So here's my problem. I have a LONG saga ongoing about my car, and the latest issue is a noise that happened intermittently, apparently coming from the drivetrain. It was suggested to me that perhaps the bell housing bolts were loose. Well, I found that one bolt was already backing out because it was not tightened, and I believe two others are missing completely. I've taken some pics to show what I am referring to.

First off, I went back to the old videos I took while the car was out at Chris Harwood's shop to see what the bell housing looked like, and also to see if Harwood put those bolts in place there.





Yep, looks to me that Chris Harwood did in fact have those bell housing bolts in place. This is right before the drivetrain was put together with the engine and then mated with the car. So it looks to me that those bell housing bolts were in place.

So it appears that anything that happened concerning those bolts subsequently took place on Aaron Scott's watch.

So here's a pic I found online here of the bell housing that I have.



I made notations near the bolts that hold the bell housing to the engine block, which can be compared with the bolts in the photos above this one.

Now, I used a flex cable camera for these shots. All of the following pics were taken from the top of the engine, btw. I started on the passenger side, and it appears that both bolts A and B are in place. I didn't try to see if they were torqued down, however, not that I could have gotten a wrench onto them anyway.

BTW, I may have these reversed, as it was pretty tough looking at the photos and figuring out where exactly I was looking at.





Then I went over to the driver side. I believe it is bolt E that is the one I found loose and partially walked out of the threads. I didn't take any further pics of it this time. I tried to find the other two bolts C and D with the flexible camera, and I THINK the only one I was able to find is the one for bolt C.



I'm not positive about this, though, as I found another area that looked like it might be where a bolt goes, but it may just be the tab that is at about the 1 o'clock position in the main picture. I just couldn't get the angle on the flexible camera shaft such that I could see into any threaded hole. So at this point, it is unknown whether bolt D is there and tightened down. My gut feeling, based on the situation with bolts C and E that it is either not there, or not torqued down.

So, now the question is, what will it take to simply get to those missing bolt holes to put bolts in them and tighten up the loose one?

And also, could having three bolts not holding the bell housing to the block possibly be at the root of that problem noise I heard? Can that bell housing move without cracking it if it wasn't torqued down properly?

With the Pfadt motor mounts as well as all the stiffening that got done at the transmission and differential, maybe it couldn't move enough to break, but maybe enough to squeal if the shaft at the front of the drive shaft got slightly misaligned.

Just guessing here........ Just seems that if the noise were causing by the pilot bearing or the throw out bearing or something messed up in the clutch, that I would be hearing that noise a frequently. What may be significant is that the noise didn't show up till I put some oomph into the drivetrain.

So, has ANYONE had this challenge facing them before? To get to those three bolts on the driver's side of the bell housing with the minimum amount of fuss? I really want to avoid pulling the drivetrain. Dropping the engine cradle will also be difficult because of the STS turbo tubes running underneath it. Of course, maybe it's just not possible to do without doing either of the above, but I thought I would try to tap into the expertise on this forum to see what my options are.

Thanks.......

 

Unless I've missed something, I don't understand why you want to unbolt the bell housing .....

 

I'm sorry I wasn't clear about this.

No, I don't want to unbolt the bell housing at all. I want to put the two bolts IN there that Aaron Scott left off of the bell housing, and also tighten down the third one that was in place, but only figer tight.

BTW, I did check, and bolt #D IS missing as well. So that's two bolts missing that I need to put into the bell housing, and a third one that is in place and needs to be tightened down even though it is just sitting in the hole for it.



So what I am looking for is advice on how best to tackle this job of putting those bolts in without having to remove major components in order to do it.

I hope I was a bit clearer this time.

 

IF,,,,,,,,,,,, you use a LOOOOOOOONG extension (and Im talking about 4 feet of extensions) and a universal socket, you can get to the top one from under the car.

It may be a lot easier if you remove the intake manifold and access the top one. The two bolts on the drivers side are a PITA and require a wrench and some VERY short throws and lots of wrench flipovers to get tight. Been there very reciently. It doable.

Bill

 

Wow.
I would have thought that the drive train would have to be angled down & then using the long extensions to get in there to those bell bolts.

That will be great if that doesn't need to be done.

 

Does the tunnel plate need to be removed? Header removed on that side? Using the extensions method you mentioned...

Yeah, this looks like a real pain in the ***. I talked to the vette tech at the local dealership and he said he could do it for a few hours labor. He feels it would be best to come in from the bottom, though.

One one hand I would like to DIY this, but on the other hand, I've had more than my fill of DIY the past 8 months. Sometimes I sure wish I had tentacles instead of arms.

Thanks for your advice.

 

I see. So this is an experiement....instead of dropping the drivetrain to inspect (which would make getting to the bolts easier), you are going to install the bolts, and see what happens?

 

Yep.

 

I just pulled my bellhousing yesterday - the top two driver's side and top passenger side are a PIA, but certainly possible with a normal assortment of hand tools.

Of course - I was upside down, so I might have these backwards

At any rate I used a 13mm combo wrench and a socket set with a swivel and about a foot or so worth of extensions going from underneath the vehicle. The torque tube / trans / diff were already out of my car, so there was a little more room to manuever, but it should work with everything in place as well.

This wasn't ideal, but workable. Bend one of the wiring harness clips out of the way to gain access to the bolt head on the one side and be prepared to do a whole ton of 1/16 turns with the combo wrench. A longer one than I had certainly would help, as would one with maybe some kind of bigger bend near the end. One of those new ratcheting style box wrenches might have saved some time as well - I'll buy one and try it when I reassemble all of this stuff in the next couple of days!

Good luck!

 

I just caught up on your plight a few hours ago. I had not looked at it for a few months and was really suprised you were still at it. What you have gone thru is un friggin believeable! The clowns that worked on your car should be horse whipped!
I could not have done what you have gone thru without being in jail.
One thing to remember though you will know and remember every nut and bolt on your car, you will also hear every rattle, squeek and moan the car makes and know exactly what it is! That may or may not be a blessing?
I wish you all the luck in the world and wish I lived closer as I know a helping hand and a good bottle of Scotch would help this situation!
Regards,
Redroket

 

Do you have a link to a video with the noise?

 

Yes...