Just what I wanted to hear

[Nvbowtie]

My outer starter bolt hole cracked on the corner,
so I am screwed.

Here is what my options are;

1. Try to make a plate for the starter

or

2. Go to a standard shift tranny, where the
starter bolts to the bell housing

or

3. Machine off the front of my transmission
and get a Ultra-Bell bell housing for my th350,
where the starter bolts to the bell housing

or

4. Get a new block, and change all the parts over

[rage'nrat638]

the ulta bell housing don't help that on a big block...still use's the block holes don't know about the small block ulta bell???

[rage'nrat638]

th400

[Nvbowtie]

Originally posted by rage'nrat638
the ulta bell housing don't help that on a big block...still use's the block holes don't know about the small block ulta bell???

http://www.eastcoasttransmissions.com/ect/cases.htm

I am waiting till Monday to talk to them to find out,
below is from the link page.

The bellhousings below are the revolutionary "Ultra-Bell". The "Ultra-Bell" offers a direct replacement for most GM bellhousings. These one piece aluminum castings withstand severe twisting and tire shake common on high powered cars- yet they will still fit under a stock floor pan. It simply bolts onto the front pump, in addition the "Ultra-Bell" is SFI certified to take the place of the flexplate shield.

The latest versions of the "Ultra-Bell" design adapts Ford and Chrysler engines to the Powerglide and other GM transmissions. This revolutionary design eliminates the need for adapter plates and allows the starter to be mounted directly to the "Ultra-Bell".

[rage'nrat638]

wow that would be great for you.....
hope that works!!!!!!!
SURE would be better than changing blocks.....

[low 84]

theres no way to repair it? weld, helicoil? there has to be something you can do

could you not weld up the crack and tap the hole out for a bigger bolt, also have to reem the bolt hole in the starter out, but shouldn't be a problem...................just throughing out ideas

[Nvbowtie]

I am afraid of welding, due to it may break again,

I want to try and do somthing where this won't
happen again ?????????

[79BIG10]

What about welding a piece of thick metal (1/4") to both sides of the crack after drilling the hole in the pieces then weld them to the block. Then tap the one side for a larger bolt.

[78chevstepside]

a motor block is made out of cast. Cast is very difficult to weld. Pre- heating is involved to weld cast. i havent had good success welding cast. I have been told buy co-workers(welders they have preheated cast and welded with 7018.) Normally nye rod is used to weld cast iron. To weld materials together generally cast must be welded to cast.

[Low87on20s]

Originally posted by Nvbowtie


The latest versions of the "Ultra-Bell" design adapts Ford and Chrysler engines to the Powerglide and other GM transmissions. This revolutionary design eliminates the need for adapter plates and allows the starter to be mounted directly to the "Ultra-Bell".

I used the JW Ford S/B to TH400 on my old 88 Mustang Coupe and I had to use the adapter plate... From reading your post, things must have changed since I quit drag racing.

[Nvbowtie]

The hole has a crack, it's not broke off,
I can't see the crack widen when I apply pressure
to the cracked area and the bolt feels tight,

I don't get how this is afecting my starter
not to engage right.

I had a similar thought as what Brandon was saying,

I thought about a plate on the bottom of the block
not welded but using all three holes, wouldn't the plate keep the bolt tight enough not to move on the cracked hole ?

I even thought of epoxy or super glue material between the plate and block to help keep it straight and not move

I could even build a plate for where the bolt heads go with a spacer on the bolt that doesn't go through the starter ????

[cwilli84]

What about tapping the other hole and using the side by side typ starter. Hmmmm

[soleeagle]

1 question for you and your plate idea. Wouldnt that be like putting one big shim in your starter and cause problems with engaging the starter and flexplate? If it even engaged at all depending how thick you made your plate. Just my .02

[Class of 69]

Putting a plate between the starter, and the block will space the starter away from the flex plate. May not have enough tooth contact to hold up. I once had a starter hole strip out, and drilled and tapped the hole about a 1/2 inch deeper in the block. The bolt held tight. Going deeper may reinforce the holding power of the bolt lower than the crack. It may help to use a starter nose cone with the bolt holes in line, rather than the offset style. That hole you have the arrow to is the closest to the flex plate, and will keep the starter from flexing better. Are you using the reinforcement strap on the front of the starter?? That will help hold it from moving too.

