Al,
I understand your problem with the loose bolts. The thing I need to
mention is why would anyone have a main engine external bolt or nut that
isn't safety wired? I plan to wire all my nuts as this will
prevent anything from falling out if a stud does break.
Bill Jepson
Hi Bill,
I used a technique the rotary racing crowd uses to prevent
a stud/bolt from backing out of the engine into the flywheel/flex
plate. A thin sheet of steel (aluminum might do) the area of
which covers all the tension bolts is used to cover the engine tension
bolt heads. This sheet is attached using the using the
rear main bearing/gear support bolts. This sheet prevents any
bolt from backing out should it break. I put a spot of silicone on
head of each bolt to dampen any vibration of the sheet.
I recall at least one incident where a tension bolt
did back out, but fortunately the individual (Perry Mic, I believe) was
using the 35 lb manual flywheel which simply bent the bolt out of the
way. A flex plate may not survive such an encounter.
Ed