Dellow Bellhousings

[Smoke them tyres]

Thinking of getting an aluminium bellhousing made to replace the std cast iron one in an old Falcon of mine.

Will be to fit a 4.1 and TR3550 Tremec. Concentric hydraulic will be used so mechanical actuation not important.

Anyone had any recent experiences of their product quality and service? Good, bad, or ok?

Also, Castlemaine Rod Shop any good after Rod Hadfield sold it a few years back?

Seems to be my only 2 choices unfortunately....unless someone can suggest otherwise?????

[straughsberry]

They've been around for about 40 years. I dealt with Dellow, and in particular Geoff Dellow, quite a bit a couple of years back. I asked him to make a Barra to 4l60/65 bell housing. Geoff was always a gentleman and professional to deal with and the product was spot on.

[Slash]

Nice guys at Dellows, but the bellhousing I ordered (supposedly an off-the-shelf item) had to be modified once I received it & it took forever to make it into my hands after order/payment. See if Torquepower do a bellhousing to suit your application as they were much easier to deal with imo.

[Smoke them tyres]

Thanks for the replies guys....much appreciated.

Straughs,

Do you know if Geoff is still running the business?

I've had a look on the net and there seems to be some bad and good opinions....no definitive agreement..............although some people can be damn hard to deal with.

Just want to be reasonably sure before I part with the dollars.

Slash,

How would you rate the Dellow? How hard was it to fix and were all other measurements/features ok? Casting quality?

Did you buy a TorquePower unit? Quality?

I've sent an email to TorquePower tonight. I'll post what they say in their reply.

The only non std feature I'm asking to be done is to move the starter motor to the lower LH side of the car to get it away from the exhaust.

Edited 30/09/11 11:36 AM by Smoke them tyres

[cobramad]

Ive used Dellow bell housings many times over the years, the overall quality is very good, but expect to have to do a little "finishing and fitting" of your own for that exact fit. Remember, they are not a OEM item and as such represent a compromise, an engineered solution that you wont ordinarily find anywhere else. They have stood up to serious abuse in some applications I have been involved with.

Jeff Dellow was always very professional and courteous, brilliant to deal with. I dont think he's still hands on with the business, if at all, having had to deal with a couple of younger, less experienced persons handling my enquiries. He spoke of retirement years ago... both he and Rod Hadfield were going to chuck it in and go fishing!!

[straughsberry]

Not sure if Jeoff is still hands on but when I was dealing with him, he was winding down and was only there part time. Saying that, it was still his business and even though he wasn't there hands I got the impression it was still under his control.

[Smoke them tyres]

Still waiting on Torque Power....want to hear from both before making a decision.

May have to give them a call as a follow up.

Dellow took 2 days via their contact page, which is ok, and have said that they can do it.

Edited 03/10/11 11:03 AM by Smoke them tyres

[Smoke them tyres]

No response from Torque Power.

Spoke to Geoff Dellow today.

He is definitely the person to talk to there. He was very courteous and asked all the right questions.

No go on the moving of the starter motor, as they would have to re-configure the mould....big job.....significant cost increase as well.

He said no problem doing the work (without the relocation).

He was not interested with a deposit and took me at my word. He should have it done in the next 2 weeks.

The alloy unit should cut the weight by two thirds over the std cast iron unit in his opinion.

The job should be pretty straightforward given that concentric hydraulic will be the actuation method......no linkages/pivot ratios etc to mess around with.