Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 235 bellhousing removal help!

I have a chevy 235 that is from the 55-60's era (came in a 1951 chevy parts car). I am having troubles with the bell housing. I have the tranny removed but how do you take off the housing? There are 4 bolts that I can find. Two on the top of the bell housing and two near the bottom inside the housing. The two on the bottom can't come out because the flywheel is in the way. The flywheel can't come out because of the bell housing???
Anybody care to shed some light on how to remove those bolts?
Thanks!

You must remove the pressure plate and the fly wheel before removing the bell housing. This not easily done if the engine is fozen, maybe someone has ideas if that's the case.

Dear Aaron;

Is the engine frozen?

If so, you'll need to free it up first some how.

After that just rotate the flywheel & remove the clutch assembly/flywheel, then the bell housing.

Good luck, John M...

The motor will turn over
I removed the bolts from the clutch thru the access cover on the bell housing but the clutch fork is still on. Is that all that is holding the clutch in place?
If so how do you remove the clutch fork? My manual isn't very specific (no picutures) of the fork removal.

If the pressure plate isn't free to move around, not all of the bolts holding it in place have been removed. The fork shouldn't prevent removal. The fork may just be clipped to a ball stud.

Mr. Eagle is right.

If you can't get the fork out. Simply bolt the pressure plate back in a little, remove the fork, then the rest.

Good luck, John M....

Update and thanks!
The clutch came out with some persuasion. It was just a bit stuck against the flywheel. Now I have everything off the engine.
Just to make sure I'm on the right track, the engine stand mounts where the bell housing bolts go right?

Yup that's where to attach the engine to the stand. Just be careful and keep in mind the length and weight of the engine hanging off the mounting arms. A fully assembled 235 runs right around 550 - 600 lbs. Depending on the type of stand you have it can be a bit unstable when you start yanking on wrenches.

What I do to mount an engine on a stand is have it hanging from a hoist or other means and bolt the stand spider to the engine and then slip the rest of the stand onto the spider and lock it in place. Then lower the whole thing down onto the floor. It's a lot easier to jockey the stand onto the back of the engine than doing it the other way around, particularly when you are doing it alone.

Mike