Hey guys new here I have alot of questions on alot of things so I'll start my first post with questions about a 4 speed manual. I'm buying a complete setup of the bellhousing to clutch pedals from a 73 Valiant with a slant for my 68 slant turbo efi 4 speed project, and was wondering if this will work with a 71 4 speed I'm looking at buying. It's a 73 3 speed so I'm assuming the valiant has an aluminum bellhousing.

My question is do I have to find a stock type clutch or can I go with an 11" aftermarket hayes or something like that type.

Boy you jumped in with both feet...

There are a couple bellhousings for A-body cars, the 3spd only bellhousing (only bolts to the A903 or A-230 3 spd), and the 4 speed bell (which may have dual bolt patterns for the 3 or 4 speed boxes, mostly in the late A-bodies where the OD box and the late 3 spd bearing retainer were same sized)... There are only 2 clutch options for these bells, 9.25" and 10"...

The other option is to use a very rare bellhousing out of copcar/taxi cab B-body cars in the late 60's or some Trucks came with the 3/4 speed and the big iron bellhousing that will take the 11" clutch (it uses hydraulic actuation, and you need the liberal use of a sledge hammer to make things fit in an A-body). At that point you can use a 340/360/383 11" clutch if needed or find other alternates that will work within the 23 spline 1" count that will bolt to the flywheels.

go to the sites home page and click on 'articles' the 4 speed article will give you some insight on what to look for...

-D.Idiot

Try info from specclutch.com. Met their reps in Atlanta and we talked about Performance clutch setups for Slant Six racers. They said that they have all parts needed, SFI certified too. It's worth checking into to see if it is true or not.

Ok another question. Apparently the bellhousing out of this slant is likely cast? So is that a 3 speed only bell? I can get a later 3 speed aluminum bell but I doesn't have a clutch fork. If I buy the later aluminum bell can I just go and switch the fork?

they can be either, the one in my '74 was aluminum, all A-body clutch forks in the later cars are swappable.

-D.Idiot

you think I could redrill the 73 bolt pattern? Would that work?

Where the 4 speed bolts go you'd have to add some meat to a 3 speed bell and redrill (the 3 speed bell isn't as 'roomy' to work in and may just limit you to the 9.25" clutch anyway). Also you have to work with the difference in the bearing retainer on all bellhousings 1975+ (5.125") vs. the other years at 4.80".

Once you have either 3 or 4 speed(/OD) bells to compare things it will make sense...

-D.Idiot

I can get the later aluminum 3 speed housing with the 3 and 4 speed bolt patterns in it as well but it has no clutch fork I've been told that I should be able to transfer the clutch fork from the cast 73 over to the later one do you think that sounds true?

Yep.

-D.Idiot

Ram.

DI is THE man on these trannies. I took his lessons and have done several of these swaps, and in particular I have one of the truck 11" clutch bells that came with my '64 truck.

I think DI is being kind. My experiences with nearly all combinations of the Mopar 3 and 4 speeds that can be put in or came in a '60s truck suggest you really ought to just get a 4 speed aluminum bell and save yourself tons of work. Yes, anything can be fabricated and I have lots of pics to prove it, but I can't see how you could get the truck cast iron bell in a small car. Well yeh I do, but it would look like a '48 willys station wagon I had once where I put a Ford flathead v8 in and shifted the automatic with a rope through the absent floorboard. That cast iron bell is a bear to work with too, hard to access the internal bolts, feels like a transmission when it is laying on your chest, and on and on.

With the aluminum bell it was easy to switch clutches to driver side from passenger side. I did it once with a hydraulic throwout bearing and then again with a Wilwood pull slave, which I really liked using. Easy to do.

But as easy as the 4 speed aluminum bell is to work with and with a good 10 inch clutch, heck why do more work than needed. Just my hard earned opinion, and thanks to DI for all he does to help us all out.
rock
'64d100

sweet thank you DI. Looks like I'll be buying all the conversion parts from a guy in regina and an aluminum bellhousing from a guy in oregon