Weir bellhousing or compact one for BBC/T56

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Hi guys, since I can't seem to find a Weir bellhousing, does anyone know of a bellhousing that has better ground clearance than the ones from Lakewood brand or McLeod.

Do you guys think an LS bell will hold up with a 450 HP big block?

This is going into a 71 Nova with a new Magnum T56 and plan to use the LS1 throwout bearing and BBC clutch with Spec flywheel.

[vclune]

Wondering why ground clearance to bell housing is an issue for you? Maybe I should go out and measure mine, but I never even considered it being low, maybe because my headers are way lower.

After measuring, my bell housing is 3/4" lower than my front engine cradle. The bell housing also is the same distance off the ground as the rear of the transmission, neither of which are my first concern when dragging things on the ground.

[wiedemab]

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

Do you guys think an LS bell will hold up with a 450 HP big block?

My concern with a bellhousing from a failure perspective hasn't ever been the ability to support the power, but more of a safety concern related to flywheel or clutch failure - ie: containing the shrapnel.

It could be that I've never had anything with enough hp to warrant a concern about the bellhousing being the weak link.

Anyway, my gut feeling is that the bellhousing could handle that type of power, but again -- I always worry about the safety aspects.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by vclune

Wondering why ground clearance to bell housing is an issue for you? Maybe I should go out and measure mine, but I never even considered it being low, maybe because my headers are way lower.

After measuring, my bell housing is 3/4" lower than my front engine cradle. The bell housing also is the same distance off the ground as the rear of the transmission, neither of which are my first concern when dragging things on the ground.

We have used the QuickTime bells on 6 different build and its always been the low point of the car. I love the way the stock bell sits flush with the oil pan. I just like the look of a clear underside. This current build will be very low.

Originally Posted by wiedemab

My concern with a bellhousing from a failure perspective hasn't ever been the ability to support the power, but more of a safety concern related to flywheel or clutch failure - ie: containing the shrapnel.

It could be that I've never had anything with enough hp to warrant a concern about the bellhousing being the weak link.

Anyway, my gut feeling is that the bellhousing could handle that type of power, but again -- I always worry about the safety aspects.

We recently had a Camaro in with an LT style T56 and the bell housing had 3 cracks in in.

The current build in question will not get as beat up as that last car with the broken bell but I haven't heard of any LS T56 bells breaking. This car is more street cruising and will be very low.

I agree on the safety aspect in relation to clutches or flywheels coming apart but I believe that would relate to drag racing where you are going through a high RPM launch from a stop. And I believe the clutched being built with that in mind.

On top of that I could always build a blast pan for the drivers foot well. Which is what I do for a lot of track cars anyways.

Thanks for the input guys!!!

[Sieg]

Is trimming a QT housing and eliminating the 6 o'clock bolt a no-no?

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Yeah we did that on one project and it sucked.

I think we have it figured out if I can manage to get my guy to cut it out of AL.

I haven't had any luck otherwise.

[wiedemab]

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

We recently had a Camaro in with an LT style T56 and the bell housing had 3 cracks in in.

Interesting on the cracks.

It sounds like you are building in the safety piece regardless -

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by wiedemab

Interesting on the cracks.

It sounds like you are building in the safety piece regardless -

I still have it, plan on hanging it on my wall of fails.

Im hoping the LS type are stronger. It looks lke they made a few design changes with ribbing and bosses.

[TheJDMan]

Originally Posted by Sieg

Is trimming a QT housing and eliminating the 6 o'clock bolt a no-no?

I don't remember where I saw it but I have seen a picture of a car where the QT bell housing flange was trimmed eliminating the 3 bottom bolts. The only time I think this would cause a potential problem is drag racing where the clutch takes so much abuse. I don't think it would be a problem for street, autocross or road racing.