Will a bell housing from a 1st generation Getrag manual tranny work on my 1997 5sp? Thanks

 

The bell housing for a Getrag is for a Getrag and won't work with the NV4500.
If your going to put a Getrag in then yes it'll work.

Whats wrong with the bell housing you have now? I've heard that there is no difference in the bellhousings for the manual and auto transmissions after 1994, but nobody has confirmed this for me.

 

The flywheel housing for the auto and the manuals are the same but the bell housing is different since the bell housing for the auto is part of the case.