mounting the zf

I've had my two out for well over a year and several thousand miles. One of our European brothers did this years ago and still has no problems.

Do it.

Larry

You will hear both sides of the argument, personally I don't like the thought of having a 'bending moment' at that point if the ZF has nothing holding it to the engine at the lower half. If you think about it you have the engine mounts at front and transaxle mounts at rear and weight supported between them and you want to leave out what holds it together in the middle! If there is any flexing you will likely put extra strain on the ZF input shaft.

But more importantly I wonder why you say you need to remove the engine if those two bolts are in place?

All you would need do is disconnect the transaxle with the bellhousing, this means having to remove the starter motor and clutch slave cylinder, it's really not that much more work. Put a transmission jack under the engine and raise the rear of it to allow the ZF to clear with the bellhousing in place.

If you do decide to leave the bolts out then at least replace them with studs or dowels to offer some sort of locating pin/support.

I left the two bolts out based on Goran's recommendation. He is running without the bolts in his Hemi Pantera and gauranteed me that I did not need them. Goran is a smart guy so I took his word. 13,000 miles of hard driving with close to 500 HP and no problems.

Art

The ZF comes out easy with the bellhousing attached http://www.panteraplace.com/page10.htm I don’t see any advantage to removing the ZF to bellhousing bolts.

Mike

I have had my tranny out a couple of times recently and found it quite easy. I remove the starter and clutch slave and keep the bell housing attached to the box (the 2 bolts stay in). I replaced the 3 studs on either side that hold the rear mounts to the box with grub screws (studs that have an allen head in the end) this means you can remove the mounts without having to raise the back of the box. I then place a piece of wood under the back of my baffle sump (on the edge of the flat bit), this sits on the chassis cross member to hold the back of the engine up. It's then possible to pull the tranny out without raising the back of the engine at all.

I managed to remove the original rear mount studs with the box and mounts still in the car. It just takes a good pair of Vise-Grips.

Johnny

Which two bolts are we talking about ?? in the bell housing to the engine block ..the 2 lower bolts ? why will the not come out ?? On 9138 the rear tranny mounts completely unbliot from the frame ..this was done on the later cars. I will send a pic.

Ron

Ron,

The two allen head bolts inside the bell housing at the bottom mating it to the transaxle. If they are there you have to remove the bell housing complete with the transaxle.

#9178 has the removable transaxle mounts, it makes life soooooo easy.

Ah I see .. they are trying to remove it like a " MUNSEY FOUR SPEED" trans only ... I tell you one thing I have not tried it ... but it appears the trans and bell housing with the motor tilted up could work .. but that clutch better be right on the money .. other wise the bicepts and arms are sure to get a nice work out. LOL

a pic of the bolted in trans mount on 9138.

Ron

quote:

I don’t see any advantage to removing the ZF to bellhousing bolts.

Mike, you're right that removing everything together is not a big issue.

However, it is a bit easier not having to get underneath and remove the starter and the three dustshield-to-bellhousing bolts.

And in my case, with the hydraulic throwout bearing, I need to measure distances from the tranny-to-bellhousing mating surface to the face of the pressure plate fingers in order to get proper T.O. bearing clearances. That's probably the main reason I removed my two bolts.

Larry

You remove the bellhouse as part of the transmission. Yikes! Are you guys greenhorns or what?

quote:

Are you guys greenhorns or what?

Naw, just Pantera owners.

We all seem to do things a bit differently, even amongst ourselves.

The original post asked about the two bolts in the bellhousing, so that is where the thread went.

We all figured the poster knew he didn't have to remove the engine but had just mis-phrased the question.

Larry

I recently removed my ZF and the 2 bellhousing interior allen bolts had a tapered flat ground on them apparently for clearence. Looking at the drawings in the parts catalog, it appears the bolt heads are tapered. Are they special bolts or are the standard allen head bolts ok?

Dan