Cracked Bell Housing... advice

[abikepeddler]

HighRPM666... Wow. That is just too nice of you to offer your time and expertise. I wouldn't dare accept simply because you are on vacation and I wouldn't want you to miss the thrill of San Deigo's epic traffic and 72 degree/sunny weather... every... single... day. (It's like Groundhog Day here.) But if IF IF we happen to have the car apart at the time you are in the area I might have you take a moment to take a look at the car just to make sure things look OK. My biggest concern is replacing the bell housing as it looks like I'd be breaking down the transmission a good amount. I'm tempted to take it to a tranny shop and pay them to do the bell housing surgery.

You can see the entire trans in this Tom's Turbo Garage video at the 1:33min mark. Toms' Turbo Garage VR-4 Transmission

 

[highrpm666]

Haha.. I've been to San Diego too many times! I'm coming because one of my Fiance's friends is having festivities revolving around their upcoming wedding. I'm looking for any excuse not to join in on the "heaploads" of girly time fun. Id much rather travel half way across the country and maybe spend an afternoon helping out another gvr4 enthusiast than listen to 12 wined up ticking hormone timebombs argue about the color of the table runners!

 

[ghostinthevr4]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

[abikepeddler]

That's hilarious. What? Not interested in tasting 6 different samples of wedding cake?

 

[curtis]

Wheres POLISH when you need him a 12 pack and 90 seconds he'd have it changed. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif search for polish trans video its classic. Man learn to get dirty a trans replacement on these cars is a normal thing if you treat her like the bitch she is its a yearly task.

 

[highrpm666]

I'll be flying in tomorrow.. lemme know if you would like a hand, the offer still stands. Though I may be a bit lethargic from all that wedding cake

 

[highrpm666]

So wait, your profile says 1607 and your previous post says 1609.. which one is it!?

I found 1607 yesterday while headed to the beach in Del Mar. Is this you? And fyi I'm apparently the Liam Neeson of finding galants.. I was in SD for 4 hours when I found this car. Dumb luck.

 

[idreamidrive]

That should be him. I used to park right by his house to go to the beach with the family when I lived in there. He ended up getting the car after I left though. I feel bad for the car living that close to the ocean.

 

[abikepeddler]

Sorry I have not updated this in a while and that I didn't see the responses a couple months ago... I've been busy hammering away on this car. I was successful at pulling the trans and getting the bell housing replaced as well as welding up the cracked engine block tab. Whether it will hold is NOT THE POINT! Ha Ha. But I took my time, practiced cast iron welding for like a week and even came up with a way to reinforce the tab so it should hold for at least the first, oh... 10 minutes of driving. (God.. could you imagine? SNAP! expletive expletive expletive expletive) I have a backup plan should it fail so either way I will keep #1607 on the road.

True, car is located near the beach but that won't matter as I take extreme care of my cars both cosmetically and mechanically so the car is in good hands. It will be garaged most of the time... besides, this car is totally rust free so I don't want to risk any cancer showing up. I was an original owner so a Eclipse GSX in Dec 1989 and a Galant VR-4 (#1337) in 1991 so I have a history of taking care of these cars. It is when I SELL THEM that the trouble begins. (story for another time...)

The trans removal led me down a slippery slope and I ended up tearing nearly the entire car apart. All new brake rotors and shoes, CV joint boots, tie rods and steering/tie rod bellows, fuel filler hose (from cap to gas tank), stainless clutch line, tore the STIFF Whiteline springs out and installed new H&R blues, front strut top hats, hydraulic hood struts, fuel filter, new 17" wheels, tires, touchscreen stereo with 6 speakers (orig were blown) and I am still doing a slow 6 week deep conditioning of the leather with Leatherique treatment (which is coming out amazing!). On my to-do list is a new muffler, figure out what clutch is best for my application and install that while I have the car apart as well as try and fix the sunroof that will open and close but no longer pops up into ventilation mode. Oh and I want to install new windshield washer nozzles because the stock ones suck!

Here are some pics so far...

 

[boboz]

A henrob/DHC/cobra 2000 specialist oxy torch will weld that without issue and no worries with contaminants etc - just need to pre-heat the housing thoroughly. Old cast piston rings make excellent cast-iron filler rod for high-load cast objects like engine blocks etc.

Good luck! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[abikepeddler]

My concern was getting too much heat into the block for fear of it possibly cracking on cool down.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Looking good. I hope that repair holds up after all that work!

I'm hoping to be back in San Diego this Fall, but things are up in the air right now. The Cali crew is getting strong.

Looking forward to seeing more updates on the car.

 

[abikepeddler]

Wanted to wrap this 10 month old thread up with a final update (hopefully!) and thank everyone that came forward to assist in solving the multiple issues we had with a cracked bell housing and a broken cast iron engine/trans tab. Once the new bell housing was installed and I welded up the engine block tab it all went back together quite smoothly. Since I had all this apart I went ahead and rebuilt damn near half the car.

CV joint boots
Steering rack bellows
Tie rod ends
Steel braided clutch line
All new cheapo eBay brakes
H&R blue springs
Strut hats
Fuel filler hose
Hood struts
Fuel filter
Rubber shifter plate bushings replaced with fixed units.
Shifter cable bushings
Clutch slave cyl
New double din touchscreen GPS head unit, all new speakers and 10" sub.
New wheels (TE37 replicas) and tires (225/17) just for the hell of it.
Alignment (yesterday).

Basically everything I could tear apart while awaiting the bell housing repair we did. But the best thing I did and I an SO GLAD I THOUGHT TO DO THIS was to start treating the leather with a conditioner. My background is in cosmetic car maintenance so I know something about this aspect. The leather in #1607 was really aged. Cosmetically it looked good from 10 feet but it was really hard and uncomfortable. Sounded like a bass drum when you tap your fingers on it. So using an old favorite of mine (Leatherique) I started the process of restoring the flexibility to the hydes. It cost $100 in product and took 6 solid months of applying and reapplying the product but wow, it looks, feels and SMELLS like a new car. Granted, with 225k on the odo it is not perfect. Some areas are still a bit stiff but nothing like they were. I owned a GVR4 #1337 brand new, right off the dealers showroom and I remember just how soft the leather was. While #1607 isn't quite there yet, it is amazing how well this product works if you are really, REALLY patient.

So now just need to break in the clutch and brakes and check that dumb ass (me) didn't forget to torque down a bolt correctly...

So thanks to everyone who offered up parts, answered my questions and was so patient with me.

Regards,

Eric
Del Mar, CA

 

[iceman69510]

Good to hear the successful progress you have made and the love you are lavishing on the car. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif