Time to Address an Old Screw Up

[Young Ed]

I seem to recall Pete blueskies finding out for some reason the bolts had to go one way or the other.

[Joe Flanagan]

Only reason I can think of is clearance with the clutch disc, like Don says.

[Joe Flanagan]

From Pete's website. Not the same situation as mine:

"Also, before I pulled the engine to fix the oil hole issue, I installed the 70lb 230 flywheel from under the car with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Believe me, its much easier to do before putting the engine in the car. I discovered a bit of erronious advice in the process. The original 218 flywheel bolts were installed from the engine side of the crank flange, so I assumed that they should be installed the same way on the 230 crank. In order to do this, the bolts had to be put into the crank flange when the rear main bearing cap was off, as the bolts are too long to go in otherwise. As it turns out, the bolts for the 230 crank and flywheel DO NOT go in the same way as the 218, they go in from the transmission side, with the nuts on the engine side of the crank flange."

Still can't see why it would make any difference one way or the other.

[Jim Yergin]

Joe,

You wouldn't want to lose points at a POC show by having them installed incorrectly would you? You never know when you might be asked to drop your clutch cover for a "look see."*

Jim Yergin

* Tongue-in-cheek is a term used to refer to humor in which a statement, or an entire fictional work, is not meant to be taken seriously, but its sarcasm is subtle. The origin of its usage comes from when Spanish minstrels would perform for various dukes in the 18th century; these dukes would silently chastise the silliness of the minstrel's performances by placing their tongue firmly to the side of their cheek. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "Ironic, slyly humorous; not meant to be taken seriously".

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

[Niel Hoback]

Is "drop your clutch cover" a euphemism? It sounds a little kinky.

[Normspeed]

Those POC folks must be wild and crazy guys!

[Joe Flanagan]

What exactly do you win when you win one of those shows? I'm not interested and I will never enter one of their shows but I'm just curious.

[Rollie���]

230s are opposite of 218s and the 230 has 6 bolts instead of the four, how this info contributes I'm not really sure.

[Jim Saraceno]

230s are opposite of 218s and the 230 has 6 bolts instead of the four

????? My '55 block has 4 bolts and my '57 block has 8. I believe the 8 holes is for use with the automatic transmission.

Also, my '57 manual shows a picture of the rear main cap and you can see the flywheel bolt head is facing the engine side.

That said, I still don't know why it would make any difference if the bolt is head in or head out.

[55 Fargo]

Here is a scan from a Chrysler Shop Manual, for the 25 " engines.

It is noted, that on some models the "nut", is and will be on the flywheel side...Fred

[Joe Flanagan]

More evidence that it makes no difference.

[blueskies]

From Pete's website. Not the same situation as mine:

"Also, before I pulled the engine to fix the oil hole issue, I installed the 70lb 230 flywheel from under the car with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Believe me, its much easier to do before putting the engine in the car. I discovered a bit of erronious advice in the process. The original 218 flywheel bolts were installed from the engine side of the crank flange, so I assumed that they should be installed the same way on the 230 crank. In order to do this, the bolts had to be put into the crank flange when the rear main bearing cap was off, as the bolts are too long to go in otherwise. As it turns out, the bolts for the 230 crank and flywheel DO NOT go in the same way as the 218, they go in from the transmission side, with the nuts on the engine side of the crank flange."

Still can't see why it would make any difference one way or the other.

In my case, the 230 flywheel has a machined recess on the clutch side, that holds the shoulder of the bolt head from turning. The 218 was the opposite, the shoulder for the bolt heads was the side of the crank and the flywheel on the clutch side was flat.

The bolts I useds are the type that Jim Saraceno pictured with the flat edge on the otherwise round head. When I had the bolts in from the engine side, and the nuts and washers on the clutch side, the washers and edge of the nut sat partly on the shoulder of the machined recess, with a gap under the rest. When I tried to tighten the nuts, they couldn't seat flat against the flywheel, and started to bend the bolts.

I had to remove my oil pan and rear main cap to pull the bolts out, as I had put them in during the rebuild of the engine. I had the engine in the car at this point, and the 70 lb flywheel was such a 'motha to put in from the bottom of the car, that I decided to pull the engine back out. I put it back on the stand and removed the bolts. Then put the flywheel on the engine while it was hanging from the hoist before putting it back in the car.

It was one of those five minute deals turning into 5 hours....

I think if you can get the nuts on the engine side, and the clutch side is flat around the bolt holes, there is no reason that the bolts can't be put in from either side.

Pete