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broken bell housing question

8K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Triaged 
#1 ·
Hey I have a 71 nova with a turbo 350 that was built by hughes, and when I purchased the car I was told the bell housing had a small crack in it, and later the crack grew and finally broke the whole bell housing. What are some options I can do with the this transmission is it possible to weld the two pices back together or to just replace the bell housing, or do I need to purchase a new tranny all together. I would like to reuse the tranny for the fact that it does not have that many miles on it also that it is made by hughes and is very sporty. Any advice would be great.
Thanks.
 
#3 ·
I have had the bell housing of a 700R4 welded up, due to the previous owner using the bolts to pull it up to the engine flange. I used a bare block to bolt it to and had a friend of mine TIG weld it. He drilled a small hole at the end of the crack, ground a groove in the carck line and welded it up. After he finished I ground it smooth, painted the trans case and you can't tell it.

Vince
 
#4 ·
Depending on where the crack is it can be welded.

If the alignment dowel holes are out , the tranny will damage the pump due to mis-alignment of the converter to the pump & engine crank shaft.

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FWIW... I work for Hughes Performance
 
#5 ·
There is at least one company out there that makes a replacement bell housing that is also tough enough to be used as a scater sheald...I just can't remember who it is. It uses the pump bolts to bolt on after you cut off the rest of the housing.

If you deside to just swap your internals try and get a "K" housing from a late 70's 4x4 truck. They will have a "K" cast into the top of the trans and are thicker (because GM knew of this problem).
 
#6 ·
Triaged said:
There is at least one company out there that makes a replacement bell housing that is also tough enough to be used as a scater sheald...I just can't remember who it is. It uses the pump bolts to bolt on after you cut off the rest of the housing.

If you deside to just swap your internals try and get a "K" housing from a late 70's 4x4 truck. They will have a "K" cast into the top of the trans and are thicker (because GM knew of this problem).

You could be thinking of JW Performance who builds the bellhousing
 
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