replacing the flexplate with the motor and tranny still together??? I know it may seem like a dumb question but I would rather see if anyone here has done it before I try. if not what do you guys suggest? dropping the tranny or pulling the motor.

There is no room to get the bolts out to get the flexplate out. I would slide the trani back befor I pulled the motor.

Not while they are still together, but like Mark said it can be done (as I have had to do this) with the motor and tranny still in the car.

Make two longer bellhousing headless guide bolts so that HOPEFULLY you can lower the engine some and slide the tranny and bellhousing back enough so that the flex plate will come out??

Good luck and come back and tell us how it went.

pdq67

See if you can find some 6" bolts - they'll keep everything aligned so you don't have to mess with that. Just thread 'em in and slide the tranny back. Gotta do that soon to my girlfriend's kid's truck to change a rear main seal, sure ain't looking forward to it.

I've done it with no problems. Use the headless bolts to hold everything in line and slide the trans back. Use a long wrench to loosen the flywheel bolts. When you are down to the last bolt mark the flywheel and then remove it, marking lets you put the new flywheel in and not have to spin it around trying to line up the bolts, not much room to see the holes.

Been there, done that, it ain't WORTH the t-shirt. Did it in a '91 T/A. It's a long drawn out process. I probably won't do it again.

I'd pull the engine and trans probably. It's so damn ez to do, why thrash around underneath?

Did that on my 4 wheeler slid the trans back on 2 longer bolts and put in the flex plate and has been fine ever since, Go for it.

pop the driveshaft,trans mount and go buy the 6 or 8 inch 3/8 bolts and slide the trans back...Its not all that bad.suck it up in the name of hp ,blood sweat and tears!

heres the reason I had to take her down
http://image57.webshots.com/757/7/53/2/2634753020084999611YlxhdR_ph.jpg

the starter felt it necessary to eat some teeth. I just slid the tans back with a floor jack worked great. damn those drivers side bell housing bolts were not easy to get to.

also this might be a dumb question but I should be able to take this flexplate to the machine shop with the new one to get them weight matched right?

Yes your local engine shop should be able to closely match the counterweight on your flywheel, or more appropriately match a new counterweighted flywheel to the old one. He will have to put a rotating assembly together on the balancer and adjust the bobweights until the balancer reads that the assembly is balanced with your old flywheel, then install the new flywheel and make the corrections on that flywheel until the machine again reads zero. The process takes 2 to 3 hours to accomplish, with the bulk of the time spent on the mock up crankshaft. Having them balance up a couple of flywheels won't add much labour to the bill and could save some cost down the road if another flywheel is messed up.