Okiesnake
December 19th, 2003, 01:28 PM
The most costly mistake I made was not shaving off the bottom of the bell housing flange. This combined with having the car height set too low allowed the springs to bottom out and I hit the bell housing so hard that it bent the bottom of the flange. I was traveling (at slightly over the posted speed limit) on a road that had a series of slight dips. I didn’t think it had done any damage other than just the bending of the flange lip. However, about 800 miles later, the transmission would sometimes be difficult to shift into second, especially under quick acceleration and sometimes it would be difficult to downshift into 1st. The bellhousing was just slightly bent enough that the transmission was at a slight angle to the engine and causing it to bind. It caused me to have the transmission rebuilt and the bellhousing replaced. I now have shaved the bottom of the bell housing. I also used the alignment specs that eliminator suggested on another post http://www.uniquecobra.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=159&SearchTerms=alignment . The alignment guy had to raise up the car height in order to get the car to set up to these specs. The car handles much better now, has a smother ride and now the car springs never bottom out.
Hopefully others can swallow their pride and let the rest of us benefit by learning from their mistakes. Please feel free to share them here with the rest of us.
Hopefully others can swallow their pride and let the rest of us benefit by learning from their mistakes. Please feel free to share them here with the rest of us.