VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc 216 to 235 swap

I am swapping the 216 from my '37 pickup and installing a early 1955 235 engine (water pump has impeller inside pump). Everything is going good until I got to the throw out arm. I installed a 1938 pressure plate using a '38 front bearing retainer. I have a arm from a 1955(?) chevy that uses a ball that screws in on the inside of the bell housing and attaches to the throw out arm.The mounting hole for the arm on the '37 bell housing is 5/8 and the threaded end of the ball is 5/16. Has anyone else encountered this and if so, how did you over come the problem.

Thank you
honk1e

Hi honk1e,

Check out this tech article over at the Stovebolt page: https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/engine_swap_216.htm

Hope this helps.

Dean

Thanks for the info Dean, but I have looked at several " how to" articles but nobody has addressed that problem. Guess I will have to figure it out by myself

honk1e

On my 38, the ball screws into a larger threaded bushing that threads into the housing. That gives the two sizes that I think you are looking at.

Thanks for your response. What did you use for a throw out bearing arm. I have a '55 arm but it that will not work in the '37 bell housing The '55 arm is curved and I need a straight arm that uses the ball stud. I have found no reference to this on any of the 216 to 235 swap articles. Any body have any solutions? Am I the only one that ran into this problem?

Hello honkie,

I'm not sure if I posted it here or in the '37-'41 forum a couple of years ago, but I replaced my '37 clutch with a '38 clutch using the '38 arm and bearing retainer. The pivot ball, at least on my '37 MD and my friend Walters' '36 1/2 ton P/U, is a 2 piece unit. The larger thread screws into the bell housing from the out side and has a stud which the pivot ball screws onto. The reason for that is the arm is held to the pivot ball by a retaining snap wire ( my description ). The arm and the pivot ball are slid into place from inside the bell housing and the pivot ball is then screwed onto the stud.
There was some discussion about the location of the pivot ball between the '37 and the '38 bell housings because of the difference in the type of release bearings between the 2 different clutches. I measured the distance of the pivot cup location of the 2 clutch release forks , from the end that would engage release bearing, and found there to be about .100 difference. I didn't think it was enough of a difference. I have not had any trouble since I made this "up-grade".

Thanks for your response Dave. With the '38 arm, where you able to use the original '37 clutch pedal? Also, will the ball from my original arm transfer to the '38 arm? When reading your response, I think that is what you did. Just trying to make sure that I am understanding what you did.
Thank you for help
honk1e

Hello honkie,
I was lucky in that I had a spare '37 engine / trans with the '38 clutch, pressure plate and release bearing mounted to it. The spare trans had the front bearing retainer with neck for the release bearing to slide on. I compared both the spare pivot ball with my original and they were exactly the same. I did a trial fit of my pivot ball to the '38 arm, the ball part and the snap "wire" fit nicely.
The '38 flywheel is a direct replacement and I used my original starter.

Rock Auto carries the '38 clutch, pressure plate and release bearing with a guide tool for about $110 with shipping. I would suggest not using the release bearing, but using an American made one, BCA or National.

The '37 and the '38 clutch pedal connect to the arm by a chain. My clutch and brake pedal are mounted side by side on a casting boss which is part of the main body of my brake master cylinder.

History ... I only changed to the '38 set-up when I couldn't get my original '37 clutch to work after the flywheel was resurfaced. I think the machinist failed to remove an equal amount of material from the clutch disk engagement face of the flywheel and the surface of the flywheel where the pressure plate mounts.

I just recently picked up another spare '37 engine (hurt) that came with a complete original clutch and flywheel assembly. I will rebuild that and put in my '37.

Hi Dave
I already have a '38 flywheel, pressure plate, clutch, and bearing retainer installed in my engine. I ran into problems when I tried to use the arm that the guy I bought the engine from gave me. I don't know if it matters or not, but my '37 is a pickup. The original throw out arm has a round arm on it. My brake and clutch pedals also sit side by side and are attached to bell housing with 3 bolts and 2 bolts attach to 3 speed transmission. The clutch pedal has a piece of metal hanging down with a hole in it. The round arm of the throw out went into that hole. That's how the arm worked. When you push the pedal down, the clutch is free. It sounds like all I need is a '38 or '39 throw out arm. My book says that they are the same. The arm for a '38 has a hole in it on the end. I can work with that. I have never seen a clutch pedal/throw out that works with a chain. No reason it can't. I think you answered all my questions. When I get the correct arm I can make it work, maybe with a chain. Just out of curiosity what kind of arm was on the '37 engine you just got? Does it have the friction bearing?

Thank you Dave for your help. I really appreciate it. I think I know now what i need to do.
honk1e