So this week I was driving along when I heard a loud *tink*. At the time I thought I just ran over a rock and my tire picked it up and threw it into the undercarriage. Well this weekend I finally got a chance to crawl under it and take a look. Immediately I saw a hole in the bottom of the plastic trans/flexplate guard. Upon removal, I discovered one of the trans converter to flexplate bolts is gone. Apparently the threads failed in the converter because now I can't get a new bolt to thread in and get tight, the bolt just catches then lets go and spins.

Its an 86 TA, 350, 700r4, and my daily driver. Any ideas? I know she needs a new converter but I drove for half a week on 2 bolts and it seemed fine. I just don't have the time to drop the trans at the moment, but I'm concerned about putting that much stress on only 2 bolts (plus possible balance issues). Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Pull the trans and replace the converter.

 

Pull another bolt. Verify it's M10x1.50 thread.

Get a heli-coil or thread-insert repair kit. You'll need to back the trans. out a bit to get decent clearance for the drill unless you're good w/ a 90deg. adapter.