Bell Housing exploded today

[Deuceornothing]

I have a 83 310 with twin 350 V-Drives. Cruising along and I heard a grinding sound for a sec then explosion. Bell housing in a million pieces starter hanging by the wires and my oil filter hanging off the other side of the motor. I have no idea what could have happened other than it was cracked prior to this and I just pushed it too hard today. Can anyone point me in the right direction for getting a new bell housing and any idea what could have happened? Hoping to pull her out in the morning.

 

[Deuceornothing]

I have been doing some reading and it sounds like the flex plate came apart which then hit the bell housing. Still looking for some help on this.

 

[wvsundancer]

I have had this happen with an automatic transmission in a race car but this is a first for a boat. I would look at the bolt pattern where the Flywheel and flex plate bolt to the crank. You will need to pull the oil pan off the engine and inspected the crank and bearings at a minimum. Looks like a total rebuild is coming your way. Keep us posted. Sorry for your luck but sounds like no one was hurt and you were able to make it back to port.

 

[Deuceornothing]

After doing some research this problem I had is becoming more and more common. The flex plate came apart at the spline and the 3 places it bolted to the flywheel acted like a weed whacker against the bell housing. This looks to have been caused by a combination of the wrong props, trim tabs not working, quite a bit of people and gear in the boat and me pushing it too hard. That being said where this becomes common is the newer wakeboard boats. Filling the ballast systems and added additional fat sacks and then add 16 people and the flex plates are coming apart as well.

As for the repair it is done and although it took me 2.5 days I was able to do most of it by myself. Unfortunately there was about 1 inch behind my transmission but there was almost 2 feet in front of the motor. So I unbolted the motor and used a chain fall to hang it from a 6x6 that was resting on the side rails of the boat. I was able to remove the old bell housing(what was left of it) and install the new flex plate and bell housing. I lined up the engine and trans and bolted them back together. I left the trans about 3/4 of an inch out to make sure I had aligned the splines. I put the started back on and used a screw driver to bump the motor over to line everything up. After that is was just making sure everything was tight and all the hoses where intact as both an oil line and tranny line was cut when it broke.

I hope I have shown that anyone with a little bit of mechanic skills can fix what seamed to be a disaster. I'm sure a pro could have fixed it in less than a day but I really couldn't afford to pay someone right now. I did a lake test last night and she was smooth as can be. In the next few weeks I hope to pull the boat out on a loaned trailer and fix those trim tabs. Props will have to wait till winter and I hope I can get by with removing the cup and shaving down the size.

WV Sundancer,
I didn't pull the motor apart because I have talked to a few mechanics and they didn't feel that was a concern. Thanks for your insight and wisdom. I look at it this way, if the motor goes bad now than I have to take it apart again. If it is ok than I saved myself a rebuild not only on the port motor but the starboard motor as well. Can't do one without the other.