ok. i have been involved in my project for a long time now, longer than it should have taken. well, i was hoping to try to fire her up this weekend, but one problem i thought wouldnt be too bad has become an outrageous annoyance, a broke starter bolt.

a friend and i were removing the whole drivetrain and when we were removing the starter the bottom bolt(threads into the bellhousing) the head broke off. well, after removing the tranny he redrills the whole and we just need to tap it. he has since moved to whyoming to go to wyotec. well it takes us WELL over an hours to get the damn engine and tranny(attached) back into the car due to the freaking tranny mounts.

well i have been putting off fixing that problem and today it ended up being one of the last things i need to do before i try to fire up the car. well i try to tap the hole, cant. then i put the starter on using the top bolt and i realize the holes dont even line up 100%. so that means i now have to drill on the starter. i cant seem to get the tap to want to work in the whole(first time messing with a tap). i was told to use a helecoil(?). the guy at the autoparts store told me a helecoil wouldnt be able to hold up to the torque of the starter. i told him i wasnt sure how much torque the starter was using, but i dont know if itd pose a major problem.

now im just stuck, not knowing what to do. i thought about just drilling the whole bigger and seeing if that helped with the tap but then i think itll be too big. i have access to another 12a tranny, but this tranny was freshly rebuilt with about 2K miles on it.

any help is greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

bologna, a helicoil will create threads that are in most cases STRONGER than the origionals. Bring that bolt into a napa and they should be able to give you a Kit which will contain a dozen or so helicoils, appropriate sized dril bit, and tap for whatever metric size you need.

probabaly went to checker or shucks huh? buncha schmoes

 

well, the thing now is that the whole has already been drilled, to 5/16 i think. i think im just going to drill the whole bigger and also drill the starter

 

The best plan would have been to remove the stub while the trans was out of the car.
Check the drill size needed for the helicoil. If you have not already drilled it too large for the helicoil you are OK. Just use the helicoil kit and install a new bolt. 10mm 1.5 thread pitch. I think the bolt is 30 mm long.
It may be difficult to tap for the helicoil with the trans in the car.
Maybe swapping in the other trans that you mentioned would be the way to go.

 

well the tranny in the car has 2k miles, the other tranny, about 70k.

ive decided if i swap trannies itll be for a 13b tranny.

 

well, i took the tranny and the starter to my work today to try to fix this problem. the initial hole was pretty far off from where it should be. i ended up drilling the hole out to a 1/2(i know its standard, but i dont care, i just want it to work and its free). i drilled all the way through the bell housing. after doing so i took a carbine cutter and ground down the part inside the tranny to make it more flush with the walls of the housing. after that i took a bolt(3/8) and stuck it through the whole with the head being inside the housing. i test fitted the starter to the bolt and it was way off. i took the carbine cutter and opened up the whole on the starter a good bit and i couldnt get it to fit right without grinding too much. so now the bolt is tilted as it goes through the starter and i dont think this will work. im really pissed and frustrated. i wanted to finally try to start my car today, or this weekend, but this have grown to be a major problem. im just irritated and i dont know where to turn so i came to vent on here. good day