Today, I ciphered where the new bolt access port needs to be and cut a hole.
That location came at the expense of a web in the casting between two engine mount bolt points. Dang it!
Before mounting the thing, I chased all the engine block bolt holes. While I was there, I looked hard at that camshaft bore plug. It and the smaller freeze-plug next to it present as being corrosion free. At least on the exterior anyway. I got a replacement cam bore plug thinking if it looked to be in distress, I could replace it while I had everything in front of it out of the way. Still, if I replaced it, and I ultimately somehow failed at having the new plug being oil leak free, it would be a damned mess.
I left well enough alone.
Alrighty then. I got the new transmission/engine adapter installed. The bolts are at 30ft/lbs with blue Locktite. The starter location fits just fine with seemingly ample room around it. I did have to ding the stupid 5" exhaust down-pipe about a quarter-inch at that 2:30 bell-housing bolt hole though. Dang it. That's the kind of chit one has to accept if everything on the heap is custom crap!
To add insult to injury, now that the adapter is in place, it appears there would have been workable access, albeit quite restricted, at the OEM converter bolt access port. Dang it!
Next, I'm replacing the crank-shaft's rear seal. With the disassembly for this project, it was found to have been drooling appreciably although I suspect less than parallel cylinder walls has a big effect on seal integrity with big boost on my heap. Here, I'm pulling the old seal out with a self tapping screw and a hammer. Like pulling a nail.
With having wiped clean all the seal surfaces, then oiling the crank-shaft and interior surface of the seal, I used a fancy seal install tool I got a while back. It assures the new seal is square to the crank-shaft and is installed at the correct depth. Quick and easy.
NICE!
To end the day (it's getting dark outside), I installed the new billet flex-plate with new ARP bolts, torqued to 120ft/lbs with blue Locktite.
(Of special note: I've had an engine barring tool for some years now. I've never used it because there was an HT3B in the way. The tool came in quite handy today holding the flex-plate steady while I pulled the bolts up). Kewl!
I'm hoping the drive-shaft guys will call early this coming week. They had to order some of the parts to fix the front drive-shaft's telescoping joint thingy.
It's getting close to hanging a new transmission time.