Installing a velvet drive

[imported_ironmike]

Greetings,
I have a crusader engine, Chevy 350 and was wandering if someone could suggest the best way to attach the velvet drive transmission to the engine. This is a very poor design, a heavy transmission bolted onto a cast aluminum flywheel housing. I've done this before but today as you may guess from my tone, I cracked the housing. I had about a 1/2 inch gap between the housing and the transmission with the housing bolted to the engine, and attempted to tighten to fill in the gap. Of course, this caused the housing to crack but not where I expected. It actually cracked where the housing bolts to the engine. Probably this was not a smart thing to do in retrospect but I have done this in the past. Is it better to attach the housing to the transmission first and then try to bolt the housing to the engine? The transmission is pretty heavy so it's difficult to slide the spindle into the damper. I did put some grease on the spindle. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bondo]

I cracked the housing. I had about a 1/2 inch gap between the housing and the transmission with the housing bolted to the engine, and attempted to tighten to fill in the gap

Ayuh,..... As you've found out, it ain't so much the design, as bad mechanicin' that busted yer housin',.....

If the transmission is heavy, ya need a lift,.... If ya ain't got one, get one, or build one,.....

Ya gotta align things to put 'em together,...

Obviously, the bolts are only to hold it together, Not to draw mis-aligned pieces together,....

Whether in a boat, or a truck, or a piece of heavy equipment, I pre-assemble as much as possible, 'n use a lift to move the big heavy chunks into position, align, 'n bolt 'em up,....
That would include the bell, on the tranny,....