Hello All,
In case you haven't noticed I haven't been on much lately.

I was fighting with a ticking noise, I think I posted a thread about it with a video for sound.
Turns out my tranny bolts had backed out, this caused my flexplate to crack in numerous places. Which made it rub against the torque converter cover.I took out my tranny to engine bolts and slide in 2 4" long bolts to hold the trannyin line with the engine. This way I didn't ahve to drop the tranny out. I ended up rounding off one of the flexplate bolts. I tried on of those easy out things, designed for rounded bolts,didn't work. I tried heat, I tried a pipe wrench, even tried to get a welder. Couldn't borrow one to save my life, everyone had 220 volt versions and I dont have 220 in the garage.I even tried a cold chisel to beat the bolt out. Nothing would make it move. Nothing.
I bought a die grinder from Harbor Frieght,cut the shoulder off the bolt. Took my chisel and beat the flexplate off in 3 pieces the big ring, the bolt ring, and the ring aroun the last remaining bolt. OnceI got the flexplate out from behind the bolt, I could almosttake the bolt out with myfingers. ARggg.

Finally, success, a week later. I bolt up the new flexplate. Truck ran but still made thenoise. Starter died. I pulled the starter and got a replacement. I noticed the new starter would not engage my flexplate teeth. Odd, maybe I got thewrong starter. Swapped it for another one. It was the same.Turns out I put the new flexplate in backwards. Apperantly there is an engine side and a torque converter side. So I spent today unbolting the tranny and sliding it back so I could flip the flexplate around.

The moral of the story, make sure you getit onright the first time.

Glad you got the problem fixed, but it is nice to know that even the pros make mistakes sometimes!

Guess it would be too much for them to actually label the sides or something...

Wow, Tim! That sucks.

Yeah, I spent this past week (not straight through, most of the time less than an hour a day) changing out the intake manifold gaskets on my truck. While I had the upper plenum off (before pulling the lower intake - I know you don't need to remove it), I checked my injector spray pattern. Only 1 cylinder was spraying correctly and 3 or them would weep ever so slightly after I cycled them. And this was after some fuel injector cleaner once a month for the past 4 months. $200 later and I've got a new MFI spider is now in along with the new gaskets and all is well. Truck runs a lot better. I did manage to cross thread the return line into the upper fuel line assembly[:@]... But I just had to pull it back apart and get it threaded correctly and all is well again. Now I'm just fighting with the little bit of trapped air in the cooling system.

Sorry to steal your thread... Just lettin' ya know that you aren't the only one to make mistakes!

Talk about mistakes. This past weekend I made the HUGE mistake of cutting the rubber couplers off of the fuel tank to the filler tube. I thought to myself, you know I should probably check with the parts store or dealer that I can get new rubber couplers BEFORE I cut them but I was impatient to drop the fuel tank (to replace the pump) and figured that fuel tanks get taken out ALL the time and these rubber couplers would be an off the shelf repair part. WRONG!!!!!! The auto parts store says, "dealer part", the dealer parts guy says, we don't ever cut them cause we don't have them and can't get them. HUH, I said, you can't get them???? Nope, we just "lube and work them" until they come off, "but they are a bear to get out". Yeah, thanks for nothing. So anyway, I've got two cut rubber couplers and no place to get new ones. I'm going to have to get creative to repair them but I think some rubber glue and some "special" roofing products and I'll jury rig them to work again. We'll see. And No, you can't use plumbing couplings as the gas will apparently eat through that rubber and you'll be replacing them every 6 months or so, so says the dealer parts guy (apparently this tactic has already been tried). Oh, and while I'm venting, WHO in their right mind put that little 1/4" vent hose tucked behind the frame rail at the top of the gas tank THERE. It is pratically impossible to get your friggin hands in there to separate the tube from the hose. I've never cursed so much in my life trying to get that little bugger to disconnect, but I eventually got it. That was a royal PITA big time.

my buddy cut the same thing as you junkmonkey. he said the same thing about the rubber hose, but he found some at the local auto parts place that was fuel rated and it worked fine.

Thanks for the heads up about the flex plate. You probably just saved me a ton of trouble in the near future. BTW, how did you tell the difference in the engine side and the converter side ?

The easiest way to tell the difference is to look for the ring around the center hole. When they punch out the center hole it leaves a ring on one side, that side is the torque converter side. Teh other side must mount up flush to the crank, so its smooth.

Sorry to hear that it went on backwards. I remember listening to the noise when you posted. I thought it was the flexplate. Did you put a little loctite on the threads?
The only good thing is that it's always faster the second time.

I'm replacing the stringers and floor supports and floor in my boat. I guess I better be carefull not to go to deep with the grinder....lol

Sorry, forgot to post it in the last post.
Thanks for the support and sotries of your own troubles. Glad to hear I am not the only one. :D

Actually I think it was Chevy Lovers tip about using the long bolts to slide the tranny back. Worked like a charm. thanks for the tip.

well glad its a car illness and not a Tim illness. :)

we missed ya around here... sorry to hear about all the trouble tho!

Thanks Dory.
I had the Tim illness a couple years back. Before I joined forums like this one. Lot of truth to that Allan Jackson song, Living like your dieing.