is there any interchangeablity of the bellhousings(manual) between the different engines:yblocks,lincoln yblocks,mels and fe engines???

No.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Its been many years but I put a 383 MEL engine in my 57 ford way back when. I think that an FE engine bell housing is the same as an MEL. I bought a stock bell housing from ford back then and as far as I know there was no stick shift options for the 58 and 59 383 and 430 mercury's. I am almost certain that the bell that I bought was fron an FE. As the parts guy that I dealt with was kinda dumb as he said that there was no such an animal made. I then told him to walk out into the shop area and look at the 430 powered 57 that a friend of mine had some work being done on in their shop. He did that and then ordered me a bell. Of course back then it wasn't very expensive as I was pretty poor.

Low 12 sec 57 yblock Ford on nitrous

I seem to remember availability of a standard shift 430 being available in a '58 or '59 T-Bird, but extremely rare then, probably impossible to find now.  But then, maybe they used an FE bellhousing.  Have no idea what flywheel would fit.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

FE and MEL engines share the same flywheel bolt pattern so the flywheels will bolt up between these two engines.  The 1958-1960 MEL bellhousing bolt pattern is the same as the FE.  Starting in 1961, the MEL went to a different bellhousing pattern in order to relocate the starter at which point the FE bellhousings will not work and still have a starter bolt up to the FE bellhousing.  LYB and Y-Blocks both have their own individual and unique flywheel and bellhousing patterns so they are not compatible with the other engines.  I’ll add that the FE flywheel will also bolt up to a 460 but the 460 also uses a different bellhousing bolt pattern than the FE.

 

The 1958 thru 1964 FE’s use a 153T flywheel while the 1965 thru 1976 FE’s use a 184T flywheel.  As a general rule, the earlier FE’s can be converted to a 184T flywheel as long as the ’65 and up starter is also used.  But the earlier FE flywheel cannot be used on the later model FE’s due to there not being enough room for the earlier ‘pull back’ bendix starter in the late model bellhousings.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

As a side note the 383 MEL was rated at 312 hp. I think that was some enginneer's folly or pipe dream. As the 292 that I had in it before was just as fast in a drag race but not quite as fast in top speed. In overdrive the 383 would always pull 4000 rpm for top end but the 292 would not always go that fast. But in a drag  i think the story was different. I still don't know why.

Low 12 sec 57 yblock Ford on nitrous

While we're in the compatibility mood, are the FE motor mounts similar (the same?) as a Y-Blocks?

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Al, the mounts vary from engine size to model application. From my expierences and fadeing memory, the 332,352,390 in 57-early 60,s had mount same as  y block but with 1 lower mounting stud instead of 2, then in 65 the 390 galaxies changed to a flat type mount with 3 bolts into block instead of 2 like a y block and the 65 T birds were different again if i remember rightly?  flat with 1 lower stud but 2 block holes same as y block, I,m sure there may be a few other obscure types also. regards bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia