[Engine-Ear]

This is too significant not to share...

This is a lightweight bell housing - not sure if it's Al or Mg but what a TREAT to get to hold and photograph this...given that the rear end housings were cast in Mg, perhaps this is, too?

Couldn't tell for sure with the ring test (listening to the ring out of the metal after striking it) what it's made of - besides UNOBTANIUM.

So there were a handfull of 'Cheese SDs built in '63...Our supposition is that this would have been a 'Cheese part (versus a 'normal' '63 SD (!))...so what is this, maybe one of a few dozen cast??

My friend wishes not to be identified at this time, so please respect that. Meanwhile, ENJOY THE PICS!!

[Engine-Ear]

Well, not much...

[carcrazy]

Thanks for the pictures!

[pfilean]

Interesting piece. My parts book does not list 9772432 housing but does list 9770090 as 1963 P/8 S.T. exc SD. Does it have a date code? If it was a special piece for a Swiss Cheese car you would think it was a Nov or Dec 62 date.

[Stuart]

Any idea how does that weight compare to a regular bellhousing? Unless it's been recently cleaned or bead blasted, I would think it's not magnesium since that material oxidizes so quickly - if it was original and not restored, it would have a dark finish like this unrestored mag wheel:



I suppose you could try lighting it on fire to be sure.

[61-63]

Not wanting to throw cold water on this but I would be surprised if NHRA or any of the other racing associations would have allowed that bell housing? The NHRA approved ANSENs etc. were big super heavy cast steel/cast iron jobs. That thing, while a neat piece for sure, would not have been near as strong as the factory cast iron version.

[tom s]

They would not allow them,I believe they only came on the S/C cars.Ken C would know more,I only remember seeing one of those before.Someone else would be Scott Tieman.Tom

[johnta1]

Engine-Ear, Can you confirm the bellhousing #?

9772432

I think it looks like 9772402?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Engine-Ear

...given that the rear end housings were cast in Mg, perhaps this is, too?

Matt - I am aware of third members cast in aluminum, but am not familiar with any having been done in magnesium.

K

[tom s]

I believe M/T made some Mag 3rd members.tom

[Aluminum Chief]

Hey Matt, Very cool piece, I have one of those on my Black 63 SD Sedan, and I also had a aftermarket mag third member but traded it to Brad for a 63 alum hood for my blue 63 SD Cat I am doing now. KC

[The Boss]

I just weighed a bell-housing from one of my M-22's and it's 10.6 lbs.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by tom s

I believe M/T made some Mag 3rd members.tom

Thanks, Tom.

On the modern front we've used magnesium in trucks for transfer cases, and we just figured out how to stamp magnesium from sheets (which has never been done before).

K

[marxjunk]

When i was a kid in my late teens, i bought a Nailhead 2x4 set up off a guy in st louis. He had 3 rooms full of stuff...and 4 or 5 real Barris cars, including the Dream truck..when i went to pick it up, sitting right next to it where 2 Mag third members and they where M/Ts..i had no idea what they where...the guy let me look and he had some cool old stuff..

We talked about the Mag members, he volunteered they where mag..i asked why they where so dark..i had no idea what Mag was then...he wanted $300 a piece for them, one had 4.56s the other 4.88s..he said

that was 1983 im pretty sure..he had a ton of Buick stuff..but a ton more Pontiac stuff...I paid $300 for the dual quads, a set of BUICK cast covers and the nicest chrome air cleaner on the planet....it was a spare set for one of the Barris cars...and besides the Dream Truck,,,i have no idea what else he had, and i saw them all...

Later in life we crossed paths..i knew more about stuff and asked what happened to the pontiac stuff and he said it all sold on the Post Dispatch (local paper) and was all gone, he used the money to buy another Barris car...

[Engine-Ear]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Engine-Ear, Can you confirm the bellhousing #?

9772432

I think it looks like 9772402?

John and pfilean, the p/n is 9772402, not '432.

[Engine-Ear]

Originally Posted by Aluminum Chief

Hey Matt, Very cool piece, I have one of those on my Black 63 SD Sedan, and I also had a aftermarket mag third member but traded it to Brad for a 63 alum hood for my blue 63 SD Cat I am doing now. KC

Thanks for the info, Ken; I only knew of the '62 SD in your fleet.

[Engine-Ear]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Any idea how does that weight compare to a regular bellhousing? Unless it's been recently cleaned or bead blasted, I would think it's not magnesium ... I suppose you could try lighting it on fire to be sure.

Stuart, this is probably Al. I have never weighed an Fe B/H but I'll bet a regular Fe example is 30 lbs.

This one has a light coat of paint on it. ...I remember the darkening of Mg from a pair of Halibrands I once had.