Almost there….

Well most of my parts I needed showed up earlier than expected, gotta say I really love how quick DHL gets me parts from the UK, order Monday night ships Wednesday and I have them by Friday. With most of my parts being here I was able to jump into putting things back together.

Guess I will start with the diff cover, the shifter steady rod bushing (thats a mouthful) had seen better days, I didn’t get a before picture but I did get during and after. I tried pressing the old one out and all I did was remove the rubber center. So I carefully beat the center piece out, and by beat I mean I took a chisel and crushed it. Luckily I didn’t damage the housing. Reinstallation actually went way easier than expected. I just made a press with a bolt some nuts and a socket and slowly pulled it into its home.

While all the parts are off the car I had planned on getting them professionally cleaned. But after calling around most wanted to media blast the housings, and it made me nervous for some reason. So I opted to give it a go myself, with some engine cleaner and aluminum wheel cleaner things actually cleaned up enough to make me satisfied. The one part I wasn’t happy with and couldn’t seem to make a dent in was the new to me rocker cover. This part I did get blasted. It came out pretty decent and I am in the process of clear coating it.

I also took the time to throw together the X pin diff, I still need my new crown wheel but I was able to get it this far.

At this point I started getting lost on what to do so my timeline might get a bit hazy. Theres a lot more going on with this than anticipated so try to follow me here. Guess I can start with the axles, I wasn’t planning on removing them. I did need to get the inner pot joints off as I have new ones to install to compliment the new diff side covers. During this I found a couple issues, first one the passenger outer CV joint actually undid itself internally when I barely pulled on it, turns out this joint was pretty dry and the internal circlip broke. Luckily I had a new one on the shelf (I don’t hoard parts I swear….) So this axle was coming off. I then decided it would probably just be easier to pull the driver side axle while I was at it. This proved to be difficult as it seemed to be rusted into the hub, I had this apart not too long ago so I don’t know what happened. Either way it goes in fine now. I also found the driver side pot joint was pretty dry and the passenger side was super full… almost like it was getting oil from the engine. I wasn’t concerned with the pots as I have new ones, was just interesting.

oh yea so some of this stuff jumped the gun but most of it happened before part day came. So hers some pictures of the shiny stuff and my cats trying to claim my minispares order. I also got a nice package from DSN with shiny bits. No pics of the minispares contents though, it was a tire and small boring things.

Continuing along I was having debates on if I should do the timing cover now or when the gearbox is back on. Either case I was going to have to somehow clean the block mating surface. Which is hard to do when I can’t turn the engine upside down. I really need a stand and an adaptor for the A series. So with some jerry rigging of my 2 x 4’s I was able to get the block in a position that allowed me to clean it up and install the new timing cover, I still need to torque the cam nut etc but can’t do that until I have a flywheel on. I also had to make a call to 7 mini about my oil thrower. It seems the chain contacted it at some point. I measured the clearance with the pulley on it all around and I have 23 thou of clearance so I thing this damage might be from back when I snapped my first duplex chain on my bench. I just don’t remember seeing the damage on it. Either way I was informed this actually happens quite a bit and I should be fine.

While I also had time I figured now was a good time to check the primary gear end float. I decided to get a new c washer (one that holds it all together). Last time it was apart I seemed to get a tighter tolerance flipped one way from the other. Turns out this happens even with the new ones. Either way the end float was on the end of the tolerance around 5 – 6 thou. Calver recommends going higher on cars that are driven hard. I probably don’t push super hard but figure its better to aim for the higher side. I thought I got a picture of the measurement but for some reason I didn’t find it in my gallery. Either way here’s my DTI setup.

So I am hoping this next part I did will allow me to finally move the coil to the transfer housing. One of the bolts was super stripped out and had the wrong bolt. The other nothing seemed to fit. So I took a guess and bought some bolts and a tap. Always scary when the taps come out, but this one must have been the right size cause it went through effortlessly.

I also took some time to install my new boot hinges I got from DSN.

Finally the whole reason for all this recent work.. The gearbox. I actually did this before some other things on this list but wanted to save the best for last. First its not done, I need some shims, a new crown wheel and pinion (going 3.2), new input gear (my oops), and speedo drive gears. But I got a lot done. I will let the pics speak for themselves, but it all went together relatively smoothly. Any snags was really just my lack of understanding on some parts but I got it now.