I dropped the transmission to put in a flywheel and clutch.

There are 5 bolts that connect the tranny to the engine. 4 of them screw into the transmission, and the fifth screws into the engine.

Unfortunately, all 4 that screw into the transmission came out like this:



I'm guessing some of the threading from the aluminum tranny housing broke off and came out with the bolts?

Should I just scrape the threading off the bolts and try to put put them back in? Any advice on what to do would be great.

 

drill and tap. There are kits available and depending how bad the stripped threads are you may need bigger bolts due to the larger hole now to thread into

 

Do you think I could just try reusing the bolts? It looks like only part of the threading came off, so there might be a chance it won't affect anything.

What do you think?

 

I wouldnt risk it. You may as well drill and tap while you have the chance.

 

Alright, I think I may just have a shop do it since I've never used a tap and dye set before. Also, has anyone ever heard of helicoil? I might look into that as well.

 

Helicoil might work, but that's a bit of effort, try finding a hardened bolt the same size, sometimes you can 'remake' the threads just by running it in and out slowly.

I had to do that on my silver tl for the side engine mount, worked like a charm!

 

The best permanent solution would be to have a machine shop install better quality "time sert" threaded steel inserts into the damaged alloy tranny case's bolt holes.

But, for now.....depending on how bad the tranny's receiving holes are damaged, ya could try cleaning out the holes and bolts, then try a bolt in each of the cleaned holes to evaluate the bolt's fit. There are quick temp fixes like JB weld, but if ya wanna do it right.....?

Do all of the bolts appear to have residual material on them at the same area as the bolt shown in the pic ? Perhaps the bolts were overtorqued during the last tranny swap, as dirty holes and threads can cause gouging issues.

 

Personally i would just get a tap for the size thread there and see if you can clean up the threads in the trans and try to tighten and get them to torque properly. If that doesnt work then would try one of the next solutions from a heli-coil to retaping the hole/threads 1 size larger.

 

I'd get new bolts and clean out the bolt holes with a tap. If the new bolts hold the correct
torque you are fine.

 

I'm going to clean up the old bolts and reuse them. I tried looking for the new bolts, but I can't seem to find them in any parts diagram.

Checked the transmission housing and the clutch housing, but they don't show the bolts that hold the transmission to the engine block.

 

If you get a tap and die in the correct thread size you can clean up both the bolt threads and threads in the transmission. Then torque them and if they hold torque you are fine.

You don't have to get new bolts from the dealer, just get the correct thread size and length. They do need to be the correct grade.

 

I had a shop use a tap to clean up the threads. There isn't too much threading left in some holes, but I'm hoping it will torque down.

Found the bolts though, they were under the alternator bracket for some reason. A dollar per bolt, so I'll definitely buy new ones.

 

Did ya talk to the shop about helicoils or timeserts ?
If there's any doubt, now's the time to consider this, unless ya don't ever intend on pulling the tranny again.
There are some other fast dirty fixes to get ya by, but ultimately the choice is yours to make about how ya want things done.