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Bell housing colour

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 2:04 pm
by fireguyfire
Restoring my 1979 slant 6 d-100 to factory condition. I have the engine out, and apart, and of course it is Chrysler blue.
My bell housing has hints of turquoise paint on it also; would the bell housing have been blue from the factory? I guess there is a chance the hints I am seeing are overspray so I thought I would ask for opinions.
I thought I read somewhere that the bell housings were painted the engine colour, but the transmissions were left bare metal.
Can anyone confirm if this is correct?

Re: Bell housing colour

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 10:00 pm
by dodgeboykim
fireguyfire wrote:Restoring my 1979 slant 6 d-100 to factory condition. I have the engine out, and apart, and of course it is Chrysler blue.
My bell housing has hints of turquoise paint on it also; would the bell housing have been blue from the factory? I guess there is a chance the hints I am seeing are overspray so I thought I would ask for opinions.
I thought I read somewhere that the bell housings were painted the engine colour, but the transmissions were left bare metal.
Can anyone confirm if this is correct?


Bell housings generally would be unpainted aluminiumn. Maybe over spray on it , But I dont think so.OEM only painted the stuff that shows. :thinking :thinking

Re: Bell housing colour

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 11:06 am
by fireguyfire
Sorry; typo in the original post. My truck is a 1970, not a 79 if that makes any difference.

Re: Bell housing colour

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:31 pm
by fireguyfire
So I ran the bell housing through the parts washer today; it was definitely painted engine blue.
I also found a white crayon marking on the top of the housing which says either “1260” or “12L0”.
Do either of these make any sense to someone? I plan on recreating the mark after I repaint it.
I also found a round pink paint daub on the bottom rear of the bell housing where it meets the tranny.

Re: Bell housing colour

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 9:59 am
by Kaegi
pre 72 stuff bellhousing is always painted engine color in my experience. the tranny in earlier trucks is gray or silver or an orange/red primer or flat paint. I don't know what year if they ever stopped painting the tranny