Differential

With the handbrake pivot in and connected, we were able to finish off the drivetrain. This meant fitting the diff which had been sitting on the bench finished for some time now. The diff is a 4.1 Subaru LSD. We lifted it into position (easier with 2 people), and secured the two rear bolts. There was an issue with the front mount fouling on the chassis, but this was easily remedied by removing a washer from each side on the two rear bolts, which took the diff back slightly. We then had to lift the front of the diff and insert the 4 alloy spacers and bolts to secure the front of the diff to the chassis. 

All in all, not to hard a job, and only a few cuts on the hands and limited swearing. This then allowed the prop shaft to be pulled back against the diff flange to be bolted up. The prop shaft is secured to the diff by 4 high tensile bolts. This meant the engine, clutch and gearbox are now connected to the diff for the first time. So far so good! Next job was to fit the half shafts. This meant disconnecting the rear uprights, and then tapping the half shafts in to the diff until they clip in. It was then just a matter of feeding the drive splines into the hubs, remounting the uprights, and securing the half shafts to the hub with the hub nut. This requires huge torque to secure the hub nut. We were also able to finish off securing all of the upright rose joints including fitting the R clips. Once we had the wheels back on, the drivetrain is complete from engine to rear wheels. The moment of truth! Does the clutch work properly??

We popped the gear lever in to second and made sure we had everything binding, then Steve pushed the clutch in. If the clutch is actuating properly, I should now be able to spin the prop shaft and diff independently from the engine. But it didn't spin!!!!. With a sinking feeling of having to remove the engine and gearbox again to correct the clutch we stood silently. It then hit me that maybe the clutch plate had frozen between the pressure plate and flywheel, as it had been sitting in that state for some while. So again Steve depressed the clutch and I rocked the prop shaft back and forward. After a bit of grab, it spun freely!!! The clutch appears to work and is correctly adjusted. This means we have everything now connected and working from the motor back to the rear wheels. A huge step forward and a very satisfying job in only 3 hours.

Once again, this job could not have been achieved without the assistance of Steve (see foot to the left) who added the extra muscle and brain power to get this task finished relatively painlessly (he got cut hands today). I will ask him nicely tomorrow if I can post a photo of his Birkin up here so people can see what a real one looks like (finished!). 

Slowly but surely, the collection of parts on the floor in boxes, on the shelves and in the cupboards and drawers around the garage is finding its way on to the car, as we edge closer to engineering and rego.

Engine & Transmission Removal No.4

No I didn't miss one....Engine & Transmission Removal No.3 occurred in the end of the Clutch post. I am starting to lose track of the Removals and Installs, so I thought I would do a quick summary of each one. Maybe someone can learn from these, and avoid having the same issues I have had.


Interesting the first install took about 4 hours. The first removal took 1 hour 18 mins. After that I have been averaging 42 - 45 mins for both although the engine is bare. I expect it to be somewhere up to 3 hours to install or remove once the car is completed.

• Install first time
• Removal number 1 for modification to bell housing for new starter motor
• Install 2nd time
• Removal number 2 to fix sump leak
• Install 3rd time
• Removal 3 for clutch leak and needing to reset the CSC preload
• Install 4th time
• Removal number 4 to retrieve and replace the burst clutch hose from within the bell housing

The last removal was a world record of 1 min and 11 secs and I took a video of it!

Check it out here! (have the sound up a little)

Transmission Oil Leak

I think I worked out where the leak was coming from. I jacked the front up to put it back on chassis stands and oil came out of the rear seal, around the transmission output shaft. This splined output shaft has to be mated to the splined universal adapter on the prop shaft. I hadn't fitted the prop shaft yet. So I have now fitted the prop shaft which creates a snug fitting on the oil seal in the gear box. I will drop the rear end to see what happens when the car is inclined again, to see if any more oil comes out.

Engine & Transmission Removal No.1

A wise man told me that before I finished the build I would take the engine out and reinstall it several times.....so 2 weeks after it was installed, here is the first removal. This was bought about for a few reasons. Firstly, I had to replace the starter motor with a Mazda unit to match the lightened flywheel. This new starter motor had some alloy shoulders that prevented it being mounted on its posts and engaging correctly with the bell housing. Secondly, I needed to measure where the hole in the transmission tunnel would be for the electrical loom going into the fuse box. Lastly I wanted to add the gearbox oil and check the seals. This removal only took a little over an hour and a quarter, but I imagine it will be a lot longer with full electrical, a fuel system and a cooling system all connected.

Here is the bell housing where the starter motor mounts. It needed to be notched and filed down on the two corners where it mates with the engine block. In removing the gearbox I also found that one of the CSC bolts had sheared off (over torqued to many times while fitting), so I replaced all three of these to be safe. Half an hour of filing and refitting the starter motor and I had the notches I needed. From here it was simply a case of refitting the gearbox to the motor (easier done with two people) and re-torquing all of the bolts on the bell housing. 

While I had the gearbox on the bench, I filled it with oil (Castrol Syntrax 75W90 fully-synthetic). This is far easier than doing in the car and I dread having to get the filler plug out from within the passenger footwell in the future.

I had also marked up a 50mm hole in the side of the transmission tunnel before the engine came out, so I used a hole saw to cut this out from within the fuse box. This will have a sealed grommet fitted one the ECU is mounted and the cables are routed. I also got to fix up a few bits of bodywork in the engine bay that needed to be modified, trimmed and riveted after the first engine fitting.

So after all those mods and tweaks, the engine and transmission went back in (in an hour and a quarter). I now know what sequence to put the mounts on to get the best fit, and which cross braces and brackets to remove. Only problems remaining are that the main bolt for the flexible gearbox mount is not lining up, I have small oil leak from the seal at the back of the gearbox output shaft when the car is inclined. I will deal with those and fit the starter motor tomorrow.