Would it be bad to drill out an installed bushing a little to allow a input shaft to slide in easier? Not sure if the bushing has a srface coating or its throughout.

I'd say yes, drilling out the pilot would be bad....

I'm not sure if oversizing the pilot is a good idea in any event but if it needs to be done use a reamer...much more precise and better finish.

Typically, the problem is a misaligned clutch plate the prevents the bushing from engageinge input easily, assuming correct parts are being used. My bushing slid over the input (not installed in the car) very nicely. JMO.

Sometimes, it a clutch alignment problem. Here's another possibility. The pilot bushing is relatively soft brass. If you hit the inside shoulder of the bushing (that rounded off part on the front edge of the hole in the bushing) with the input shaft, it could have mushroomed the bushing just enough to make it hard for the input shaft to slide in. I recently did that. I just used a rat tail file and some wet/dry sandpaper to smooth off the inside shoulder of the bushing, being careful to not even touch the inside cylinder of the bushing with either the file or the sandpaper. After that, the transmission installed easily. I hope my terminology makes sense. It's always hard to describe something like this without photos.

Did you install the pilot bushing yourself? (dry ice way) I had a crankshaft that wasn't bored out to the right diameter hole for the pilot bushing. When I put the bushing in it stayed undersize and I had all sorts of problems. When I took the crank to the machine shop to get rebalanced I asked the guy to change the bushing and that is when we found out the hole was undersize. He turned the new bushing down to fit the hole.
I did take my die grinder and reamed the hole out till I could fit a dummy shaft in easily, but I always had trouble getting the trans into reverse when the motor was up to running temp. I put about 2000+ miles on that old bushing.

Would it be bad to drill out an installed bushing a little to allow a input shaft to slide in easier? Not sure if the bushing has a srface coating or its throughout.

Would be very bad and yes the bronze bushing has a coating.

Line the clutch up, make sure the bell housing is indexed.

There are at least two outside diameter pilot bushings. Motors which were originally mated to Powerglide transmissions were bored for a smaller outside diameter pilot bushing than motors originally mated to manual transmissions. If you force the larger pilot bushing into the smaller PG pilot bushing hole, then it's not likely to work.

Would be very bad and yes the bronze bushing has a coating.

Is the bushing an Oil-lite (sp) (oil impregnated sintered bronze) material?

I had the same problem Rick talked about. I put the pilot bushing in, although it did seem a little tight. When I went to mate the engine and trans they would not go together. I found that the crank needed to be honed to the proper diameter.

Actually, its not my car. It my bud's 455 Buick. He had to hit the bushing in real hard to get it in, and musta mushroomed it a bit getting it in there. the clutch alignment tool won't go in. Well just have to get it out of there.

Back fill it with grease and you can hydraulic the bushing out.

Back fill it with grease and you can hydraulic the bushing out.


Be very careful doing this. There is NO way you can prevent some of the grease from squirting out with very high velocity when you hit whatever you put into the hole to hammer the grease with. The grease will take an eye out so wear safety glasses when you do this trick. Better yet cover the whole mess with a shop rag before you start hammering.

What fits that hole the best? I can't seem to find anything that gives a tight fit. Would a wood dowel have sufficent strength?

What fits that hole the best? I can't seem to find anything that gives a tight fit. Would a wood dowel have sufficent strength?

I think a 5/8 tap will work. Measure the nose of the trans if it's in the .600 the tap will work. Thread the thing and use a bolt to pull it out.

Charbilly is correct, safety doing this is necessary, like so many things with our hobby. I think a wood dowel would work fine, I have used an old input gear that has busted teeth in the past with success as well.

Here's an example of how to index a bellhousing. http://go.mrgasket.com/pdf/BELLHOUSINGALIGN.pdf
Works for stock units too.

Get a std 5/8 inch cap bolt from a hardware store .

Then just apply pressure on the bolt which threading it into the pilot bushing and it will thread its self in.

Next continue to tighten the bolt untill it bottoms out in rear of crank.

Then simply keep tightening the bolt and the threads pull the bushing out.

I have hads stuck pilot bushings that the special removal tool or the hyd grease trick would not remove after a lot of wasted time.

I have successfully used the 5/8 inch cap bolt trick mult times with motors in car and it takes literally 5 mins to tread in and push out old bushing.

Its a neat trick i learned hear in team chvelle that works great and saved my but mult times.

Scott

Got her out. There would be no way we could of got it out the grease method b/c under the car you can't get a good-eough swing with the hammer (cars on ramps - real low). I got my jig/sabre saw and cut 2 slots in the bushing and it just fell apart. That bronze is real soft...didn't even dirty the blade. The tap method sounds like it would work fine too.

thanks fellas!