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I have three big block hydraulic bell housings, starters, flywheels, and dust covers all removed from the big dodge trucks with the 361. I'm wanting to put one of those setups in a 66 sweptline with a steel crank 440. Of course the flywheel won't work because the 361 had the longer crank to clear the front of the bell housing and its an eight bolt. My question is has anybody made a new flywheel that will work with 440 and the hydraulic bell housing from the bigger trucks. I have seen some companies online that make custom flywheels. It seems to me that the hydraulic bell housings from the bigger trucks are easier to come by.

raceguy wrote:I have three big block hydraulic bell housings, starters, flywheels, and dust covers all removed from the big dodge trucks with the 361. I'm wanting to put one of those setups in a 66 sweptline with a steel crank 440. Of course the flywheel won't work because the 361 had the longer crank to clear the front of the bell housing and its an eight bolt. My question is has anybody made a new flywheel that will work with 440 and the hydraulic bell housing from the bigger trucks. I have seen some companies online that make custom flywheels. It seems to me that the hydraulic bell housings from the bigger trucks are easier to come by.

I have one from a 361 C series. If you have a 64 to 68 318 flywheel try doing a mock up with BB engine to see whats different. Let us know your results.
I'm interested to know.

very simple to do. Count the teeth on the ring gear of the 361 flywheel. I have the 383 sweptline hydraulic set up. Count the teeth on your flywheel and I will count mine. Then you will see like so many others, that it simply will not work.

powerwagon54 wrote:very simple to do. Count the teeth on the ring gear of the 361 flywheel. I have the 383 sweptline hydraulic set up. Count the teeth on your flywheel and I will count mine. Then you will see like so many others, that it simply will not work.

So is the 383 flywheel different then the 318 flywheel say from a 66/68 318

The hydro bell on my 361 that was in a D300 is the same exact bell (same p/n) as on my 413 and 383 engines.

I have bolted a 68 318 flywheel up to the steel crank 440 for mock up. The 318 crank has the right offset to clear the big block bell housing and the bolt holes line up. The problem is its not big enough in diameter so the starter will engage. So I'm wonder why can't a machine shop mill a new flywheel? I have talked with local machine shop and he said that yes he could. I have found that the getting a big block bell housing set up out of a big truck is easier to find. I understand that getting the 383 flywheel is the hardest part to get. I'm going to give this a try unless somebody has just a hydraulic 383 flywheel for sale.

The 383 flywheels are rare i believe they have a ring gear with 184 teeth that are easy to find i need a inspection cover for mine these parts are hard to find.The starters are hard to find also.

that is why I said to count the teeth on the flywheel. The 318 flywheel is 172 teeth. The 383 flywheel is 186 teeth. Therefore the 383 flywheel is bigger than a 318 flywheel.But it is smaller than a 413 flywheel. The starter will not engage the flywheel. The 383 uses a 12 inch clutch, the 318 uses an 11 inch clutch and the 361-413 uses a 13 inch clutch. The only way to bolt this together using factory parts is to get the complete setup (bell housing, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, and starter) from a 67-68 truck only with the 383. I have been down this road so many times it makes my head hurt. Now as far as having a machine shop make a flywheel, I have no doubt it can be done. But I bet it would cost more than just buying the proper set up. And I highly doubt anyone will separate a 383 flywheel from the assembly.

Roxyflash wrote:......The starters are hard to find also.

Easy and simple to convert a small block starter. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41060&hilit=big+block+starter

PwrWgnDrvr wrote:

Roxyflash wrote:......The starters are hard to find also.

Easy and simple to convert a small block starter. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41060&hilit=big+block+starter

Not if you don't have one to get the nose cone from.

I agree that nobody will want to separate a 383 flywheel from their assembly. That's why I'm going to check into seeing what it costs to have a flywheel made.

Here is where I have a problem. When I put the 400 BB into my 70 D500 converted from a 318 3 engine. I never got the 383 flywheel with the bell housing. Nor did I get the dust cover for bottom of bell housing at the time either. I mocked up the 400 with engine sitting on its nose and first drilled the crank using a 318-3 flywheel bolted to crank and with a magnetic drill proceeded to install the needed pilot hole and fitted brass bushing. I then modified a 413 industrial front mount to fit around the cast crank harmonic balancer on the 400. Last thing I did was have the flywheel re balanced to work on the 400. I used the complete LA 318 3 Flywheel,Clutch disc and pressure plate that came with that engine. For the starter I was given a BB starter from a 413 industrial engine , But had to install the snout onto a 318 starter.

