Re: Has Anyone Tried This?

[Fred & Mel Zimmermann <fredmelzimm@domain.elided>]

Rex,
If the flange on the bell housing that provides support for the starter
snapped off, you probably have a vibration that caused it to snap. No amount
of JB Weld or magic epoxy is going to fix the problem. That is only a
bandaid. We had a similar problem with a 71 GTV several years ago and after
two replacment bell housings, we found the problem. The main output shaft on
the transmission has a round ball type shape. It mates with the drive shaft
and the ball was oval and causing the vibration. If you epoxy the flange and
it snaps again, I suggest you look at the transmission output shaft. Good
luck, Fred

Rex wrote:

> The problem with my 1979 Spider is not the starter.  What I found when I
> pulled the air box and moved the front fuel filter out of the way was
> that the bottom bolt holding the starter to the bellhousing had gone
> walkabout, and that the part of the bellhousing into which the shoulder
> bolt goes had completely broken off of the bellhousing.
>
> So what was happening was that the starter was held on by only one
> (loose) bolt and was flopping around when the bendix tried to engage.  I
> don't think I need a new starter.  At least, I'm going to try to fix
> this thing and reinstall the existing starter before I blow $100 or more
> on rebuilding it, since it spins just fine.
>
> The question is, how do I fix this sucker?  I have another bellhousing,
> but I really don't want to pull the engine just to change the
> bellhousing.
>
> Here is my tentative plan:  I went to the auto parts store and bought
> the toughest epoxy they had (its by permatex and is for bonding steel
> and aluminum).  I cleaned up the bellhousing and the chunk of the
> bellhousing into which the shoulder bolt fits real nice and epoxied them
> together.  I'll buy another bolt the same length as the top bolt to
> replace the missing bottom bolt, along with washers and another nyloc
> nut, and then I'm going to put permatex treadlock on the top and bottom
> bolts to hold them in place.
>
> I'm hoping I only need the shoulder bolt for location and that the other
> two bolts can bear the brunt of holding the starter onto the
> bellhousing, with a little help from permatex thread sealant (since they
> obviously were not up to the job without it).  I will snug up the
> shoulder bolt, but I won't tighten it as much as the other two so as not
> to break the epoxy seal, which I imagine is weaker than the rest of the
> bellhousing.
>
> Am I as nutty as the guy who used hose clamps to compress the front coil
> springs on his spider or can this possibly work?
>
> If it doesn't, I can always pull the engine later.
>
> Rex in Albany
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