From what I got in the Haynes shop manual, I torqued the speedo drive retaining bolt in the rear cover to 13 lb/ft and ended up putting a crack in the hole

The drive assembly is still held in tight...am I going to have any problems with this situation?

Other than that, replacing the rear cover went very easy. Now I'm ready to jack up the car and swap trannies.

BTW, what is the correct torque for that bolt? It looks as though there's a heilicoil insert in the hole but my two other covers have the same thing so maybe that's how they came?

no clue on the correct torque setting, but man, that sucks ...

i had one that was ovaled out, try fixing that ...
Andy

If your bolt is still holding fast then you will not have a problem. The bolt goes in after the oil seal of the O-ring so no oil should be leaking out. If all else fails you can JB weld it and re-tap it. Just follow the JB instructions.

Thanks doc, that's what I was kinda figuring.

BTW, what are "idiopathic, nosocomial, or iatrogenic" in layman terms? My sister is a nurse but I don't feel like calling her.

Idiopathic = Basically, we dont know the cause.
Nosocomial = it happend in a hopsital/infected while in the hospital (or in the case of my joke, it was caused by something it caught in the garage)
Iatrogenic = Caused by a surgeon (or the mechanic).

You can also source a new tail cone. They are interchangable.