ok im just going to have another look

and this what i can see, the pic is taken with feet at the back of the car and me looking up at the belhousing in between the cross member and the steering system.

That you can see there is the inspection plste behind the rack. Thinking again it has 4 bolts but i dont think there are any nuts on the rear i think a thread is machined into the bellhousing.
After the plate is off you should be able to see someof the flywheel.
Then you can remove the three starter bolts and the rest of the bell housing bolts.
Cheers Adam

340GLT wrote:That you can see there is the inspection plste behind the rack. Thinking again it has 4 bolts but i dont think there are any nuts on the rear i think a thread is machined into the bellhousing.
After the plate is off you should be able to see someof the flywheel.
Then you can remove the three starter bolts and the rest of the bell housing bolts.
Cheers Adam

hi adam sorry if im sounding a little dumb but id thats the inspection plate it is this that i can not remove, the starter and upper bellhousing bolts are already removed. just the bolt shown in the pic and another in the oppisite side of the pic..

does the inspection plate need to be romoved to take off the bellhousing? are there bolts inside? and if they are not the last 2 bolts to take off where are the bottome bellhousing bolts??

also your right in saying that thier are no nuts..

cheers

Yeh if you dont remove this bottom plate it wont pull over the flywheel. The bolts Should undo farely easily there are no bolts inside only around the edge of the plate, two on bottom edge and two towards the top corners IIRC it was a while since i did the 1.7 but i remember it being very nearly identical to the 1.4!!!
Other than those i cant remember if there are any other bolts, try putting one top bellhousing bolt back in then undoing the bottom ones, they may go through the plate into the bell housing although i cant remember.
Cheers Adam

I think that one of those bolts has a nut on the other side. The other two or three have threads machined into the housing.

The way to get to those is to remove the mounts first, and then jack the engine up or down until you can get to them. I can't remember how I did it, but it was either with a socket and an extension or with an open ended spanner.

They're a size 10mm IIRC.

They do go through into the bell housing although I dont have any tool that can get in there, only sockets and spanners.

Ive given up i think now and im going to go down the route Classicsuede advised from the start, engine out at the weekend.

you have got to learn somewhere...

Cheers people and I will let you know if I manage to break anything!!!

hi just take off the rear engine mounting brackets and then jack engine up till you can get a socket on the bolts

daffodil wrote:hi just take off the rear engine mounting brackets and then jack engine up till you can get a socket on the bolts

I was thinking about that, but cant work on the car till the weekend, i can borrow a hoist then and one of my mechanic friends is going to help.

shall I take the engine out or just continue under the car? what do you reckon??

The inspection plate has two bolts, at the bottom, both directly threaded into the bellhousing, so no nuts to worry about on the back. undo the engine rear mounts, and jack the engine up, then you can slip a 13mm open end spanner between the rack and the crossmember. If you cant take the plate off, you still cant take the engine out, cause the flywheel will still not pass the plate, so a catch 22 situation, if you remove the engine with the belhousing attatched, the assembly wont come in or out of the bay unless you tip it quite severely and put it diagonaly accros the engine bay, its a bastard to do, especialy single handedly, and you will maul the paint in and around the engine bay, and its very easy to damage the rad. Sounds to me like your only two bolts away from getting it out from the bottom anyway, I would urge you to try again with the inspection cover bolts as described mate, it is fiddly, just keep trying to get a spanner on them,jacking the engine up and down untill you find the right angle.

Cheers, you have answered my question an maybe saved me a lot of time in the process,

Saturday here we come

huskyracer wrote:The inspection plate has two bolts, at the bottom, both directly threaded into the bellhousing, so no nuts to worry about on the back. undo the engine rear mounts, and jack the engine up, then you can slip a 13mm open end spanner between the rack and the crossmember. If you cant take the plate off, you still cant take the engine out, cause the flywheel will still not pass the plate, so a catch 22 situation, if you remove the engine with the belhousing attatched, the assembly wont come in or out of the bay unless you tip it quite severely and put it diagonaly accros the engine bay, its a bastard to do, especialy single handedly, and you will maul the paint in and around the engine bay, and its very easy to damage the rad. Sounds to me like your only two bolts away from getting it out from the bottom anyway, I would urge you to try again with the inspection cover bolts as described mate, it is fiddly, just keep trying to get a spanner on them,jacking the engine up and down untill you find the right angle.

1 last peice of info, are they the last 2 bolts to come out, ive taken out all that i can see from the top..

Good luck

Done that yesterday but the engine was out of the car... a lot easier.. But taking the engine out and in is difficult when you don´t have the appropriate machinery.

But, that two bolts that you need to get out are very small, so you won't need to do many turns

good stuff, well i will try to do it tomorrow with a friend from underneith the car, however I now have a hoist if I fancy lifting out the engine.

I might do a detailed write up after with all my new found knowledge.....

make a final check all the way round the bell housing, to make sure no bolts are left in, one runs the opposite way,IE screws in from the block side, easy to miss, I think its bottom near side. other than that, I think everything is fairly obvious. Good luck!

Cheers...