4 speed bellhousings

[bsbn]

I HAVE HEARD THAT THE CAST IRON BELLHOUSING IS THE STRONGEST, BUT A FREIND SAYS HE HAD ONE THAT CRACKED!
HE GOT ALUMINUM BELLHOUSING AND NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEM.NOW I"M LOOKIN FOR ONE AND DONT KNOW WHAT ONE TO GET
IT WILL BE USED ON A BIG BLOCK.
WHT DO YOU THINK?

[Christopher]

The only bellhousings that are factory that I know of are aluminum.There was a steel bellhousing for the (I belive) 64-65 race cars,but this 'housing had the wording "STEEL" on the top of it.There may have been a cast iron 'housing,but I've never seen one,not saying that there were not any made mind you.If any were made it had to be on a early car.If it were me,and this is not a all out race car,use a aluminum factory housing.If it is a race car,do as the rule book says and install a Lakewood safety bellhousing.

[This message has been edited by Christopher (edited October 03, 1999).]

[cudadude]

Unless you have one of these bellhousings for a big block it has been my experiance that a lakewood scatter shield is a cheaper route to go. You can still get a new factory unit from Year One and the Paddock but the lakewood unit from Summit,Jegs or any other performance outlet costs less and is a lot safer on a missed shift

[RTSE]

My friends 66 Street Hemi belvedere has a cast iron bell housing so I believe they are not limited to the race hemis. As mentioned earlier the lakewoods are the safest for high performance applications

[Orange Bee]

Almost all of the 383/440 cars we had had the cast iron bellhousing! The only one that ever cracked was on Mike's 68 RumbleB. It cracked because he rebuilt a 383 from an automatic car. This was how we found out that the auto cranks weren't drilled quite deep enough sometimes to convert to manual. It was only shallow by .050 or so, but when he torqued the trans into the bellhousing the input shaft bottomed out in the crank and TINK! went the bellhousing. I used it that way for a year in my 68 Charger before selling it and it never seemed to make a difference. Mopar tough piece. I wouldn't worry about getting a scattershield, and I don't like the way they hang down (much lower than a stock bellhousing) either. Just my 2 cents worth.