reactone

I understand where you're coming from, the problem I have is that functionally, the transmission works fine. Nothing inside the transmission blew up, with the exception of the reinforcement fin things that I have outlined in the picture above. There is no visible damage to the differential or the gearsets. Like I stated above, I drove the damn thing home from the track without a problem. I don't see the point of laying down $400 or more to replace a trans that has little damage/wear other than the cracked case. I am down for a challenge, I like to learn by doing things instead of reading about them. I have the Helms manual, which I will study, and I will check all of the necessary clearances when I get there. I know that this is HMT and all, but theres a cheap way to do things and theres the right way to do things. I'm not going to slap everything together and call it a day. I plan on disassembling everything, cleaning every part very thoroughly and reassembling. If I get it together and it doesnt work, at least I know that I tried, and it won't be all for naught, because I will have learned something along the way. When I first started getting into the whole import/turbo scene I knew very little, but I read up, and learned by doing. I don't think that this situation is very different.
Oh yeah, I know that its really hard to assess problems over the internet, even with pics, and I value the advice you guys give me, I just think that in this case, the situation isn't as grave as it appears.

Bone1

something had to knock those fins loose, and it's not the ring gear bolts. You can also see scraping on the inner case......

A little alum. fin would not have punched a hole in the back of the case, STEEL did that.

Have you ever welded junk *** cast alum.? I have someone who does, he charges $100 and hour, your looking at 1.5-2 hours of work to fix that case. BTW he's certified for nuclear work, aka top of the line welder.

Inspect the spider gears, you likely shot a tooth out the back.

reactone

Aren't you sick of being right? I checked the spider gears more closely, sure enough there is a tooth missing from one of the small gears. I thought the carnage would have been worse.

Bone1

if my being a dick, even an -------, but right, saves someone a headache.....it's worth it.

JB weld is amazing stuff, that plus some "screen" material MIGHT fix the hole. To be welded back together you'd need the missing piece which is likely still at the track

reactone

A dick?? Please, this is HMT, a full *** chewing is perfectly acceptable. I've got a line on a new trans case, but its from HT so I'll probably be spending an arm and a leg on it. I was also looking at some rebuild kits on ebay from user "Acerl" , the kit for the LS trans includes all bearings and synchros, but its $200. How much do the diff bearings and ISB bearings usually go for?

Bone1

Randy @ Transparts or ACERL looks to have good product. Matter if fact only person I've come across to bitch about certain synchros like I did.

I did a check on prices thru ACERL vs. me thru Honda. Price for the kit were the same.........except with ACERL you'd get the brass also for the same price, aka free brass synchros.

E-b0la

I had a chunk missing off the bottom of a trans on the edge or the clutch housing. I cut a piece of steel the same size and JB welded it back in. Worked fine.