Bellhousing question

[DanEC]

It's probably a good precaution to trim it but I didn't bother on mine. If I hit something I will be taking out a lot of other stuff out before the bellhousing - front oil cooler intake, bottom of oil pan, undercar exhaust pipes. Of course hitting that vertical edge of the bellhousing on something hard would probably ring my bell more than hitting any of the other items.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Of course hitting that vertical edge of the bellhousing on something hard would probably ring my bell more than hitting any of the other items.

I thought the QT did not require trimming. I have the Lakewood, and it is trimmed. When you have a chance, snap a shot of your QT so I can see how low it hangs.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I thought the QT did not require trimming. I have the Lakewood, and it is trimmed. When you have a chance, snap a shot of your QT so I can see how low it hangs.

Patrick - there are several pictures of mine on page 1 of this thread. The pictures were taken when my headers and exhaust pipes were not installed. Mine is about like Lippy's - hanging an inch below the frame rails. But so is my oil pan. If I lay a straightedge on the bottom of my oil pan, extending back to the transmission, the bottom edge of the bellhousing will be above the straightedge - primarily because the bottom of the oil pan slopes down to the rear a little. But being further back betwee the axles there is a greater chance of hanging the bellhousing lip on a speedbump or something like that. On mine, exhaust pipes will hit first and probably push the chasis up enough to avoid the edge of the bellhousing (probably hopefully).

I had a Lakewood bellhousing on my Corvette for a time and it was a massive thing but I'm not sure it's really a lot smaller in diameter than a Quicktime. I think the more rounded appearance of the Quicktime just makes it look less massive. it would be interesting if someone were able to post the top to bottom dimensions of both for comparison.

[patrickt]

I looked at it -- it doesn't look too bad to me at all. Back when I did mine, Lakewood was all there was, and when I was visiting with Doug at ERA he told me how long he spent getting it aligned, like days... weeks... maybe even months -- and this is with the engine outside of the car. Seriously, he did make a big point of it with me, so all I can assume is that it really did require a good bit of man hours to line up properly. Brent says the QTs are much, much better on that point.

[blykins]

What are you going to trim on the non-SFI bells? There's nothing there.

The ones that need trimming are the SFI bells with the 1" of extra flange hanging down, where the bellhousing bolts to the block plate. That's the way the Lakewoods were made and what is being referenced in a lot of the car assembly manuals.

Big difference.

http://www.jegs.com/i/Quick+Time+Bel...6-SFI/10002/-1

http://www.jegs.com/i/Quick+Time+Bel...-6056/10002/-1

The Lakewoods are larger bellhousings in many different dimensions, especially weight.