Dave What are you working on? Small block chevys? It is not practical to pull a pre 1960 6 cylinder bellhousing away from a motor in the vehicle. On a small block chevy, the bellhousing is "open" and the flywheel and clutch assembly can pull through from the front.
On older 6 cylinders, the bellhousing has a small hole for the crank to go through. This means in order to leave the bellhousing on the crossmember, you would have to ...
1. Drop the transmission
2. Remove the clutch assembly
3. Remove the flywheel
4. Remove 6 bolts holding the bellhousing to the engine, 4 of which are behind the flywheel, and 2 of which are so close to the firewall you wouldn't be able to get a wrench on them.
THIS CLEARLY IS NOT PRACTICAL ON AN OLD STOVEBOLT.
On the newer v8 bellhousings, it is totally possible to seperate them from the engine and leave the transmission in place. On the old stovebolts, it is much easier to remove the radiator. In some cases the whole front clip can be removed in 1/2 half hour.
