Hey all,

I bought a 1978 F250 400 4x4 that had a broken transmission and bell housing. Anyway, I got a junkyard bell housing and transmission housing that are in pretty good shape, swapped over the guts in the tranny and as I was putting the bell housing on I noticed there were a couple of differences between the broken original housing and the new housing I received.
The new housing has a cutout on the very bottom between the lowest two bolts, where it mates with the sheet metal against the engine. The cutout is about a foot long and half an inch wide. I can look directly into the clutch area and see the flywheel. This seems like it would get a lot of dirt and water into it...not good. The cutout looks like it is intended and is from the mold so I was wondering if anyone has seen this and/or knows what it's for.
The second difference is the hole centered just above where the tranny mates with the bell housing is about twice the size of the hole on the broken original bell housing. Also not sure about this hole or what it's for, but not as concerned.

Any ideas?

Thank you

 

the cut out is to gain access to the torque converter bolts. There is a metal cover that bolts over the opening

 

Bell housing: M/T / Converter housing: A/T

351M/400's came with C6's. The converter housing is made as part of the trans case.

There are two different 1977/79 F100/350 & 1978/79 Bronco 351M/400 bell housings:

1977/78 and 1979 before serial number DG0,001: D7TZ-7505-A

1979 from serial number DG0,001: D9TZ-7505-A

There will be differences in some of the clutch linkage parts if a D9TZ bell housing is used in place of a D7TZ bell housing.

 

Thank you, there is a clutch fork hole, I have an NP435 in there and all the bolt holes fit and everything seems to line up. Unless they just covered the clutch fork hole for an auto. Sounds like i'm going to have to fab us a cover. The 7 and 9 are different in the serial number so that explains it. Should i cover the upper hole or is that for venting?

 

No such thing, a M/T uses a bell housing. A/T's use a converter housing on some, but...

351M/400's came with C6's. The converter housing is made as part of the trans case.

You won't find a clutch fork hole on a converter housing or an A/T trans case.

Post 2: And, you won't find a bell housing with a cutout to access converter bolts (they're actually nuts), cuz what M/T comes with a torque converter?

Fluid-Matic aka Tip-Toe-Matic aka Fluid Drive is the only M/T I'm aware of with a torque converter. Called "Clunk-O-Matic" by Mopar buffs, installed in 1941/53 Chrysler/DeSoto/Dodge.

 

woa my mistake, i mis read his post. I thought he had a auto tranny

 

The "hole" in the front of the bellhousing usually just has a plate covering it, called an inspection cover.

Not too hard to just make on from a piece of sheetmetal.