So from what i have been reading people say its a easy job to remove the inspection cover to take a peek at the flex plate... well i gotta tell you its a major pain in the ***. I gave up on it. It looks like i have to remove the exhaust down pipe from the manifold to get the big bolt out of the bell housing holding the inspection cover.... I couldn't slide the bolt out because it runs into the exhaust..

Then the second problem, the other 13mm bolt rounded out so now i have to deal with that!!!!

all the write ups i have read showed nothing about the exhaust being in the way of one of the two big bolts that hold the cover on.

RANT!!!

 

air tools make life easy lol

 

Ughhh sometimes the easiest jobs turn into hard ones.

 

First, I get it , sorry bud. Second, Really? got a pic? There actually are some pretty sharp guys here.

God, here I go, and hey, it's the net! I could go all week! Yea Mitch, I once stuck an inline 6 in a Ford truck in a couple of hrs. A couple hrs later I got the solonoid wire on the starter on right.

No doubt the devil is in the details, the main stuff is easy. Count on that, the little stuff can be a beach.

 

The inspection cover is slotted at that left 12 MM bolt (behind the exhaust pipe). The bolt can be tapped forward enough so that the cover can slide out. Not easy but do-able.

Don't understand when you say the other 13 MM bolt is rounded out. It's a matter of removing the nut on that bolt and tapping the bolt out.

 

I took mine off last night. Its notched by that bolt behind the exhaust so all you have to do is loosten it up. The two 13mms came loose easy for me, so I can't help on that. My only disappointment was tightening my flex plate bolts didn't stop the tapping.

 

This is the rounded out bolt. It's 13mm and has no nut on the back. The bell housing is threaded. I can't get any easy outs or extractors in there.... Might have to grind the head off.



This is the 18mm bolt/nut that the exhaust gets in the way of... I didn't notice any notch or slot when I loosend it. But I will try again.

 

Okay, now I know what you are talking about. You were refering to the wrench size of the fasteners, not the fastener thread diameter.

Try an SAE wrench on the "13 MM" Bolt. If that won't get it, vise grips are about the only thing I can think of. I know you can't get one of those extracter sockets in there.

 

Or a small pipe wrench.

 

You sure it's not 1/2 inch? Also a six point socket might grab it...

Also some of my sockets are worn..you might just look and see it looks OK.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the small bolts are 10 MM and take a 15 MM wrench and the large bolts are 12 MM and take a 17 MM wrench.

 

Put a wrench on the good head of the bold socket on the nut. deep well probably. use a little heat and vice grips on the bottom 13mm bolt.