z-f bell housing steel or aluminum?

[mahlon]

I don't know if it has been brought up before, but its time for me to ask. We went out to the track with our mk-2 and It worked great! cornering braking acceleration all exceeded my expectations. I ran it as I normally would not race hard shifting between 6 and 6500 without any problems. I had rolled back onto the throttle coming out of a turn and It sounded like you turned on a blender full of nuts and bolts. I put it into neutral shut it down coasted to a safe spot off line and waited for the tow.
The transaxle never locked up the clutch still seems normal with the pedal. I can stick a mirror in the 2'' hole blown in the side of the bell housing [starter side] to see the front of the starter is intact. I am not sure what came apart yet but it did. I wont weld/repair that housing even if it is possible. The set up is behind me instead of at my knees like in one of the cobras [I run all steel scatershields in those] I would like to hear thoughts on the aluminum vs steel bell housings [quick time] was the only steel one I could find.:stunned:.................m

 

[Jac Mac]

Until you strip it down and find out what broke or punched the hole in the bell housing its a guessing game...bell housing might simply be an innocent injured party to what really broke first.

 

[Ellis Hubbard]

Safir sells a bell housing (cast aluminum) and clutch assembly (twin plate) with a fly wheel as used on the original GT40s. They advertise on gt40s.com.

 

[Julian]

Until you strip it down and find out what broke or punched the hole in the bell housing its a guessing game...bell housing might simply be an innocent injured party to what really broke first.

+1, very rarely have I heard of a bellhousing being blown apart or holed.

Julian

 

[mahlon]

I don't know what came apart in there Julian, we put it together, bolts are always torqued and Loctite used. This type of failure is a first for us as well I wont know what failed until we can tear it down I think a failure in the pressure plate but I am guessing. Steel or aluminum on the replacement bell housing?

 

[D. Nye]

If it was me I would use the steel bellhousing, it can't weigh more than 5 lbs more and although you are not setting on top of it there is a lot of things back there I don't want to cut or put wholes in, like oil lines, break lines, etc.

Just my 2 cents.

Don

 

[DaveM]

I'd recommend the Quicktime steel bellhousing. I've scraped the bottom lip of it a couple of times with minimal damage. Don't know that an aluminum one would fare as well.

 

[Robert May Eng.]

If any of the flywheel/clutch gubbins part company with the engine on a rev it will trash both ali and steel bellhousings . If you are that worried fit a blanket.

This VW dual mass flywheel expired and cut the bellhousing clean in two.

Bob

 

[colin artus]

I've suffered a clutch explosion in the past; blew the bellhousing apart (aly), broke the lugs on the block, cut the headers, holed the hood, dented the floor (double skinned) and put a large divot in the pit straight at Goodwood. Get a clutch that is properly spec'd for the job.