Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train 261 clutch size

I'm putting a 1955 261 into a 53 chevy car. I'm keeping the closed drive line, so need the 53 bell housing to match tranny bolts. That leads to using the original flywheel and 9 1/4 inch clutch. The 261 is a mild build, but will be lots of power compared to the original 235. Question - will the small clutch work OK, or do I need to change to a larger one?

If they make performance clutch disc & a stiffer pressure plate you should be OK with the standard 9.250" size.

Not sure if they offer those????
MBHD

I once had a pretty good 261 in a 1953 210 and a heavy duty 9" clutch was fine. What was a problem were the bushings on the countershaft of the '53 transmission. After wearing down two sets in a few thousand miles I replaced the 1953 transmission with a 1954 transmission with needle bearings. These never went bad. I also had similar experience with a 1951 Chevy with a 261. I bought a Schiefer 10" aluminum flywheel and clutch for it when I converted to an open drive shaft with a Muncie 4-speed and a truck bellhousing.

There were 10" and 10-3/4" clutches for the 1954 and earlier trucks. I'm not sure if these will fit in a passenger car bell housing.

Hi Joe,

You will not believe the differance between your 261 and previous 216 or 235. With your choise of tranny and rr you will probably be ok so long an you dont put your foot into too much.
But the 261 is hard not too.

In my 40 chev I had concidered using a 41 trans, 3 on the tree with the car bell housing, I was ready to install everything and changed my mind. I went with a 59 Elcamino 3spd, reworked the 3 on the tree to keep the look, truck bell housing stock 11" truck clutch with 57 chev rr with 3:36. Worked real well but I found that I wanted more gears and more perky-ness to go along with what the 261 could do. Two years later I put a saginaw 2 groove 4spd in and now I am very pleased.. A saginaw 3 spd is a very good choise (better ratios)if you can find one, to keep your original look.
Just some food for thought.

Lots of ways to do it....I have a 40 Chev Convertible and after going the "authentic" route and finding that at freeway speeds it just wasn't a good mix, started over. After the Mustang front end by Chassis Engineering (by the way, a top of the line bunch), then went to a T-5 transmission out of a S-10 pickup and finally to a '84 Blazer rearend. My engine is a warmed over 261 which dynoed out at 184 HP and I could't be happier with the result. Drives nice and cruise at 70 at 2550 RPM. The transmission installation was pretty straigt forward after getting an adaptor plate from "Buffalo". He also had the mounting plates to weld on to the rearend to match the '40 spring mounts.

Thanks for the replies.

Hank - The clutch and clutch cover I have are relatively new (couple thousand miles). Even though they're not heavy duty or performance they should work - for a while anyway.

Hoyt - Great info on the bushing/bearing issue. Hadn't thought of that, I'll keep my eyes open for a 54 tranny. My intent in the longer picture is to go with an open drive train and a later transmission. Can only spend so much money at a time, so for now it's the closed drive shaft and a 53/54 transmission.