409 bell housing and clutch cover

[Hoyt99]

My 1963 425 hp 409 has a traditional bellhousing and (missing) clutch dust cover (2 piece). Do you suppose it is worthwhile to change over to the aluminum 360 degree bellhousing that it should have, now that the transmission and clutch are already out? While I ALWAYS favor “ original and correct”, in this case I seem to be unable to see the advantage, and the ROI - in other words a bunch of money for not much benefit, of making the change.

What do you think?

Thanks very much

Chip

 

[pvs409]

63 409 ( and 283/327 ) cars did not have a full one piece bell housing from the factory.
They had from the factory the open bottom bell housing with the black painted two steel covers. Both these bell housing covers are sold for around $ 50 total cost.
I purchased an all original 1963 Chevy 409 convertible and it came with the factory 553 aluminum open bottom bell housing. This car was frame off restored by a friend with my help.
I have bought very nice reproduction covers for my 552 ( cast iron) or 553 (aluminum) open bottom bell housings.
The one piece bell housings started in 1964 chevy’s

Paul

 

[Blk61409]

Personally, I like the open bottom version. When you are adjusting your clutch you can see the clearances on both sides of the disc.
Sometimes you can even see the missing pieces of clutch disc

 

[Hoyt99]

Thanks!

The 1963 workshop manual makes a big deal about the 360 degree all aluminum bellhousing, which is what I expected to see when I started to r&r the clutch. Instead, I have the open bottom bellhousing with no covers. So, without the covers there were none of the broken pieces at the bottom, they all must have fallen out with a sudden burst of gravity or something....

Chip

 

[DonSSDD]

63 small blocks had closed bottom aluminum bhs, with the small hole for the input bearing support.

 

[Phil Reed]

Just get the 2 covers and you are good to go.