Bellhousing/Clutch Interference

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Has anyone else ran into this problem? See photos.....red arrows show location of the problem. The owner of this car installed the transaxle long ago.....and the engine has also been sitting a while, so he instructed me to spray some lube into the cylinders before cranking the engine.....so I decided to do that today. Removed all of the plugs, sprayed some oil in each cyl and attempted to turn the engine using the crank pulley bolt. I could only rotate it back and forth a few degrees.....like maybe 5 degrees and it would stop dead. So decided to rule out the trans/clutch and loosened up all of the bell housing bolts and pried the bellhousing away from the engine about 3/16" or so. Sure enough, the engine turned over freely. Not sure if I should pull the whole trans or just back it up enough to sneak a file in there and file that corner back? In all of the GTMs we've worked on here, I've never seen this before.....

[RumRunner]

Shane,

That seems like a lot of filing, especially considering the bell housing has been pulled back nearly 3/16"! Those tolerances seem too close to be correct. Silly question - as you asked me once long ago - is there too much longitudinal play in the crankshaft? Is it possible the thrust bearing surface is eroded to the point where the crank and clutch can move that far back into the bell housing?

-Michael

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

It's just that single point in the bellhousing that is contacting the PP....so I don't think it would take much to make clearance. I would think if it were a thrust bearing issue, I'd be seeing the heads of the PP bolts hitting the bellhousing and not just this single point on the casting hitting the outer perimeter of the PP? My other thought last night in my sleep is whether or not both alignment pins are in place to align the trans adapter plate to the block?...I will be checking that today.

[RumRunner]

The PP bolts are what hit first in mine, so you're probably correct there. It will be interesting to see what you ultimately identify as the culprit!

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

Well, it seems that filing down that point/edge of the bellhousing casting has solved the problem. Trans is bolted back up tight to the engine again and I can spin the engine freely with a wrench on the crank pulley bolt and all spark plugs removed. Not an easy or quick thing to do as getting a file into there and actually getting pressure and movement of the file is a challenge with the exhaust, suspension, axles right there where my hands need to be to run the file, but we got it done slowly but surely.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

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