The cost of QT has gone through the roof. Even finding a deal on an older Lakewood is hard to do.
It sounds like you have the early small pattern Toploader. That also has the smaller pilot diameter on the bearing retainer. It will likely be tough to find a good bellhousing for that combination. An early Lakewood might take care of it, but the pilot hole will be larger(like 1/4"). I think a larger bearing retainer will still bolt on the early case? Been a while since I had to deal with this.
If you don't plan on hot rodding it, you could get away with finding an old cast bellhousing(early Fe with small bolt pattern). I typically don't recommend that. But I understand paying the cost for a blowproof anymore is a hard pill to swallow.