My last pass at the track resulted in a nice steady leak of trans fluid from Bell. After researching here I thought I would find the front seal out, but the seal appears to be in good shape. What I did find was the lower 2 bolts holding the bell to the pump were loose "hand tight". Can I just retorque these bolts with Loc tite or do I need to replace the pump gasket?. Never opened the trans, how hard is it to replace this gasket?
Try retorquing the bolts first but only to 35 foot pounds. If they are not stripped then it should be fine. If they are stripped then you will need to install some helicoils in them. You will have to remove the pump to do that. Be sure to torque the front band to 10 foot pounds before you take all the bolts out of the pump. After you have it out be sure that both of the thrust washers are on the pump and not left in the transmission. You can easily use a pick to get the #2 thrust washer out of the recess.
Update: First I must say, Paul you sure know your stuff, you were spot on. It turned out the two bottom bolts were striped as you predicted. To fix it I stood the trans up vertical in a bucket and removed the pump. I Heli coiled all the threads replaced the seal and gaskets and torqued all the bolts to 45 pounds. Then reinstalled, added 5 quarts, no leaks good news, no gears bad news. Looking back at your suggestions, I did not torque the band prior to removal. So any more suggestions, I guess it needs to come out again.
How did you clean the shavings out of the transmission after drilling and tapping the holes? There are two things happen when you pull the pump when the band is not tight: 1. the drum tries to come out with it. that usually means that thrust washers get out of position. I trust you had both of the pump thrust washers on the pump when you put it back in? 2. the thrust washers for the drums have probably gotten out of position. The bad news is you are going to have to pull it apart and disassemble the transmission to get it back together.
I preped it real good so the shavings never got in there. I masked all around very well and used a vacume as I drilled and tapped. Guess Ill pull it back out tonight.
Could be I spoke to soon it seems to be ok now, I got in an drove it a little then backed in. Transbrake is working with reverse. Ill try it again later, the car is pretty loud and people are eating diner.
