Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Installing Duratec V6 engine. Cracked Bellhousing.

Hi to all of you guys. I hope you are having a better day than i am. Long storry short - i removed the engine that i could never figure out wat was wrong with it. If you are interested in the history of this case you can check my previous posts.
So here is that nice 54k Duratec going down in the engine bay. Day one. BTW frlywheel goes on just one way right? i mean you can not put it inside out, right... ohh i guess i am getting paranoid... 4 hours later the engine is still hanging on the hoist and we just cannot get it to line up with the ATX. if one side fairly gets together - the other sides are an inch off... just cannot get the lining pegs in and that's it.
Day 2 here again. Floor jack under the engine, tranny or both together, hoisting up and down, jerking left and right, twisting, turning, pushing, mother f**ing, kicking etc... just doesn't snap together... finaly the wholes are kinda lining up so we are going to the last resort - putting the bolts on and trying slightly to bolt it close... slightly 1/2 a turn at the time all arround the housing (BTW tighter it got more impossible it was to turn the crank shaft from the pulley end).
Till it snapped - both bottom bolts tore off pieces of the oil pan... misfortune but not a big deal. we still have an oil pan from the previous engine. But here comes the disaster - the bolt that has the ground wire from the power distribution block, the one that is right underneath the watter pump, snapped an egg size piece off the bellhousing.
Guys i am desperately needing your help to get out of this situation. what do i do next JB Weld it? would it hold. It is probably impossible just to buy a bellhousing, everyone is trying to sell me the whole tranny... and on top of everything i have to pull the engine out again... any ideas? and any advice about getting those two together without breaking them again?
thanks for your comments

Ross,

You are having a bad day to say the least. First as a test I would remove the torque converter and see if you can get the halves to line up easily and bolt down. If they do not, see what is causing the interferance. If it is the flywheel remove it and again see if you can bolt the two halves together. If you can at this point, double check the part numbers on the flywheel you have. If your torque converter is causing the problem, if you have the old one there is a code on the back of it in the center a or b. Do you have the same on the replacemnt? There is a guide pin on one side of the engine that aligns with the corresponding hole in the atx. This may be binding. Get a round file and file out the hole a bit for the guide pin and see if it slides in place then. Mine was binding here and I filed it out a bit and the tranny just slipped. in place.

As for the top mount bolt, I don't have one to look at right now, but if the atx is still sealed at the point that it broke off, I'd use jb weld great stuff. When I rebuilt my tranny the inside of the case was cracked and I used this and all is fine.

Take your time...

Bob

Thanks for the quick responce Bob, i really needed someone to say something...
the flywheel came off the torque converter so those parts have been working together for 106k miles (i had to put the old flywheel on the new engine) and BTW those are the only 2 pieces that get together so far. the torque converter bolts are in the flywheel holes, i can see them. what i am more concerned about is the axle in the middle, may be that's what causing the closing of the gap on one side and the opening of the other side...and just grinding them holes - that is the simlpest, yet the greatest idea i've heard for a long time...
and my biggest concern - that egg size chip off the bellhousing... yes, it is only one of 7 bolts but would it pass the highway inspection for a swaped engine welded with JB? nothing would leak or anything but it will be there for the buyer to see... and the main thing - is it going to hold strong enough...

It sounds like you did not have the torque convertor properly seated into the trans. With all the pressure you have put on the torque converter, you may have damaged the trans front pump.

You do need to remove the TQ and see if trans and engine block now match up, as noted on the prior post. If it does, you should have a trans shop check the front pump and and TQ to make sure you didn't damage them. If you don't, you may be taking things apart again for a trans repair.

When the torque converter is installed on the trans, it needs to be spun to make sure that it seats into the front pump keyway. If you don't get it seated in, it will stick out too far and cause things to not line up as you have discovered.

The broken part of the bell housing would probably be best repaired by aluminum welding.

Great... it sound more and more discouraging, Big Jim... my partner is wright, we should have parted the car out...

I have a used atx oil pump from my rebuild. It needs to have the new revised bushing plate installed as well as new gasket. If you need one, you are welcome to have it for what it will cost me to ship it to you.

Big Jim brings up a good point on the torque converter. I'd replace it. Discount atx parts house sells them for about 100 dollars. If you go to Auto Zone, etc. you will pay around 200 or so for them. Dayco is the best from what I have read, etc.

You can look up wholesale atx parts houses in your area. Also try www.transtarindustries.com though they are a little more expensive.

Check out JB Weld's website...lots of good info. Just clean the parts with solvent before using JB Weld.....

They have used this stuff in compression chambers without problems.....

On second thought, if your the oil pump external snout was not engaged with the torque converter, I'd look at the snout (the proper name escapes me at this time). If it is not cracked or chipped, then I'd say the oil pump is fine.

Since your down this far did you install a shift correction kit? No??? You should it is only 35 dollars and protects you from high pressure blowout, etc. www.bulkparts.com

When you install the torque converter on the oil pump shaft splines, rotate it down until you hear a slight grinding of teeth sound. This will indicate the the torque converter is seated all the way. Keep the atx pointed slightly up so the tc doesn't slip out. Install halves. When engine and tranny are seated, you should have to push the tc away from engine to flywheel to bolt it. If you don't have this slight clearance it is not on all the way.....

Bob