Questions frequently arise around the various bell housings found in these Jeeps. With the stock V6 the bell housing looks like the BOP bell housing, below left. Chevy bell housings, below right, are different necessitating changes to be made when mating Buick engines to Chevy transmissions such as the SM420/465 transmissions.

To further confuse the issue Buick 198 V6s may be found in these Jeeps. They have the distributor in front like the 225 and 231 Jeeps but have a different bell housing pattern than the BOP or Chevy. See bottom row for illustrations. These engines, the 198 V6 and 215 “Fireball” V8 have a much more round bell housing pattern and lack the valley that the BOP bell housing has.

BOP standard bellhousing

Standard BOP (Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac) Bell housing Pattern

Chevy Bell Housing

Standard Chevy Bellhousing

A Buick 198/215 bellhousing

Buick 198 to T90 Bell housing from the left

Buick 198/215 Bell Housing From the Right

198 from the right, note the lack of the “Valley” in the top of the bell housing