So then WHY DID IT WORK ??????????

Another route to take is getting a bellhousing/flywheel from a 74-77 361 truck/bus. Those were 6 bolt crank. They were mechanical clutch driver's side, but have a window to run the clutch fork on the passenger's side too. You would just have to fab up a way to mount the slave cylinder.

These medium duty trucks/buses often had the 5-speed NP540 & not the 435.

Bucky

powerwagon54 wrote:that is why I said to count the teeth on the flywheel. The 318 flywheel is 172 teeth. The 383 flywheel is 186 teeth. Therefore the 383 flywheel is bigger than a 318 flywheel.But it is smaller than a 413 flywheel. The starter will not engage the flywheel. The 383 uses a 12 inch clutch, the 318 uses an 11 inch clutch and the 361-413 uses a 13 inch clutch. The only way to bolt this together using factory parts is to get the complete setup (bell housing, flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, and starter) from a 67-68 truck only with the 383. I have been down this road so many times it makes my head hurt. Now as far as having a machine shop make a flywheel, I have no doubt it can be done. But I bet it would cost more than just buying the proper set up. And I highly doubt anyone will separate a 383 flywheel from the assembly.

Does the 383 use a different bellhousing than the 413?

^^^^ I think so. Crank flanges are different, stick out different distances.

Bucky

PwrWgnDrvr wrote:The hydro bell on my 361 that was in a D300 is the same exact bell (same p/n) as on my 413 and 383 engines.

What year was the D300 with a 361? I didn't think the 361 was offered in light duty trucks.

Bucky

712edf wrote:

PwrWgnDrvr wrote:The hydro bell on my 361 that was in a D300 is the same exact bell (same p/n) as on my 413 and 383 engines.

What year was the D300 with a 361? I didn't think the 361 was offered in light duty trucks.

Bucky

Wasn't factory. Pulled the truck (66) out of a junkyard. 361 4V, NP435, 6 lug front axle, 8 lug dually rear. Parted it out. IIRC, vin plate said 318.

Ok so today I decided to pull a 318 with a 4 speed and a bellhousing with dual clutch fork holes. The motor and transmission were removed from a street sweeper. After removing the bellhousing and the I noticed that it had a 13inch clutch. So I removed the clutch and pressure plate and I notice that the flywheel looked to be same diameter as the big block 361 hydrualic setup flywheel plus it had the six bolt holes and not the eight bolts pattern. The flywheel removed from the 318 that came out of a street sweeper had 158 teeth with six bolt and the big block flywheel removed from the heavy duty hads 186 teeth with eight bolt. Looks like I have to remove the ring gear from the heavy duty flywheel 186 teeth and put it on the 318 flywheel that was in a street sweeper so my big block stater will work. Other than that I need to have a spacer made so that the flywheel will not be engaged with the starter all the time. Also I will have to use the four speed from the street sweeper or change the inpute shaft so the bigger clutch will work. I dont know if all industrial 318 with manual trans have the bigger diameter flywheel with the 13inch cluctch but this one did. The engine was dated 1982 and had a tag from chrysler mounted on the cylinder head. Hope this info will help somebody else.

raceguy wrote:Ok so today I decided to pull a 318 with a 4 speed and a bellhousing with dual clutch fork holes. The motor and transmission were removed from a street sweeper. After removing the bellhousing and the I noticed that it had a 13inch clutch. So I removed the clutch and pressure plate and I notice that the flywheel looked to be same diameter as the big block 361 hydrualic setup flywheel plus it had the six bolt holes and not the eight bolts pattern. The flywheel removed from the 318 that came out of a street sweeper had 158 teeth with six bolt and the big block flywheel removed from the heavy duty hads 186 teeth with eight bolt. Looks like I have to remove the ring gear from the heavy duty flywheel 186 teeth and put it on the 318 flywheel that was in a street sweeper so my big block stater will work. Other than that I need to have a spacer made so that the flywheel will not be engaged with the starter all the time. Also I will have to use the four speed from the street sweeper or change the inpute shaft so the bigger clutch will work. I dont know if all industrial 318 with manual trans have the bigger diameter flywheel with the 13inch cluctch but this one did. The engine was dated 1982 and had a tag from chrysler mounted on the cylinder head. Hope this info will help somebody else.

What is the diameter of the 158 tooth flywheel? I believe I have the same one, from a 76 S600 that had a 361/540.

What is the diameter of the 186 tooth flywheel?

What is the diameter of the input shaft of the transmission?

Bucky

I am really curious as to how much money is invested in this already and how much more is needed to get it bolted together.