Smash It Into Gear!

 

Been a while since the last update, sorry. Life has been a tad busy over the past few weeks and it hasn’t really helped with the disposal income side of things and thus things have had to slow down a tad. Still here we are with a couple of further ticks off the list. 

 First with the front anti roll bar. This has had a full refurb replacing all components with exception of the bar itself, which was primed and painted back with chassis a good few months back. The bushes are updated poly units which will help firm everything up and hopefully tighten the whole feel of the car, and should easily out live any original rubber units that were once on the car. I have also replaced the fixing brackets and U bolts, along with the drop links and studs on the outside edge. Once dry fitted I offered it up to the chassis and loosely fitted all the bits. I really need to get some weight in the chassis before things start to get torqued up fully. So a loose fit will have to do for now, but it was fairly straightforward and no serious issues when aligning everything.

Another job on my list was to take a really good look at the gearbox and make some decisions whether to fully overhaul, or just a light strip and clean. I had already removed the top plate a while back and I was surprised how well everything looked, good fresh clean oil and no missing teeth….. hold that thought. 

So today I started to fully drain the box and go to town on everything making sure it was going to be good for car when finished. In all fairness the access to pull the gearbox at a later date, when the car is finished, is not actually that bad. The prop will simply drop from output flange and remove the transmission cover giving full access to the box, bell housing, clutch slave etc…

Still I’d rather not have to rip the box out again later down the line  so will get everything right now. I spent ages with an inspector lamp just slowing turning the input shaft and visual giving everything a check over. The oil has been replaced relatively recently, in regards to its lifespan, but keep in mind the clutch was gone when I took delivery and it’s been sat for donkeys in my garage, so I popped of the drain plug and emptied it all out.

Upon doing this (sorry forgot to picture) the drain plug which is magnetic was covered in swarf…. Not good at all. And when I removed it all and cleaned it off it was all very very fine with only one chunk as such…. On with the investigation then. I spent further time on a close inspection on all the gears and synchromesh’s along with shaft bearings and casing damage, but couldn’t find anything to explain the amount of swarf I had on the plug. It was far too much to be just general wear and tear, so something somewhere has been damaged at some point but what?

I then started to check the reverse gear which is right at the bottom of the box casing….bingo! A trip to the dentist is required as at least three teeth are chipped and have some light damage. This has probably been done when someone was trying to engage reverse gear and couldn’t find it. Reverse on this box is located by lifting the gear stick in neutral and then top right to engage the gear. I can only assume the someone previously has not lifted the gearstick fully/properly and when trying to sync the gear it has took a few chips off the teeth. This would explain the swarf on the plug, but the concern now is that this has been sloshing around in the box getting all mushed up and causing horrific wear on pretty much all components of the box. 

I have decided now just to flush and clean the box as I already have a replacement box in the garage that I will do a full rebuild on as it’s replacement should I need it. Neither of the boxes have an overdrive unit, so again this could be a good retrofit upgrade if this box does start to die when it’s in. It will certainly mange a good few hundred miles first allowing me time to decide whether on not an overdrive is really required when driving the finished machine. 

After all of that I have just spent many laborious hours with a wire wheel and petrol cleaning everything and removing decades of gunk and debris. Everything else seems in good nick really and has cleaned up nicely. I will order all the replacement gaskets next week along with the pivot arm bushings and possibly even a clutch and flywheel bolts etc… this will allow me to fit the box to the engine and drop it all onto the chassis and get some much needed weight onto the front springs. I will need to get a new throw arm bearing also, as this current one is not particularly smooth and its history is unknown. 

So I’ll try not to leave it so long before i update again, it might only be a little update next with the gearbox seals and gaskets, but progress is progress.