I replaced the clutch in my car (93 Prelude) and when I went to bolt the manual transmission back to the engine one of the bolts (there are 5) stripped! The bolt advanced easily at first and when it became harder I used a ratchet and socket. It just suddenly puuled out, taking metal pieces with it. I had no prob when I took them out. Can I get away with only 4? Or should I have it fixed, God forbid?

 

When a bolt becomes harder and harder to put back into place, that means you're stripping it and need to back it back out and try again....Anyhow, you can get a rethread kit I think from Sears

 

OK- Thx. So you think I should repair instead of taking my chances? It's such a pita to have gotten this far and have to take it all apart again.

 

i don't think that you should "take your chances." Correct me if I'm wrong but, you kinda need your tranny.

 

True that - I was just tryin to get a sense of how risky it would be, like has anyone ever gone without one and what their experience was. It still has the four bolts, and the mount to the body and the shaft stabbed into the engine would provide some support (not that that should be relied on). I guess I'll just hafta bite the bullet. Obviously Honda wouldn't have designed it with 5 if they thought four was enuf. Oh well, s*** happens. Thanks for the help.

 

exactly which bolt is it?

 

The one right near the slave cylinder

 

Haha, that same one stripped for me also. I have no idea how it happened as like you said it came out easy as hell. What i did was just install a shorter one that grabbed some thread. It never quiet griped all the way but i have had no problems. Remmember, not only do you have the 6 main tranny to engine bolts but you also have the one from the starter and the ones from the engine stiffner underneath. You should be fine without that one, but its best to fix it.

 

I like your approach best! Thanks for the help everyone. I'll try a shorter one and see how that works. I think there may be some threads left.

 

I believe that one bolt down there in the corner is about a cm shorter than the others, so if you got it mixed up thats probably how you stripped it out. You could try tapping it. M12 x 1.25 not exactly a common size

 

i would bore it out and rethread if possible. best way, any machine-ist would tell you to go that route.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xthekidx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i would bore it out and rethread if possible. best way, any machine-ist would tell you to go that route.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats what I'd do. have it drilled out, retapped and helicoiled. i'd say thats a pretty important bolt there too, there isn't too many on the front (just that one and the starter bolt). I've done the same thing before, if you take that **** apart enough times it WILL happen!