DrPhil.com time?

I knew things were going too well...

All but two of the flywheel bolts came out (relatively easy). The last two have resisted all efforts including the notorious Craftsman, Bolt-Out™ Damaged Bolt/Nut Remover Set. Without a doubt, a "tool-of-last-resort." Grrrr...I'm bitter. Thing One has jinxed me on this, I know it.

The only option left to me is to invade and "smoke 'em off" with the terrifying DeWalt GMD — "Grinder-of-mass-destruction."

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

First why don't you try welding a head on them with High Alloy rod.... the combination of the heating and a better grip usually works.... as a last resort...

Hitting with heat and letting them cool usually helps.

If you use the grinder DON'T let it touch the flywheel whatever you do.

Wait...., you mean the flywheel on the car you're converting?? Is it going from an auto to a manual??? If it's the auto flywheel (what would be the flexplate on a US vehicle), then grind away, who cares. Then take vice grips to the stub ends that's left of the bolts.

Remember, the bolts are thinner at the center sections, so you could possibly break them off flush with the crank (bad news.)

If nothing else works and you have a cutting torch, you can usually heat up JUST the bolt material and blast it when cherry red. I've had good luck doing this and not affecting the surrouinding material (might need to run a cleaning tap in to chase the thdds.)

BTW, had this same thing happen while pulling the flywheel out of a junkyard donor. Twisted the heads right off two of the bolts. Luckily I still got the tranny and the engine was shot anyway.

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1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

Thanks for the tips...they're all good ones too!

I should clarify, I don't think these particular bolts were any tighter, it's just that the socket didn't seem to fit all that tight on them so, when I applied pressure they rounded off. The flexplate bolt heads are significantly shallower than the manual flywheel's bolts and there's no good place to get the Craftsman bolt remover to dig in either.

Sidebar: I'm beginning to think that my metric sockets (which BTW, are barely a year old) are out of spec or, aren't manufactured to particularly close tolerances.

More about this as it becomes available.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

ThankGawd! Once I ground off the bolt heads, they were finger-tight and they backed right out.

Here's a shot after I finished off the first one.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Here's the old (automatic) adapter plate.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

This is the adapter that came with the manual transmission. Interestingly, it has the same part number as the one that was already on the car.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

No way will you ever see me bench pressing one of these transmissions in place. Not when I have a welder and a pile of scrap steel.

I made a nifty transmission holding fixture thingus that bolts onto the top of my floor jack so that I can raise the tranny without breaking a sweat or fearing that it may fall and crush my noggin.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I determined the correct length last night and this morning, the driveshaft went to Thrash Driveline (Thrash Drive Shaft Inc 4838 West Ave; San Antonio, TX 78213 Phone: (210) 342-6622) in San Antonio. I should have it back in a week or so.

Meanwhile, I need to modify the cross-member, modify and adjust the shift linkages, install the pedals and hook up the hydraulics. By the time the shaft is done, it should be ready to roll.

One more thing...
I have made a real effort to keep this conversion reversible...that is, if I decide that manual tranny turbos aren't all they're cracked-up to be, I can go back to where I came from.

Thus, the driveshaft modification is being done by shortening the front piece of the driveline (from the splines forward) from the donor 240D. That way, if I need to go back to the auto, all I need to do is reinstall the front piece of the auto's driveshaft.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I'm wondering if you're concerned about driveshaft balancing, since that has been mentioned a number of times before. Such as, did you mark both parts of the 300TD shaft before separating it? And does the driveline shop have both pieces of the driveshaft, and is balancing included in the job? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References

Valid question. Yes, balancing the entire assembly (both pieces together) is included as part of the modification. The original wagon driveshaft had witness marks to aid in correctly reassembling the shaft if it was taken apart. I'll add similar marks to the modified shaft too.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Here's the modified rear crossmember in place on the car:

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

This is how I had to modify the righthand side of the mount to make it work/fit (it's laying upside down in this shot). Please excuse the welding spatter; I'm using a Miller AC SMAW machine unearthed from a late iron age midden...a MIG welder would have made this soooo much easier...and neater too.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Randy is a pretty stubborn do it yourselfer.... I offered him the use of my Army Surplus 10 TON Truck transmission jack... which will put the bottom of the trans at 36 inches off the floor (think about how high that puts the roof of the car )....but he had to make his own ' thingus'.....

Next time you are out here I will teach you how to weld.... LOL

You are a computer graphics artist...you could at least fix (photoshop) the weld in the picture before posting it....