Strong Pontiac bellhousings
 

Did Pontiac make a stronger version Bellhousing ? Is quick time bellhousings the best for strength ?

Are asking in terms of manual trans or auto, because there are aftermarket race usage replacements for auto trans also?

I can’t speak to strength but I have a QuickTime and a Lakewood and the QuickTime is heavier. I used it cause it just seemed like the nicer piece.

The Chevy croud uses Titanium Bell HSGs

Are you sure?

Well I mean I didn’t weigh it. The nicer thing about the Lakewood is that it has a big flat face for the trans mount. The QuickTime has a weird pad that the bolts protrude thru and if you don’t use the exact bolt they send in the kit (I lost one) it will dig into the bellhousing and you can’t tighten it.

Yes I understand about the bolt protrude through. I just modified bolts with my own Grade 8 bolts and washers to accommodate bell housing and tyranny. Personal preference I guess. I just like the QuickTime unit. Thanks for the reply.

I have a McLeod on one car and QuickTime on the other.The Quick time has a smaller profile but mine was also setup for a pass side starter.Tom

I have used 4-5 of the Lakewood housings over the last 40+ years. Big, clunky, heavy and strong. They all require dial indicating to make the transmission shift smoothly and not kill the pilot/input bearing. But I have been happy with them. I have never had a clutch explosion but know I would be much safer with a Lakewood than the flimsy aluminum OE ones. Quick Time and Lakewood are the same company now, but make separate products. The Lakewood housings have been around over 40 years and they are always for sale used in good condition for $300.00-350.00 which fits my budget nicely. Quick Time and others are much more expensive, near $1000.00 or more new and few used ones ever show up for sale.

I have seen a later Lakewood scattershield be as much as .012 offset from the crank centerline.

I bought the tool to check the centerlines (from Browell) at least 20 years ago.

Worth every penny.

Tom V.

The facts are they are all manufactured to meet the same minimum SFI standards. (Excepting the OE ones.) No one seems to be manufacturing them to a higher level as there is no marketing that points to that.

So the differences revolve around the materials used and the manufacturing processes. The Lakewood is stamped out of heavy guage steel. The others are machined castings using various materials.

So the biggest difference is weight.

There are lots of complaints across the interweb about Lakewood's machining accuracy so my assumption is they use a more low tech machining process than the other brands. Pay less do more work.

Slight clarification. The Lakewood housings are Hydro-formed. This process is used on some high strength frame sections on cars and trucks as well. I have seen the Lakewood press in person when Mr. Gasket was in Cleveland, OH. It is a HUGE press! Hydro-forming has some of the characteristics of a forging, creating a grain flow in the metal and making it extremely strong. If I remember right, the Lakewood press was made in the 1950's. All bellhousings need to be indicated anyway. For best results, I sand out the dowel pin holes in the bellhousing to remove the thick paint. Then it is pretty straightforward to dial in with the available offset dowels. The Rob MC dowels are particularly nice and easy to use.

Bellhousing
 

So from what I understand the factory aluminum is perfectly centered to the pilot bearing and no offset dowels are needed but where certain years stronger it beefier ? Otherwise does anybody have a used quick time Bellhousing for sale ? Thanks

Butler sells a Ti-Aluminum "TQ-Strong" BOP Bell for $399.
Bohr sells the genuine Titanium "Scatterproof" BOP & BBC bell.

er-455...The factory aluminum bells are definitely not perfect. The type of bearing in the old muncies allowed for "some" misalignment. The newer 5 and 6 speed transmissions have a different type of bearing in the nose. They MUST be checked for parallel(1st) and concentricity(2nd).