[blue sky]

5. Does anyone know if there was a bell housing that came standard on a 6 bolt motor that has the dual transmission bolt pattern? I thought I had seen them before, but don't know what they were from. Possibly cast iron and from a truck?

Mark,

You need to look for the J-block 6 bolt bell housing from a Ford truck. They have both trans mounting patterns on them drilled but these bell housings only use the larger 164 tooth flywheel. There casting number is C5TZ-XXXX-X (something like that). This is a very heavy bell housing if you do not mind the weight.

[V8er]

Anyone know the part# or casting# on the 5-bolt steel "COBRA" bellhousing, have pics of one, OR know of one available? You can email or PM, if you'd rather. THANKS!