rstmeredZ

What color should my bell housing be in my 1969 4 speed? It's unpainted now, getting ready to do clutch.

qwank

unpainted

rstmeredZ

Thanks, that would explain why mine isn't painted.lol

redrdstr72

Hi rstmeredZ. FWIW, I would see if you get other inputs on your question before re-assembly. I'm not sure about 1969's, however, I do know that '70-'72's should have at least some orange engine color on the bell housing.

Citing the NCRS Judging Guide:
"On manual transmission 350's the aluminum bell housing should have some orange overspray. One original car has been found with no overspray on the bell housing and brush marks showing on the rear of the block. This may be unique to this vehicle. 454 manual transmission cars generally have the entire bell housing painted orange. Automatic transmissions for both the 454 and 350 engines were attached at St. Louis and therefore have no overspray on them."

I've seen varying degrees of overspray thru my judging experience. I've seen as little as just the "cuff" part that bolts to the engine, to the entire housing. NCRS judges will be looking for orange overspray on your housing.

I hope more comments will be posted here to help you, especially one from a '69 owner that has a '68-'69 NCRS Judging Guide. Good luck on your project!

Faster Rat

I've seen photos of BBs coming down the line at Tonawanda in '69. Dude was standing there with a hose, nozzle and no respirator...and painting that engine with bellhousing and manifolds attached in less than 15 seconds. Paint on on the bellhousing, clutch arm, boot, outside of exhaust manifolds, nothing on the block behind the exhaust manifolds, on the water pump bypass hose and all around the edges of the aluminum intake manifold and pretty much every nut and bolt. Nice job, don't ya think?

Here is what an NCRS and Bloomington Gold judge did to mine:



I am not certain about SBs at Flint.

Bobs69BB

There is ongoing discussion on the NCRS site about this issue that isn't quite the same as what the current '69 JG says. I don't have the JG guide in front of me, but it is fairly nebulous on the topic. The next rev of the JG is supposed to come out later this year, hopefully they will clarify.

My takeaway from the discussions is that Tonowanda big block bellhousings with manual transmission are completely painted, except the rear facing surface that mates with the transmission. I also recently took pictures of what looked to be an unrestored Dec 69 427/390 BB, and the bellhousing was completely orange.

Small blocks have "some" amount of overspray, with a wide variety of opinions as to how much "some" is ...