Engine stuck to transmission

[jellydoughnut]

Hey everyone,
Just bought a 2000 Ski Nautique that was ran a lot in salt water. Boat seems to be really solid and in great shape. However the motor is a different story. Biggest problem I'm dealing with right now is the coupling between the engine and the transmission is rusted together. So the input shaft of the transmission is rusted onto the dampener plate that bolts to the flywheel. All the bolts between the transmission and bell housing are out, as well as all the bolts between the bell housing and the engine are out. about half of them broke but thats a problem for a later date. Any ideas on how to sepereate the transmission/bell housing from the block and still saving the engine and transmission?

I've thought about cutting a hole in the bell housing and then either unbolting the dampener plate or putting heat on the coupler and that should take care of it. But trying to see if anyone else on here has run into the same thing or has another solution.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[teamseal]

best thing you can do is get a 2" hole saw and approximate where the damper bolts are and bore a hole in the bell housing. then remove the damper plate holes. you will need to turn the engine for each bolt. if you want to reuse your bell housing, save the plug you bored from the hole saw and have it aluminum welded back in place..