ok, well i managed to strip one of the bell housing bolts that mount the bell housing to the tranny case. i am ordering a new T50 plus torx bit from snap on so it is a higher quality piece. however, i am not sure that i will be able to get the torx bit out even with it. if i can't, is it best to drill it out? also, can i replace these bolts with regular bolts so that i can use a socket to remove them?

 

I was checking to see if I could find a 50plus, but I just ended up using a torx 50 it feels like it slips a bit though. I've used a couple times before aswell without issues. I'm sure you can drill it out, and if you get the 50 plus why not just keep the bolts since you have the tool. But I'd say as long as there a high grade bolt.
Anyone what the different is with the 50 torx plus and the 50 torx?

 

the 50 plus is a larger size than the 50. i want to get new, regular bolts because i already ruined at least one of them. plus, regular bolts will be easier to take out if i ever need to again. i have ruined several torx bits too. i have two from napa and one from sears. mine are in there extremely tight. i have tried hitting them with a hammer to break them loose a bit. i have also tried heating them with map gas. i do not feel that either has helped at all. i feel that standard bolts will be easier to get out so i want to go that route unless there is a problem with that...

 

i had to take mine bellhousing off yesterday, 2 were stripped i hammered in a allen in 1 and used a really big *** breakerbar and the other i had to use the air hammer and managed to get it out not too fun but it worked i learned to not use the impact on torqs. i then went to the local hadware store and picked up 8 regular bolts for about 6 bux never using torqs bolts again

 

A good trick if you happen to be lucky enough to have a wire welder and strip one of these bolts is to weld a regular bolt to the head and then remove the bolt.
I have found that with the right T50 PLUS bit however and a little care the bolts are generally no problem to get out however there is the occasional problem child

 

i have a snap-on T50 plus coming so i will try that first. i will go to other options if that doesn't work.

 

Make sure if you are using a factory diameter converter that the bolts do not rub the converter. I have seen this happen in the past. That is probably why GM used these torque type bolts. Why are you guy's swapping bell housings? Did you buy a trans without a bell? If so why would anyone sell/buy a trans without a bell on it. To me it just does not make sense. You poor guys having to mess around swapping parts on a new transmission is ridiculous! A bell for these transmissions can be purchased for less than $50 used. Where is the saving here for the customer. I just don't get it. Good luck swapping bells.

 

i am using a smaller converter so i think it should fit fine. however, i thought of this exact same thing and i will definatly make sure it doens't rub on the bolts. i didn't really know my new tranny didn't come with a new bell housing.

 

I know in our case its is to save the customer money as everyone knows we use UPS ground for shipping not freight, This is less expensive and allows us to ship directly to the customers house not just a freight terminal or business at a fixed rate nationwide.
Adding the bell makes the package over the max weight for UPS ground which means with either have to go freight or pay and additional overweight fee 40-50 dollars for shipping or go to freight which has considerably more cost, Many of our core units bearing in mind we don't require cores from customers come with the bell either missing as core dealers like to sell them separate or damaged. So that would add another 50-75 dollars to the cost. So we figure we save our customer somewhere between 150-175 dollar by not including the bell. However we do as I have said before have them available at additional cost with the unit installed upon request.
I imagine if we did require a core we might do it a different way but then if we did require a core we would also loose a substantial number of our customers since we sell many to people who don't have a core either because they are swapping back from a 400-350 swap or from M6 etc. Or in quite a few cases theres nothing wrong with there stock unit they just want to upgrade and want to keep the stock one in case they ever want to put the car back stock and sell it.
So thats why Our units don't have a bell on them.