I am finishing up my stroker motor, 350 .060 over with sbc chevy crank and rods and am having some delay trying to figure out what flywheel I need for it for my t-5 tranny, it was orinally a 305 t-5 car.I am running a center force dual friction clutch with the new motor. I know I will probably need a sbc externally balanced flywheel for a 400sbc, but am unsure of the amt of teeth and weight. I taled to a guy who ran a 168 tooth , 12inch diameter and it would fit inside the t-5 bellhousing. Any help or advice is appreciated

 

So what are we REALLY working with here?

A 350 would typically use a SBC crank.... not much else will fit.

A 400 with the stock stroke bored .060" over comes out to 412 CID. It's not "a 412", like it's some new hybrid size or something; it's a .060" over 400, which happens to have 412 cubic inches. It's not a "stroker", it's a factory motor with some maintenance done to it.

A .060" over 350 has 358 cubic inches. It's not a "358", it's just a 350 that's had some maintenance done to it. Much like the .060" over 400.

A 14" flywheel, the size with 168 teeth, doesn't fit in a T-5 bell housing.

A 12.8" flywheel, the size with 153 teeth, is all that will go in there.

Tell us what you're actually building, and maybe we can point you in the right direction. In particular, the brand and model number of the crank, and the length of the rods; and if the machine shop altered anything about it, a little about what they did.

 

Can we assume you're using a 3.75" stroker crank? 2-piece rearmain seal?

Go to Summit Racing - High Performance Car and Truck Parts | 800-230-3030 . Click on "online store", "drivetrain", "transmission", "Chevrolet", "153 tooth", "2-piece", "V8", "external". You'll get 3 choices.

If it's actually a 3.48" crank, you can use your 305 piece.

 

i'm running a 383 with a 3.75" 2- RMS external balance crank. I'm also using a 168 flexplate. do they make a 168 tooth flywheel that fits in the bellhousing of a t-5? or am i screwed? (I'm switching to a t-5)

 

Not if you use one of the three 153-tooth, externally balanced, 2-piece rear main seal flywheels as described above, or an equivalent.

 

No. I could be wrong of course; but as far as I know, no one has yet figured out how to fit a 14" object inside a 13½" enclosure.No. All you have to do, is get a 305 flywheel; have it balanced to the stock 400 "unbalance" spec (you DID specify "stock balance" for your motor when you had it built, and you DID keep your flywheel out of their shop so they couldn't do themselves the favor of boinking you by "custom balancing" your flywheel instead of doing the job right, didn't you??); and have your block drilled for the 12.8" starter bolt pattern. Very simple and easy, if you meet the challenge head-on and do those exact things, and don't go looking for "shortcuts"; NONE of which work. You'll just end up spending extra time and money trying to find that magical non-existent starter that all those people who have NEVER ACTUALLY DONE IT, will tell you "ought to" work.

 

Hays Billet Steel Flywheels: HAY-10-132 - summitracing.com


I called summit and they said this thing was 11 inch Od. I want a second, and 3rd opinion. I've never even seen a t-5 flywheel, so it's not that I'm an idiot, i just don't know. I have a clockable starter.... one of those 18.5:1 jobs that can be used on either flywheel, so i'm not concerned. also, my crank was balanced, not the flexplate and damper. he had those on there, but purposely didn't drill them in case i ever need a replacement. if the flywheel above is not small enough, I'll be getting a 153 and adjusting my starter position. what about those "balance plates" you see on ebay all the time? supposedly they allow you to run a neutral balance flywheel/ flexplate on an external balance 400 crank. how much truth is there to this? will it cause problems? or can i just run a 400 flywheel from 79-81 or some such nonsense as that?

 

That flywheel is 14" diameter, not 11". It accepts 11" CLUTCHES.

Yes that starter might work, if it has 4 straight-across bolt holes; and IF AND ONLY IF your block has the right hole drilled in it. If your block doesn't have the late-model hole, then you won't be able to put a bolt in the inner one of the holes; because in order for a bolt to go into that hole, it would have to go RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE of the starter drive. The bolt hole problem CANNOT be fixed by ANY starter; only by installing the correct bolt hole.

No you cannot use a 400 flywheel. It will be 14" OD, and will not fit in your bell housing.

You need a 83-85 Camaro/Firebird V8 flywheel, 13" 153-tooth (not 14" 168-tooth) like I already told you. You need to get it "unbalanced" to match the 400 spec, like I said.

Sounds like your machine shop did the right thing for you: you DO NOT, under any circumstances, want them to "balance" your setup by altering the flywheel or crank damper. Because if they do, then you can NO LONGER just bolt up a stock one and expect it to work. If for any reason you ever have to change it, you'd have to take the motor back apart, and have the new flywheel matched to the rotating assembly. Very very dumb. I'm glad he didn't do that to you.

The "pork chop" weight might work, and then again, it might not. Sometimes, especially with new (thick) flywheels, it moves the flywheel too far back; and there's not enough room left behind it for the throwout. So if you're getting a new flywheel ANYWAY, as you are, don't go that route; just get the right flywheel.

I'm not sure what I posted up there that is ambiguous or requires further clarification. Seems pretty self-explanatory to me. To summarize, 14" flywheels of any brand will not work, and no starter in the known universe will work unless your block has the right bolt hole in it (or of course, unless you can find a bolt that has about a 5/8" offset in the middle of it, so it can go around the starter drive).

You need the flywheel I told you, you need to have done to it what I told you, and you need to do to your block what I told you. There is no substitute for ANY of those things, except for if you find a flywheel that meets the rest of the specs, but that's already had the "unbalance" applied to it. There is NO SUBSTITUTE in any case for drilling the hole in the block, if your block doesn't already have it. So get that done BEFORE you drop the motor in, no matter how many people who have never done this swap tell you what you would prefer to hear.

 

whoa, killer. just asking about that flywheel, because I though summit was feeding me a line of bull. just making sure. I'll be buying the correct FW off of AMS racing through Ebay. the hole is already present in the block. (you did point out this possibility, though.) to add insult to injury, the motor is in. it even runs. so waiting to drill and tap a hole before i install it isn't an option. I'd need to pull it out at this point. I'll be taking your suggestion, though, and foregoing the porkchop weight. i'd feel like i was half-assing the swap to do it that way. besides, the FW I'm buying has a removable weight. so like my damper, i can remove the weights in order to run them on an internal balance motor. so all in all, I'm pretty much set. now to pick a clutch. any suggestions? I was thinking centerforce dual friction. stage 2 maybe? anyone? thanks for all the help so far, and for the detailed explanations. I'm serious.... I've never seen any of the parts I'm trying to purchase and fit together, so this is somewhat of a shot in the dark.

 

I bought this FW:

eBay Motors: Steel 22lbs Flywheel Chevy Internal or External balance (item 190041116891 end time Oct-20-06 20:57:30 PDT)

 

If it's already in and doesn't have the hole, that'd be a serious bummer... it's no fun trying to lay on your back and drill it. Especially since if it gets drilled wrong, then you have starter malfunctions; or if you don't get it accurate enough, it might not even bolt on. Then you'll have to pull it and send it out to get it repaired regardless.

Looks like that FW should do what you need.

I've been using CenterForce Dual Friction clutches for a while, with good results.

Just pray your block has the starter bolt hole.

 

gotcha. is there a mini starter available or a stock style one even that will fit with hooker 2210 headers?

 

I'm using a stock T-5 starter with 2210's so I would think any mini starter would work.

 

I'm using this brand and model of starter right here; works fine (although not with the 2210s...). But as said, if those headers will clear a stock starter, they'll clear this one.