[Jim Humphrey]

Is the bellhousing on a 70 SS 396 supposed to be Chevy orange or natural aluminum? The ACES paint guidelines says orange, but the Restoration area, Part 5, says natural aluminum. I'm tending to say the paint guidelines for a 70 are correct, because Part 5 is more generic to all years, but it'd be easier to not paint my bellhousing than to paint it and then strip it to leave it natural!

 

[Gregg]

I have an original engine and trans 454 car that has an orange bellhousing although much of the paint has flaked off.

 

[DZAUTO]

My 72 BB 4sp was mostly orange, the orange was heavier closer to the engine and almost no paint at all at the rear of the bell housing. And I have seen a few others with similar paint.

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[tom3]

I put a clutch in my 70 many years ago and I remember the bellhousing was orange, and the fork boot and a little bit of the exposed fork was painted orange. I remember this because I thought this was pretty sloppy by the factory. Kind of amazing that this makes all the difference in the world in serious car restoration these days.

 

[69SS]

I've always known them to be painted Chevy orange.

 

[jaqazi]

I think they were orange. My well worn 67 had orange on it. Although it was not the original paint, I think that's the way it was. I went ahead and painted mine natural aluminium. It is probably not 100% correct but it looks very nice.

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Jameel Qazi
#'s 67 SS

 

[Scooter]

In the past I worked for a Corvette resto shop. We painted some Chevy Orange, and some Aluminum. I asked the owner of our shop one day why the difference. He told me that when he worked for Don Yenko in the 60's, all of the cars had aluminum bellhousings. The reason was Don Yenko was that picky. He also told me that some of the assembly plants would assemble the clutch disc, pressure plate, and bellhousing prior to installation, and when the engine was painted, the bellhousing would get some overspray from that. That is why some appeared to be Chevy Orange in color. Some would get more overspray than others. In his Corvette resto business, he would leave it up to the customer and give them their preference. That was why I saw it done both ways.

On my 70&1/2 RS Camaro, I chose to go with natural aluminum....matter of my preference after seeing it both ways.

[This message has been edited by Scooter (edited 02-09-99).]

 

[BillK]

Jim,
I mustered up enough energy to walk the 40 ft or so out to the garage to take a look at my original 71 bellhousing that has been hanging on the wall ever since I put a blow shield on the car in 1975 or so. I would have to agree with DZ and Scooter. It looks like the bellhousing was attached to the motor when they painted it and got a bunch of paint up near the motor but almost none at all at the transmission end. Probably more overspray than done on purpose.

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Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md

[This message has been edited by BillK (edited 02-09-99).]