Torque converter ?

[bentpshrods]

    When I pulled the motor and tranny for my paint job I found that a couple of the bolts that hold the torque conv. to the flex plate had come loose and was hitting the dust shield cover plate.  Made for a terrible knocking noise.  I have now put the motor and trany back in but as I was reinstalling the converter I found one of the bolts to the flex plate is stripped just enough that it will not tighten up.  I do not want to have to pull the trans back out. The bolt has some bite to the threads so I was thinking of putting some thread tape on it with some lock tite to hold it. Was wondering how much force is on these bolts and if this might work or not. Any other suggetions.  I can get to it but it is a little tight. 

[72cudamaan]

Check the bolt for wear first. You might have gotten lucky and not worn the female thread portion on the convertor.  If not, then you could try  loctite. but the thread tape wont do you any good. You would probably be best off assuming any repair is temporary and plan on pulling the trans out at some point to fix it right.  Now is probably best.  What happens if the bolt  (s) come loose again. Then it could get pretty ugly.

 Just my opinion of course, but I dont like to hear horror stories that might be avoided

[Moparal]

No tape..... But you may consider putting a heli coil in it. It isn't to bad of a job when the trans is installed. But even thread loctite isn't the answer. They have to be tq'ed in or it will not be right.  One other possibility while still installed is to tap it out to a metric size the next size up.  The tap would work with out the drill to, but you then have to make sure you mark that to be sure you don't mix them up.

[Got JOB]

I had the same problem with a new TCI converter I bought. I already had it in the car, so I just drilled it and put the heli coil in. No problem for the last 6 years.

[bentpshrods]

   Thanks for the suggestions. I figured if I don't fix it right it will come back and bite me for sure. I am going to drill it and put in a heli coil  so it will be done with.