1969 Mustang bellhousing for big block

.

With a fat headed boss the trans will be the least of your problems. A c6 will fit with no problem,l have no experience with a standard trans.

JBR-3 wrote:Is the original Boss-9 bellhousing the only one that will have sufficient clearance
in the tunnel, that is, without using a BFH on the firewall ?

I have the Lakewood bell, and I have an aluminum truck bell ( casting # E7TA-7505 ).

One of my projects is to put a Boss motor in the '69, with headers, and I am
seriously considering going with a C6 if I get too pissed off with the Z-bar - vs - header issue.

Car is not an original Boss, maybe I should cut out and redo the firewall.

lakewood fits, have installed them on a few BOSS 429S,other wise its the scj/cj/BOSS 429 bell,or the truck 351m/400 bell which has the most room

.

Hack that SOB for all the clearance you need!!...sheetmetal is easy to reform, reshape, and re-weld!!

For headers for a B9 try FPA they have the best fitting ones.......

I had a 69 Boss 429, a 70 SCJ Torino Cobra and currently a 71 Mustang 429.

On the 69's, the firewall, trans tunnel and frame rails were the same as the Boss 429, so if your 429 is mounted in the correct location, either the ford bellhousing or a Lakewood will fit and use the stock Boss 429 Z-bar. With a Lakewood bellhousing, you will need spacers for the engine to z-bar bracket. As far as headers are concerned, whether your running modified shock towers or a mustang II front, custom headers are your best bet. If the z-bar is too much hassle, go to a hyd unit.

remember the 69 bell is diff from the 70, .they shortend the top two bolt ( in 70) bosses to allow a little more room to firewall in order to remove bell,or engine

.

Your dealing with the same issues everyone faces when putting a 429 in a pre 71 mustang. Everything is a tight fit, but it can be done.
Removing the shock towers and installing a mustang II front end raises other clearance issues. You will still end up making headers because they have to snake around the steering shaft. The front of the engine will sit high to clear the rack. The stock firewall & trans tunnel will have the same clearance issues. Moving the engine fore or aft of the location that original Boss's were mounted will create more z-bar issues. If you cut the firewall and try to set engine rearward, that's even more headache. Because the bellhousing is so tall on these engines, you still need 3.5" of clearance to the firewall so you will be able to remove it.
I have a 69 and am dealing with the same issues. If I had to do it all over again, I would have kept the shock towers and reinforced them, mounted the engine using Boss 429 mounts and brackets, a lakewood bellhousing and the Boss z-bar set up. With wedge heads, there are pre-made options available for headers, although they all suck because at least one or two tubes will go under the suspension limiting ground clearance. This would have been the easy way. In your case, you also have to notch the towers for head clearance. And, on the factory Boss cars, they used a wedge to angle the brake booster and mstr cyl upward to clear the valve cover. I remember working on my original Boss, having to remove the mstr cyl to get the valve cover off.
I decided to put a mustang II front in mine. I am still working on it. Right now, I have the firewall, part of the trans tunnel, and inner fenders cut out. I will be using motor plates, and mounting the brake and clutch cylinders inside. I have also modified the mounting and changed to a stiletto rack to gain clearance.
I would post some pics, but I don't know how to do that on this site. Just remember, once you start cutting, you are all in for re-engineering everything.

I had a 429/Top Loader in a 69 Mach1. I don't remember which bell housing I used but there weren't any clearance issues. I think it was a truck bell housing and I'm not sure but it might have had a dual trans pattern? I also used stock Ford motor mounts. The trans cross member bolted right up. The clutch Zbar worked, the linkage worked, and I ran 429 cast exhaust manifolds and the driver side manifold just barely touched the steering box. Everything bolted in with factory parts and nothing needed modification or fabrication.

JBR-3 wrote:Thanks for the help Gents.

I'd much rather go clutch & manual trans.

The heads I have are pretty rare raised port C9AE-C castings so the header exit angle
really should be raised quite a bit to be optimal. I'm afraid those damn shock towers
will have to go. I thought maybe I could start with 2 1/8 SCJ headers and cut off the
flange and the first 6 inches of tube.

Then again, depending on the new front suspension, I could cut the firewall and set the
motor back to run a full length oil pan....

Damn car.

There are strut type suspension conversions for the mustang that uses the tower but eliminates the upper control arm. Uses stock lower CA and strut rod. Eliminating the upper CA allows the shock tower to be notched and cut way back. This is what I'm going to do on my 67 Fairlane. One is a rear steer conversion that uses the stock steering box and idler arm instead of a front mounted rack and pinion which I'm not a fan of. Like said above, that causes header issues because of the steering shaft. There are very few SLA conversions that I really like for the Mustang.

JBR-3 wrote:Is the original Boss-9 bellhousing the only one that will have sufficient clearance
in the tunnel, that is, without using a BFH on the firewall ?

I have the Lakewood bell, and I have an aluminum truck bell ( casting # E7TA-7505 ).

One of my projects is to put a Boss motor in the '69, with headers, and I am
seriously considering going with a C6 if I get too pissed off with the Z-bar - vs - header issue.

Car is not an original Boss, maybe I should cut out and redo the firewall.

I forgot all the numbers but, The bellhousing from Quick-Time which uses the maximum 164 tooth flywheel fits this application. That is what we use on the dyno with a small block starter.
The 164 tooth flywheel  is the same diameter and tooth count as the automatic flex-plate.  I don't remember where but those flywheels are readily available within the aftermarket.

.

This is off David Kee's website,  www.davidkeetoploaders.com

Bellhousings that will be used with a Toploader must measure 6 1/4" deep. If it measures 6 3/4" deep it is a truck bellhousing and should not be used

If you decide to go with the C-6, and want to sell the Lakewood bell left me know.

Thanks,

Truck bell can be used. and when using the 1.375 input shaft top loader must mod the pilot bearing or lenghten the input shaft.               BTW a 71 Mustang has a much wider engine bay than a 67thru 70. They came OEM with 429 SCJ"s.
.he