What a freakin mess changing the fluid in my C6 on my '66F100. Guess I won't complain now because I have one bolt on the filter assembly that has rounded head and even trying to tap it out didn't work. So I gave up and decided to leave it in, so I retightened the rest of them. Now I know why one of them was laying in the tranny pan - the threads in the tranny block are stripped.

So, what do I do? Take a chance a put it back together and drive it? Or, do I need to put in a replacement C6??? D@mn my luck

Thanks,
dagger

 

Well you do have a few options here. You can grind of the head of the bolt so you can get to the rest of it to extract it. With the other stripped ones you can use helicoils to repair the threads. I would however talk to a transmission shop in your area before attempting it. They may be better prepared to do it. I have one bolt that has stripped threads that will be repaired once the tranny is pulled and upgraded. But it works as normal so far.

 

Dagger, don't freaque out!

Do like mark says and diegrind the rounded head off the bad bolt, or destroy it completely by using a fresh set of Vise Grips to extract it. Once you have all the bolts out, you have a couple of options.

I'd get a set of studs or you could use SAE studs or also use metric which have a slightly larger diameter, whatever. also get some brake clean with application "tube" & some 2 stage epoxy, or JB weld might work too.

If your OEM bolts thread in at all, get SAE Studs same diameter/ thread. If bolts are too wallowed out, you can go up to the metric studs of a larger diameter, or if there's enough meat on bolt thread bosses to bore tap hole to next larger SAE size, I think that would be 5/16" do that, but you'll have to modify all your filters from now on.

I'd get a set of SAE studs 1/4 -20 thread myself. Next I'd use brake clean to clean out & degrease- deoil the tap holes. Blow it dry with a blow gun or squeeze bulb.

Protect stud threads that will be exposed from the epoxy. Masking tape works well.

Mix up some epoxy & by using a medical "Q" Tip (wooden stick type) cut off a tip & wipe epoxy in hole, next coat threads of stud. Run stud in 'til it bottoms. Repeat that same procedure on next hole etc. give them an hour +/- to cure, and put it all back together. I believe I'd use Stainless Steel Studs or A&N grade studs and stainless nylock nuts with stainless flat washers to put filter in with.

By doing this you will quit screwing grade 8 steel bolts in & out of an Aluminum Alloy housing. That is not a good idea under the best of circumstances, but add 40+ years and a dozen or so shade tree wrenches using impact wrenches and it's probably worst of circumstances. With my "stud deal" all your twisting is a SS Nut on an SS Stud and that's close to ideal.

FWIW I use A&N or Stainless Studs in my exhaust manifolds only I use brass nuts on em instead of SS. It's a breeze to pull an exhaust manifold off my engines, Hah!

FBp

 

Just talked to one of the tranny shops here and he said to just get a slightly larger self tapping bolt and try it. If that doesn't work then do the steps you guys suggest or bring it in to him for a nice rebuilt

I may try the above. If that doesn't work then I may try finding a used valve body as that's where the stripped threads/stuck bolt are. FBp - I like the epoxy thread rebuild technique. Of course doing this laying on my back under the truck just adds to the fun.

This was suppose to be just a "simple" tranny drain.........
dagger

 

The deal with doin it like I described is that you will never have to worry about it ever
again because it's not threading in and out of a diecast valve body case, its threading on & Off a stud, like it should have been to begin with.
There are 3 problems with self tappers, they are wedge tapered afairs.
1, There is a risk of cracking the valve body instead of it cutting into Diecast casing I can't believe a tranny shop told you to do that. . . . I'm gonna insist that you do not do it. [any A/T builder worth his dogs weight in speedi dry ought to know better than to tell you to do something like that, David.
I guess that part about "Bring it in to him for a nice rebuilt" tells ya where he's comin from, huh? I think "Nice" might be an overstatement if hes likely to use self tappers in diecast though. . . that doesn't usually work real well. . . read on.

2, the self tapper will ruin it so you can't stud it securely thus you wont be able to "fix it the right way later"

3, Did he mention what to do if you get little pieces of diecast that self tapper cuts
away, in your valve body, or modulator or front pump? Nah he never mentioned
that stuff did he. Did he tell ya it's a 1 time shade tree fix, maybe 2 times if you're lucky & careful, but you'll need to repair it eventually anyway after self tapper cuts
away enough diecast so as not to hold anymore in a time or two. By then repair may well be a replacement Valve body or an expensive Overhaul. Thats not a good idea to me.

Do what the big boyz do stud the damn thing & be done with it. Then you can pull your filter screen and reinstall it in the dark without stripping or hurting anything, if ya want to. There's "fixin" stuff and there's repairing stuff. Folks who "fix" stuff only do it because they haven't yet learned to repair stuff, doncha see?

If stranded I may fix some stuff just to get someplace, but as a rule I repair almost everything every time because it's always better, usually cheaper in the end, & won't fail because it's really only some kinda patch or stop gap or make do deal istead of a repair.

Of course it's y'alls truck & y'alls doneros and ya can do it how ever ya want to really.

Just my $.02 on that David. Whatever you decide atleast now it will be an informed decision. . . . . . . . Right?
CIAO Buddy FBp

 

Right - FBp. Here's where I'm at on this. I went searching through my bucket of bolts and found one about a 1/4" longer than the stock one. I checked the depth of the bore and had plenty of room. A guy I know who does all things muscle-car Fords called me and I told him what happened (he said if I could get it over to him he'd get the stuck bolt out and heli-core the other one). I then said I have a bolt just a wee bit longer and he said try it cause it won't interfere with anything in the valve body. I did, and she went in and is as tight as any of the other bolts!

So, I'm going to leave the old screen in for now and the stuck bolt. I'll see if the tranny holds up. If not, then a good guy here locally has a used working C6 he'll sell me at a reasonable price (though I'm not looking forward to swapping out this big @ss tranny). Wish me luck, and thanks all for the inputs/advice. I'll keep you updated on how this works.