I took the bellhousing off to clean and paint it and to my surprise there's a lot more going on under it than I thought. One of the things I'm a little worried about is the factory sealant that was on there. I see where it is/was but I wanted to ask if anyone else has experience with doing this and if there is anything extra I should know before reapplying new rtv. It seems simple and straight forward but I figured I'd ask just in case

 

Nope, nothing fancy. I have used grey RTV in the past on transmissions with good success. As usual, make sure the 2 surfaces are spotless and degreased and don't gob the RTV on thick.

Also, let it cure 24 hours before filling the gearbox if possible. Read the instructions that came with the RTV, it may have a shorter timeframe the manufacturer recommends.

Dale

 

I did the bellhousing, tail housing and pan on my FD transmission for the 1st time recently.

I used Hondabond and everything went really easily to my relief.
Since the transmission surfaces are all precision machined surfaces of rigid aluminum castings with some big bolts for high clamping loads you just have to make sure you have a very thin layer of sealant over a clean surface.

Its not a nightmare like say the flexy stock stamped steel engine oil pan...

 

Thanks for the tips guys... my worry was my layer wasn't going to be thin enough. I was thinking about just putting it on the outside and calling that good.

 

It does need to be between the 2 components. Just a decent thin smear and you're fine.

If you just do the outside you'll have a leak over time.

Dale

 

do both sides, just make sure it's THIN. I did this over the summer, nothing else too fancy. Look in the manual to show you where the sealant should go. Also make sure you don't lose and put back the bearing shim (thin large circular washer) that goes under the bell housing. It was a pain in the butt when I thought I had mine all sealed up and saw that piece sitting on the workbench...DOH.

I also have used HondaBond HT for about every sealant use these days (oil pan, trans, diff). Highly recommend.