Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train flywheel

As far as I know I have a 1970 250 motor. I bought a flywheel for a 10" clutch about 6 mos. ago. I just got the clutch today, so I started to test fit everything up and found that the bellhousing does not fit over the flywheel, the teeth on the flywheel catch on the bellhousing,...I bought the bell housing from a local wrecker, and it mounts up to the motor when the flywheel is not mounted... Do I have the wrong flywheel, or bel housing or ???? Any help would be great thank you in advance...

It sounds like you have a 14 inch flywheel and a bellhousing for the 12 3/4 inch wheel. The 250 family inlines and the small block V8 can use the same flywheels, either size, and the same bellhousings as the back of both engines are exactly the same. FYI - the 14 inch wheel is commonly refered to as 168 teeth, the 12 3/4 as 153 teeth.

The bellhousing for the 12 3/4 inch wheel is straight down along the right side where the starter mounts. The bellhousing for the 14 inch wheels has a very noticible outward bulge for the starter nose. There is also a slight difference in the "taper" of the bellhousing from the block mount to the trans mount and that is where your interference is happening. You either need to swap the bellhousing or the flywheel. Knowing that the pressure plate fits what you have and the starter fits and meshes correctly to the flywheel it sounds like the bellhousing swap is the cure. This should be the only change you have to make as the clutch fork and tranny work with either housing. The dust shields for the bottom front of the bellhousings were made for both styles so that needs to be swapped also.

Would the same clutch fit onto the smaller flywheel??? I can return the flywheel, but not the bell housing, And I cannot return the clutch either... So if the clutch will not fit the other (smaller) flywheel it would be cheaper for me to replace the bellhousing... (Does that make sense?) Sorry... Thanks in advance...

what type bell housing do u have? cast iron or aluminum? what is size of flywheel u have now?14"?....yes, i think you could use 10" clutch kit without a problem.....

I believe you can use a 10" and 10.5" clutch assembly on a 153 tooth and usually a 168 (at least aftermarket) is tapped for a 10.5 and an 11.

As far as I can recall the 10.4 inch clutch and p-plate fits either factory flywheel, but the 11 inch units only fit the larger diameter wheel. I seem to recall it is more an issue with the friction surface area of contact than the bolt hole spacings.

By all means use the 153 tooth wheel if you find this the simplest as far as exchanging parts. The starter you want to use will have both mounting holes in a straight line, not a diagonal.
If the block isn't tapped for the inner hole it is a simple mattter to drill and tap using the starter as a template. Just be sure it is lined up square and straight to the block!!

thank you very much, this is exactly what I needed... Hopefully I will be up and running within the week... It has only been a year and a half... Thank you guys!!!