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Just a little general education as I see this all the time.

This is a lower bellhousing from a 56 Carrybeans that is in for a tranny just the moment. You might be able to see in the photo that the machined mating surfaces have thick gobs of paint on them plus rust and debris. The engine has the same goober where this bolts on.

This may seem incredibly anal, but in precision rotating machinery with tight clearances, little things mean a lot. This housing can not sit flat to the bottom surface of the engine because of the goober wedged between. That throws off the rear plane of the engine where the tranny bolts on. That causes an alignment problem for the input and reactor shafts which speeds wear of the supporting bushings.

The effect may be slight but why speed the demise of a transmission unnecessarily? The lower bellhousing on most Packards is a precision part of the mechanism and not just a cover.

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Thank you. Point made and taken!

My 56 bell fits so tite on dowels i have to use slide hammer from side to side to get it off. Unless u have a better way.

When they are really tight, I take a pin punch and just punch the dowels straight up and out. Before reassembly I put the dowels back in from the bottom. They seem to be a transition rather than a press fit, so come out without much struggle.

Good reminder, Ross. This as found on my spare 374 engine.

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Is it a good part or bad?

I like the way they had to paint inside the thing.

Fact of the matter is that if those surfaces are not flush it can distort the cylinder bores up to .003. The trans probably won't be affected as much provided the torque converter is pulled against the flex plate by hand. It's the motor that is affected by that stuff as well as by the use of air tools.

Is it a good part or bad?

Pat, if you look at the picture you'll see it's broken! If you look at Ross' picture you'll see where it broke from.

I happened to read this yesterday and when I pulled my engine today and dropped the lower bell, I too had paint all splashed inside. You could see where the fly wheel actually was rubbing the top left bell. There is not a lot of clearance in there.

Are u sure the scuffing is due to the CURRENT flywheel or from some previous malodie????? if due to current flywheel then there should be damage on it.