The bellhousing was installed onto the block before the machining process was started. The bellhousing stayed attached all the way through so everything stayed inline. It should be painted engine color. The amount of color/overspray is still debated. If you have the original bell, have a close look at it to see if it was completely painted or partial paint/overspray. Theoretically, it could be either since it was painted by a real person and not a robot.