starter bolts - weld a tab?

[andrewm]

Doing the 5 speed swap. Took the starter out of the donor, and the starter out of the auto. What a pain. The nut on the donor car had been rounded at some point, so I actually had to take the intake manifold off and move all the electrical and cooling lines out of the way so I could get full access to it. I don't think my auto car has ever had the starter off, every bolt I've come across looks unturned. Took a lot longer than it should have, even with the horror stories I've read.

The point is my hands do NOT fit back there, and I'm determined to come up with a better solution.

Anyone ever weld tabs on to the tranny to stop the bolts from spinning and used something like a square head bolt?

[jlevie]

I've never had a problem getting to the top starter bolt. You have to work by feel, but there's enough room anyone with average sized hands. To get that room I remove the transmission cross member and let transmission pivot down while lifting the from of the engine until the head hits the firewall. That also gives exposure to the top bell housing bolts.

[5Toes]

I shove a BIG screwdriver in there and jam the bolt... works for me

jam one from the top, jam other from the bottom

[jwiles]

Get a long ass extension im not sure of the exact lenght but it should be roughly around 2 ft i guess you can find them at harbor freight or any "other" tool store get on the ground or if your blessed enough to have a lift and have a lift have a buddy help guide the extension, but for the most part you should be able to get the extension to slide up their with ease the ext. works great for the front bolts too and all of the other inverted torx bits, im going through roughly the same patch today.

Any good tips on getting some of those extremly tight inv. torx bits to turn i have one on the pass side right at the very top thats want to test my method a bit and try to strip {:O}. so im looking for a good technique. my tranny should be out by tomorrow and swapped over by tuesday. hope it helps.