FML: Two weeks left and I find this.

[Earendil]

Long story even shorter than my technical question, I found almost all my bell housing bolts finger loose, and my transmission so out of whack that I couldn't turn the driveshaft by hand when it was in neutral and the ebrake off. I only thought to look under the car because my "clutch chatter" was so damn loud and unnerving.

The kicker? With my nose 4 inches from the belly, tightening the damn bolts up solo with a f*%#ing huge torque wrench, I end up twisting one of the small M8 bolts at the bottom in half. FML. I'm almost positive it broke deep too. I checked my wrench a half dozen times. It was setup right.




...damnit.


[/vent]

[5Toes]

Man it looks like it didnt break too far into the block.. Drop the tranny and take care of it. I lost one of my bolts and had to use a grade 8.8 one from Lowes, working fine so far.

[SeatownE30]

That sucks bro!! Damn

[e30austin]

That sucks ass. Luckily, those trans are pretty easy to pull!

[brutus87]

Im always afraid of that happening, sorry.

[Earendil]

That sucks ass. Luckily, those trans are pretty easy to pull!

I work solo. I use 6x6 wood blocks to "lift" the car. I don't have a garage, but I do have a slightly slanted paved driveway. I dropped the transmission last summer, it was worse than the damn subframe bushing.

I may have to make sure I'm near the front on the way to Seattle, so people can watch for pieces of my transmissions

[e30austin]

I work solo. I use 6x6 wood blocks to "lift" the car. I don't have a garage, but I do have a slightly slanted paved driveway. I dropped the transmission last summer, it was worse than the damn subframe bushing.

I may have to make sure I'm near the front on the way to Seattle, so people can watch for pieces of my transmissions

Really? I guess I'm good at pulling trans', since I've done them more times then I care to admit now! I can have one out in about 90 minutes.

[rattlecan]

never pulled a bmw tranny but ive done it on plenty of other cars, got plenty of jackstands and floor jacks if ya need help,

[Gear_Head13]

Take the broke bolt down to your fastener store & buy a left handed drill that diameter. Use a cordless draill turning the correct way & as the drill bites into the broken stud it will back itself out. There's your old tech trick of the day children :ohsnap:

[Brilliantrot 318is]

I have spare transition bolts if you need, that sucks, I hope you have everything squared away in time so we can make some nice gopro videos :D

[thebutterson]

I did that when swapping my tranny onto my new motor, luckily it was all out of the car so I slid the tranny off and took the bolt out. Suprisingly, what was left of the bolt was only finger right, so maybe you could use an easy out to get the remains of the bolt out? It would fit into the bolt hole easily, and if the bolt is pretty loose like mine, once it grabs the bolt should come right out.

[Earendil]

I have spare transition bolts if you need, that sucks, I hope you have everything squared away in time so we can make some nice gopro videos :D

Usually I'd have to turn down offers like that, living 70 odd miles from Portland. But I'm quite likely to be in Portland tomorrow hitting up junk yards. I believe you have a pretty decent one in your area, so I might just be able to swing by and pick them up either before or after my morning junkyard visit, if you still don't mind.

It looks like the bolts are special order form most places, and the few that have them want $6 for them. The problem with ordering is that I don't know which ones I need exactly! I know that one is an M8, and the other is an M10 or M12. I'm not sure on the last one because it flat out isn't there anymore :\
And realoem just isn't being helpful here.

From the pelican parts article picture I can say that the green lower right is the one that snapped. And I believe the red left hand side one is flat out missing. But I don't know what the depth on either of them is. So if you had a few I could take home and try out, that would be amazingly awesome!

[Earendil]

Really? I guess I'm good at pulling trans', since I've done them more times then I care to admit now! I can have one out in about 90 minutes.

90? And that includes raising the car, removing the shielding, dropping the exhaust, and dropping the driveshaft? You sir, are quick :)

[bmnut2002]

Those bottom bolts are so much less important that the other larger diameter bolts. I would tighten the rest of them to spec and run it. If I had a left hand drill bit and an easy out, I would attempt to get the broken bolt out and replace it, but if I couldn't, I wouldn't worry about it. My two cents...

[LuckyHenriksen]

Those bottom bolts are so much less important that the other larger diameter bolts. I would tighten the rest of them to spec and run it. If I had a left hand drill bit and an easy out, I would attempt to get the broken bolt out and replace it, but if I couldn't, I wouldn't worry about it. My two cents...

Just going to say this. As long as the 4 main bell housing bolts are cool, and the rest of the flywheel cover bolts are there you should be ok.