Trans Dowels are Important.

monkeyspunk79

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Here's a funny one from my high school days. I owned a 1964 Chevy Bel Air with a 283 and Powerglide trans. While I had the motor out for a rebuild, I cleaned and repainted the engine bay. I also ordered all new trans cooler lines, front end parts, etc. I had it ready to bolt back together and I was too anxious for my own good.

After spending hours in the garage getting things ready, I finally started lowering the 283 back in the engine bay. I lined everything up with the trans, and started to thread the bellhousing bolts in on the driver's side. I drove them in without making sure the other side was line up perfectly.

So as I ran over to tighten up the passenger side I noticed it was harder to 'draw in'. Instead of stopping and double checking that the trans and engine was lined up straight on the dowels, I decided to keep 'drawing in' the passenger side by tightening the bolts. :slap: What a stupid idea. I eventually cracked an ear off of the transmission bellhousing. I had a cracked powerglide and a few chunks of aluminum in my hand all because I was too anxious to do the job right. I was so pissed I threw the wrench about 3 miles.

Moral of this story: Line up the transmission on those dowel pins the RIGHT way... Straight!
 

HISSIN50

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Brute force - seems like something I would do. Matter of fact, I probably have. :D
 

Kiljosh

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I did kind of the same thing with a timing cover... lol
 
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