[Nvbowtie]

I thought about the too big of shim idea, I could machine down the starter to match the plate thickness ??

reinforcement strap ??? picture of this ??

[7T7]

From the photo it looks like the crack is in the knurled unthreaded area. If you can torque both bolts down then attach one of those GM starter brace brackets to the front of the starter it may stop the starter from flexing.
That little bracket is cheap.

Man, I thought crap like this only happend to me!

Good luck bro.

[Chevy67Tk]

Your probably going to think I’m nuts or bs ing you but I had a 327 block that broke in the same place (mine was broke thru not just cracked) I got the nose cone off an older starter one that was steel not alum. (Didn’t have a mig welder at the time) but did a little grinding and added a piece of steel tubing to the side of the nose cone for the third bolt hole. Taped the third hole and had to do some minor shimming. This was a temporary repair and would send you the piece but it is still in use and working. And this was done 17 years ago.

Been there done this one. My lesson in this one – not all engine hoist are created equal, droped block about 8 to 10 inches when lowering it into truck.

[motoretro]

How about boring the hole out to allow a sleeve to slide in and then brazing the whole thing, crack and all. Leave the sleeve a bit long and after brazing it file it down to original height. Alot of people think brazing is weak but the tensile strenght is plenty strong enough for this if their is just slightly enough clearance for braze to be sucked into joint by capillary action. This would pull the whole assembly together and the sleeve would handle all the stress.

[xJAZZILLAx]

Heli-coil anyone?

[Yachtcare]

I've seen repairs done to cracked diesel cylinder heads with an epoxy product called "Marine-Tex", and it holds up. My thought is get some of this product at your local marine store, a lot of hardware store have it also. Put a GOOD coat of wax on the bolt, making certain you coat the threads well (or you'll never get that bolt out again). Mix the material, apply it to the bolt, and as you torque that bolt into place, you will force this goo into the cracks. When this stuff sets up in a few hours it will have taken up any slack or movement that the bolt may have had and permanently filled the cracks. The coat of wax you applied will allow you (albeit with some effort) to break the bolt free the next time you need to, and will leave a nicely tapped hole to put the bolt back into. A quick, easy repair that should outlast the life of the engine easily.

[toytruck]

I say just run it the way it is. Mine has been like that for years. I just tightin that bolt last. Use a washer or two to keep the the bolt from bottoming out.

[Mike76251]

I would heat the cracked area with a propane torch, hit the cracks with a 7018 rod being careful not to get any in the hole (or near it).
It would take 10 minutes to fix and last forever.
All this is assuming the person doing it knew how to weld.
If the person wasn't up on cast-iron welding 15 minutes welding on a water pump would do it.

[Phat]

Clean out the hole real good. JB weld the hole completely, fill it. Now go get a 3 bolt starter....I think a 69 z-28 with a DZ-302(there are others but i dont remember) Now use the other 2 bolts to mount the starter and put a peice of tube that is smaller in the bad hole of the starter and use that as and alignment pilot for a small drill to redrill the jb weld. After that pull the starter and drill to the correct size and tap. I would also grind the crack out real good and jb weld a pretty good corner on it. If you had the motor out and on a stand i would try and have welded them with good results.
One of my plow truck did the same thing and i did the 3 bolt deal 7 years ago and its still in there. Good Luck

[eaglelox]

is the block cast steel or cast iron. i have welded both. steel no prob clean it, weld it. cast iron can be welded but as you heard it needs to be heated good after you clean as much oil, paint,crap off. the cracks dont look bad. grind the cracks out just a little.,but not into threads. its posable that after welding it could hav hard spots. keep it out of threads a tap wont clean out hard steel.

[ShamrockCustoms]

find a place in your area that specializes in cast metals. chances are they have a welder that can do the work on the cast block. i have the sam prob on my 4bolt main 010 block....not really the kind of block you wanna trash.



for you DFW guys, i found out that Trinity Castings has a guy there named Terry that should be able to do this type of work. Will let you know how it goes.....



good luck!!