I have been looking for the source of a clunk when letting the clutch out in first. I worked from the rear suspension to the diff to the U-joints to the transmission. Yep, it's in the tranny. Whoa! The mounting bolt to the bell housing is hanging out an inch! The other three are not tight.
In my mind, I used locktite, torqued all critical fasteners, and marked them with a line. Apparently not.
I am just recently on-the-road with the roadster, with about 500 miles on it. I had noticed a little play from the start, but attributed it to the ring and pinion. The clunk was worse yesterday, so I looked seriously at it today.
So, have I ruined the transmission by allowing it to come slightly loose from the bell housing? I know the alignment is rather critical. This is a Tremec TKO 500 and a McLeod bell housing. It looks like it is a bolt/nut rather than threaded into the bell housing (I did this part five years ago, so I don't remember). So that means having to separate the BH from the engine. Can I do this in the car, or do I have to pull the whole engine/transmission? Are there dowel pins between the transmission and the bell housing?
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Mk II+, Crate 5.0 w/ E303 Cam, 3-Link, TKO500, Mass-Flo, 9psi Powerdyne, Ford Fun Drop Butt Mod, smooth butt mod, wheel arches mod, roll bar mod, steering rack mod, foot box mod, door latches mod. Self painted. This is why it took so darn long! Go-cart 7/29/2010. Licensed as 1965, insured and on the road 8/12. Former user name David Lindquist.
Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in, but it's possible you might have an issue with the pilot bearing. Do you know if it's a solid bronze or roller bearing?
If it's a roller bearing, it doesn't take much to make them look like this:
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FFR #7124 Mk 3.1, Levy 5 link, LCA's & brakes, 17" Halibrands, electric PS, SAI, Eibach springs, BOSS 427w, webers, hood louvers, tilt front. Delivered 12/23/09, 1st start 02/19/12. 1st go cart 03/03/12. Titled 10/3/12.
"I'm basing it on a collective interpretation of these particular cars. And whatever the hell I like". The Federalist Patriot Build blog: www.myersfamilyffrbuild.blogspot.com
I don't know about the pilot bearing. That does not look good. I am dreading pulling the engine and transmission. As I recall, it was a tight fit with the body off.
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Mk II+, Crate 5.0 w/ E303 Cam, 3-Link, TKO500, Mass-Flo, 9psi Powerdyne, Ford Fun Drop Butt Mod, smooth butt mod, wheel arches mod, roll bar mod, steering rack mod, foot box mod, door latches mod. Self painted. This is why it took so darn long! Go-cart 7/29/2010. Licensed as 1965, insured and on the road 8/12. Former user name David Lindquist.
It is possible . you could just tighten the bolts and try it . You probably have a steel bell with nuts welded to the inside . the pics do not work. If the other 3 bolts were just not tight , not an inch out you might be ok . My favorite saying that I learned when I moved south is " it aint gonna be no worse" if you tighten it up and try it . Yeah aint no worse great.. either way you say it it's kind of funny. Whats the back seal on the trans look like ? Has it bashed the the drive shaft? That would be a determining factor. If its just loose and rocking back and forth and the case of the trans is not cracked. You might be ok . Any more than that I'd want to look at the pilot (shown above) and the collar that the throw out bearing rides on . Happy hunting Bob
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FFR5020 MK III Whitby body +paint, sai mod, Tremec,408, Cobra/Oben brakes , Halibrands, mass flo , gas n pipes, levy rad team3 spinners.Fortes driveshaft, pulleys ,and quick release steering
It is possible . you could just tighten the bolts and try it . You probably have a steel bell with nuts welded to the inside . the pics do not work. If the other 3 bolts were just not tight , not an inch out you might be ok . My favorite saying that I learned when I moved south is " it aint gonna be no worse" if you tighten it up and try it . Yeah aint no worse great.. either way you say it it's kind of funny. Whats the back seal on the trans look like ? Has it bashed the the drive shaft? That would be a determining factor. If its just loose and rocking back and forth and the case of the trans is not cracked. You might be ok . Any more than that I'd want to look at the pilot (shown above) and the collar that the throw out bearing rides on . Happy hunting Bob
Dave:
I'm with Bob. If the trans only came back a few tenths of an inch, retighen the bolts with more torque and LocTite. You may be able to see on the drive shaft yoke how far it came back. The trans centers in the bellhousing on the front bearing carrier which is about 7/16 or so thick so if the trans didn't come back too far the you may be OK. I wouldn't yank the trans until you really know if there is damage.
Ron
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FFR Challenge car #4182SP Carbed 302, Holley 600CFM, E303 cam, T5, 3 link rear-3:55, Levy wheels, Kumho tires, Fire Safe fuel cell, Griffin race radiator, ISIS wiring system, MSD 6ALN NASCAR ignition, 85 Mustang distributor,
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Mk II+, Crate 5.0 w/ E303 Cam, 3-Link, TKO500, Mass-Flo, 9psi Powerdyne, Ford Fun Drop Butt Mod, smooth butt mod, wheel arches mod, roll bar mod, steering rack mod, foot box mod, door latches mod. Self painted. This is why it took so darn long! Go-cart 7/29/2010. Licensed as 1965, insured and on the road 8/12. Former user name David Lindquist.
Redshift: This sounds to me like a vibration induced problem. Did you index your bell housing to insure that the center line is correct? If the trans input is not excatly centered (within spec) in the pilot bearing it can cause vibration induced failures of the pilot bearing like the pics above. If you have a solid pilot bearing I would recommend the above, loctite the bolts (use blue) and see what happens. Maybe the bolts were not torqued to spec the first time around.
Keep us posted:
Best of luck:
HTH
CB
If you find there are non welded nuts inside the bellhousing don't give up. Many times a bunch of short blasts w/ an impact will get things to tighten. Hit the trigger for as short a time as you can and still get a full power shot. You are trying to use the inirtia of the nut to get a tiny bit of bolt tightening before the nut spins so let it come to a complete stop before hitting the trigger again.
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FFR 5353K,351/400hp,TKO 500, 3-link w/3.08 and Truetrac, Koni DA coilovers front and rear,APE hardtop,Forte front and VPM rear swaybars
They were the welded, threaded plates, so not a problem. Locktite blue'd and torqued as much as possible. I'll see how it goes.
I tried to do the indexing back when I installed it, but could not ever get a real positive feeling about it. I couldn't set up the dial indicator to get a definite measurement. I should have gotten some help on that issue.
I have a little vibration at 2200 RPM, but smooth above and below that. I still have some play in the transmission, and that coupled with the ring and pinion slop is a little annoying. While rebuilding the clutch pack in the posi, the lash was at maximum (.012"?)
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Mk II+, Crate 5.0 w/ E303 Cam, 3-Link, TKO500, Mass-Flo, 9psi Powerdyne, Ford Fun Drop Butt Mod, smooth butt mod, wheel arches mod, roll bar mod, steering rack mod, foot box mod, door latches mod. Self painted. This is why it took so darn long! Go-cart 7/29/2010. Licensed as 1965, insured and on the road 8/12. Former user name David Lindquist.
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