1G FWD Transmission problem

[NateFrame]

Hi All, replacing clutch on my 91 1G FWD laser. Have a question and wondering if someone would be willing to look under their car for me. How many trans to block bolts are there? I have 2 on the back of the block located close to the shifter cables. There is one on the front dowel pin, very close to the slave cyl., then there are two for a side mount that bolts to the unibody.

The trans has another dowel pin, by the firewall, close to where the control arm bolts to the subframe. I dont see any entry point for a bolt to go in thru the trans and thread into the block. However if you crawl under your car and look under the starter there is a threaded hole in the block. It seems to line up with the contours of the trans. But you cannot tighten the trans and block together by going thru a threaded hole first.

Looking thru my FSM leads me to believe there are only 3 trans to engine bolts, I would like to think this is untrue, but the car has been apart for 3 months now so its very hard to remember every part I took off.

A search turned up a couple of hits, leading me to believe that one bolt was smaller than all the rest, I ran out to the garage right away and tried it, no luck.

Thanks, -nate-

 

[JackM]

Yes, there is a bolt that goes in there and it is VERY important or you can crack the bell-housing. The bolt is a metric 8x1.25MM (takes a 12MM wrench) and is about 2" long. It doesn't thread into the block, it goes past those threads and into the threads in the trans. The best bolt to use, if you lost the original, is one of the (2) 8x1.25MM bolts that go to the cam belt tensioner. Those are the perfect length and will work.

Jack
www.jackstransmissions.com

 

[NateFrame]

Does that peticular bolt have a slight taper on the end of it? Some bolts can stand up straight on the threaded side, where as some I have seen look to almost have a cone shape on the end. Not shure if it matters?

I know I tried to put a M8 bolt in last night after doing a search on the boards here, I could not get it to thread into anything.

So let me make shure I understand this. There are 3 bolts that thread into the block, and one that comes in the thru the block and threads into the trans. I have all the dowel pins aligned, but still having problems.


thanks for your help.

 

[JackM]

Yes, that is correct. It's very possible that the threads are damaged in the trans, or it has a broken bolt in it already. If the tensioner bolt doesn't work, then you might have to pull the trans to see why.

Jack

 

[NateFrame]

Update:

Jack, thanks for all the really good info. I ended up pulling the trans back out and inspecting the hole. There was some junk in the threads, looked like metal shavings. Blew it out with an air gun and ran the bolt in and out a few times with cutting oil. Worked great. Can botton the bolt out by hand and take it back out very easily. I think I got the threads cleaned up good. Then put the trans back in, put all 4 bolts in with anti-sieze and everything turned out good.

Now if I could just get all the air out of the clutch lines...

The second picture is of the bolt in question. Sorry for the blurryness...

thanks again.
-nate-

 

[JackM]

Awesome! You wouldn't believe how many cars we see missing that bolt. You can destroy the clutch disk hub, the tranny synchro blocker rings and bell housing missing that simple bolt.

Jack

 

[NateFrame]

I dont think my car ever had that bolt. The entire car is like a maze. I got it for 250 bucks still running, but as I dug deeper into it I found many half ass jobs were done to it. From the skateboard bearings in the shifters to a balance shaft that was cut for a cheap stubby shaft. I managed to fix just about everything.

I did a good job organizing everything as I took it all apart, so if there was a bolt there I would have had it. Well atleast its done right now...

thanks jack

 

[JackM]

balance shaft that was cut for a cheap stubby shaft.

Actually, I have been known to do that too. The aftermarket stubs are terrible and are known to seize in the pump housing. If you take a close look at the aftermarket ellimination kits, you will notice that the stub is missing the oil groove and hole in the middle of it. If we are doing an ellimination and keeping the original oil pump, I will cut the balance shaft and TIG weld to hole shut. This way I am using a part that I know works well and has survived fine to that point, plus I save a couple of bucks. Ours come out nice and clean, but I don't know how yours looked,

Jack