198 Fireball V6

Can you possibly post the depth info on the 225? I'm stilling mulling my drivetrain options. Still have the engine in the car, but my depth with spacer is right around 9".

 

Thank you, sir!

 

Not to intrude on this subject but since we are talking Fireballs, i am wondering if anyone has info on the clutch arm, pivot ball, etc setup. Mine has never been right. It does not produce enough throw and no matter how much adjustment i do with any linkage, pedal, etc. it does not get allow the pedal to be more "normal" instead of going to the floor. Anyone have any pictures or parts that they used as i think i need to redo everything from the starting at the throwout bearing on out to the pedal.

 

I wanted to do some research on my setup, to lend some info, but I realized last night that mine is setup with a home-fab version of later model "cable" style release. See my pictures in the "what the heck is this" thread.

 

Interesting. Thanks.

 

OK, so I'm seeing what years and years of posts are saying about the 198 V6. It's an oddball, but it honestly runs great, lugs down to 300 rpm in low range, a has a nice amount of power running fully loaded uphill. The Rochester carb seems to give no issues running at angles, either. I took my wife on a grocery run into town, and it just runs awesome. I don't have much money into it, but what I've done was very simple. I have the 4.3l sitting in the corner, ready to get torn down, but I had a renewed thought about my setup.

I've researched for months and what I understand is that the 198 V6 CAN be mated to the T98A transmission. As opposed to many on this board (SO many topics related to 4speed swaps start with the statement "I'm not building a rockcrawler"...LOL...I AM wanting to build a rock-crawler and want to end up around 80-100:1 crawl ratio.

Without my 2 5/8 spacer on the back, my understanding is that the T98A will bolt right up to my 198's bellhousing using the GM pattern on the bare bell. My only question at this point is if the T98a MDG stickout is long enough using the 198 bellhousing I have right now and if so, what clutch parts I'd need.

Once the 198 konk's out, I think I'd be able to swap to a 225 or Fhead fairly easily and still have my 80-100:1 ratio's intact.

 

Do you have the T-98? If not, why would you start from zero with the T-98 instead of a T-18? I don't have much hands-on experience with this topic, but it seems to me like the engine side of the swap is the easier. Regarding the transfer case connection, there is the F134 version of the T-98, which is nowhere near plentiful, and expects a plate adapter at the engine side.

 

My bell is around 6 9/16" (6.375)- 6 5/8" (6.625) deep, (love to have that measurement, Chuck, whenever you can get around to it, so I don't have to resort to pulling my motor ) and it would seem that from this thread's discussion:
T-98 Adapter Arrived

that the t98A has these specs:

"Here is a thought. Open for discussion.
T98 Stick out from face of case: 7 7/8" (I am assuming this is the same for a T90)
Subtract the adapter thickness: 1"
You are left with: 6 7/8"
T18 Stick out from face of case: 6 2/8" Subtract
Still: 5/8" Short
Using the T98 adapter as a pattern, mark and drill the case to the T90 bell housing bolt pattern so housing can be bolted directly to the case."

That being the case, if we subtract 6 7/8" (6.875) from 6 5/8" (6.625) you're left with 1/4" (.25) of length that might be accounted in the pilot bearing hole, correct? Later in the thread the adapter might have been corrected to be 7/8" thick and not 1", which would give me more stickout to work with, so I think giving Herm a call to see if he can confirm the stickout length from the face of the aluminum adapter he adds might steering me towards a t98A transmission from him using my current motor with the ability to run a dauntless or Fhead in the future.

 

To be honest, because T18's confuse and scare me. Can you point to one of the built models that herm or Novak offers and tell me which one you'd recommend? I don't care about the D18 adapter. That's a given for my project.
Heavy Duty Truck Style Transmissions | Herm The Overdrive Guy

 

Ok was just reading up on Novak’s ford t18 to gm bellhousing page.

so, modified bearing retainer, $60.00 from novak, some simple machine work on bell and t18 case, and the bell/transmission will bolt up? How about mdg stickout?

 

Ime the Ford input is the correct stickout. I used the Ford bearing retainer without mods just used a Ford to bearing. Options are limited though and turning to GM dia gives you a wider selection of to bearings.

 

The 198/215 bell housing could be different. Nearly all "classic" GM engines use either the BOP (Buick-Olds-Pontiac-Cadillac) bell housing, or the Chevy bell housing. These are both the same in depth, differing instead in the block pattern. The 198/215 has its own block pattern. Novak's premise depends on the "classic" Ford bell housing for V8s and sixes having the same depth as these GM bells; thus these popular GM 6s/V8s can be mated to the Ford transmissions rather easily.

There are engines that do not conform to this standard, ie the 198/215 Buicks, 60 degree GM V6s and the Ford 144/170/200. Donny knows something about these 198/215 engines; maybe he can comment if Chuck can't get back to you about the 198 bell housing.

 

There are quite a few different T-18 MDGs. Almost all Jeep T-18s used a plate adapter and T-14/T-15 bell housing from the 60s through 1979. I posted a thread about this, which includes a lot of info about years and models, and generated a lot of discussion about exchange of MDGs between Jeep and Ford T-18s. Truck 4-speed Transmissions As I Understand Them

Someone here has taken one of the Jeep V8 Wagoneer/J-truck T-18s and modified the MDG to work in a CJ. These transmissions use a very long MDG, which this poster had shortened to work with his application. Certainly you could follow this path and make the MDG any length you need.