[Mike_The_Grad]

The two major causes of the leaks on my trans is the Detent cable seal and the 1-2 accumulator cover seal. The detent leak only started recently when I decided to change the original detent cable to an aftermarket P.O.S. plastic one. It wasn't even leaking! I thought that after 45 years it was probably stretched and not getting the kickdown action it used to have. Plus the retaining mechanism at the top of the intake manifold that you adjust the detent cable was broken. So I put in a new detent cable and it has leaked ever since. It actually leaks a lot. And mainly while parked on flat level ground. It's really annoying.

The accumulator cover is probably because it's old. I mean the transmission has at least 100k miles on it, it also sat for 8 years installed in the truck and never ran or anything. I even had it sitting out of the truck wrapped in a trash bag for about a year while I was rebuilding the motor and reassembling the front end. I only had weekends to work on it.

So I replaced the starter in my truck. The bendix was bad on the one I took out. Lifetime warranty added up to $0 cost to me.🙂 I did buy 2 new starter bolts with the knurling on them. While I was under there I noticed that my block is cracked around the outer bolt hole that supports the starter. This is from when I reinstalled my old starter after trying a powermaster mini starter.(which is really awesome BTW. 7Lbs. Total weight, and cost me $110.) But being that my flexplate was a little chewed up I decided not to screw up the new mini starter bendix. And ended up selling it to a buddy. As i was reinstalling the old heavy H.T. starter i wasn't paying attention and over tightened the outer starter bolt causing it to break off in the block. I was able to extract it with a left twist drill bit rather easily. I checked for signs of cracking around the bolt hole but couldn't see anything obvious. I was mainly just happy to extract the bolt. Upon further inspection today however it is cracked alright. On two opposing sides. I'm assuming this is what's causing my starter to give me issues.
WITHOUT pulling the block and having it welded, what are my options?Obviously welding is the best and correct way to fix it but it's not feasible at the present time. What I did do was clean up the mounting surface real good, ran a thread chaser through both mounting holes, hit it with brake cleaner real good and sanded the paint off around the crack. I used some red threadlocker on the new starter bolts and snugged em up then waited about 3 or 4 minutes and lifted the rear of the starter to tighten up the starter brace in a supporting position, then torqued the 2 main bolts. I was thinking of spackling some JB weld on the outside of the block where its cracked.maybe to hold the bolts a little longer. I didnt want to jb weld the bolts in because well you know. But I do recall another post where a member used a long bolt threaded into the mounting hole from above and used like a mounting stud for the starter. He said it was the best setup for a starter he ever used. This being out of 7 different engines...

I did reconfigure my starter wiring too. I installed an American Autowire kit about 5 years ago. After checking the amateur terminals I made, I decided that they needed to be redone being as i have more knowledge and the correct tools now. Man, what a huge difference this made in the electrical system of the truck. My voltmeter used to show less than 13 volts while driving with my headlights on. Now it's just below 14 volts with them on! And the starter worked great. I went for a cruise and all is well in my little corner of paradise that I call my truck. 🙂