389 replies to this topic

[KTS]

time to start work on the gearbox rebuild, so out with a clean bit of lining paper for the bench, the good book for guidance, and a nice clean gearbox case..

 

 

gearbox is being rebuilt with a single groove gearset to replace the double groove set that was there, so i stripped down both mainshafts to get the baulk rings out and spent a good couple of hours fitting every baulk ring against each gear to find the combinations that gave the best clearances.  2nd gear was treated to a brand new rover baulk ring from my spares box.

 

 

mainshaft built up...

 

 

unfortunately, when i went to fit it to the box i realised i'm missing the mainshaft bearing circlip, so can't make any more progress 'til i get a new one in...

 

[KTS]

finally got round to pulling the idler gear and first motion shaft bearings from the transfer case; a wallpaper steam stripper comes in quite handy for putting a bit of heat into the casing around the bearings to help them out  

 

 

and then proceeded to clean out all the drillings and threads in the rest of the casings - a stiff nylon brush in drill does a pretty good job of clearing all the crap out 

 

Edited by KTS, 03 May 2021 - 04:22 PM.

[KTS]

after a bit of a struggle, the main shaft assembly is now in place.  to be fair, putting it in wasn't a problem, but after fitting it and checking clearances etc i managed to get the 3/4 gear selector fork jammed against the selector shaft and in trying to free it over extended the syncro hub, releasing the springs and ball bearings..  

 

fortunately, with the help of a pair of long screwdrives and careful levering i did manage to get the syncro hub back together again without having to take the shaft out - took a good few attempts to get there though.

 

just need to order some additional shims for the mainshaft bearing retainer, and reduce the laygear end float and that's the core of the gearbox sorted

 

 

Another minor job ticked off the list was removing the oil pressure relief valve seat from the block 

 

3/8" UNC thread tapped into the seat and a short head bolt screwed in

 

 

a gear linkage barrel is a perfectly sized spacer to use to start pulling the bolt out

 

 

..and finally it's out

 

Edited by KTS, 09 May 2021 - 03:27 PM.

[KTS]

it's been nearly a month since my last update, and i'd like to say i've got loads done.  Sadly, that's not the case....

 

what i have managed to do though is clean the old paint off the block.  well, most of it anyway,  and spend lots of money

 

 

set the correct laygear endfloat using guessworks thrust washer shims, shimmed up the main bearing retainer and torqued up with loctite 243 in place of lacktabs, and fitted the centre pick-up. 

 

 

..waiting for a delivery from guessworks before i can fit the diff and speedo housings

[KTS]

another delightful cleaning job today 

 

 

found a few rough casting edges around the bore, so spent a bit of time with the dremel carefully grinding them away

 

 

throat on the inlet side looks like it could do with opening out to make it a more circular than the oval that it is now

[KTS]

not a great deal of progress happening at the moment as there's too much else going on, but have completed the HIF rebuild with a few modifications included

 

first up was thinning out the leading and trailing edges of the butterfly - i've not gone too mad with this, only taken it down to about half the original thickness at the centreline

 

 

after stumbling across this thread, next step was putting in a new port for the vacuum advance take-off 

 

 

..hopefully it's in the right place 

 

..and last of all, removed the top half of the spindle and secured the butterfly with button headed screws with the ends ground back flush with the spindle

 

 

[sonscar]

Loctite on the spindle screws?Tidy work,Steve..

[KTS]

a bit more progress this weekend, starting with the diff; initial plan was an upgrade to a cross-pin unit, but as i still had some money in the kitty i decided to invest in a Quaife ATB

 

stripped the crownwheel off the old diff, cleaned, inspected and fitted to the ATB : bolts torqued to 45lbft and held in place with loctite 243

 

 

trial fit of the diff cover showed there was a couple of spots that needed relieving to give clearance - a few minutes with the dremel sorted that out easily enough.  

 

 

Diff shimming has also been done, but i can't fit it 'til i've fixed the problem of the pot-joint shafts being oversize for the output cover bushes - options are either re-furb some existing pot-joints that do fit the covers, get the bushes opened out to fit the new pot-joints, or get the pot-joint shafts ground down to fit the bushes.  i'll speak to the machine shop tomorrow and see what their view is on the last two options

 

clamped the box to the workbench so i could torque up the mainshaft nut and fit the speedo housing - 7:18 worm&pinion gear fitted to hopefully give me a reasonably accurate speedo when its on the road.  

 

 

annoyingly i've lost the socket needed to torque up the first motion shaft nut, so will need to wait a new one to be delivered before i can complete that job.

 

Crankshaft cam back from the machine shop after having a polish.  just need to get the block down to them for a de-glaze next....

 

[KTS]

decided to swap over the internals from the new pot joints to the old ones, so pulled the new ones apart only to find the inners won't fit in the old pots.  I guess i'll be getting the new pot joints shafts ground down to the correct size to fit the output cover bushes 

 

 

Another job that's been on the to-do list for a while was to make a bulkhead fitting for the fresh air hose - the pickup has the long elephant trunk type that runs as a single piece from the heater unit to the front panel and tends to get in the way a bit when working in the engine bay.

 

made up a short section that fits the inner diameter of the hose, cut the middle out of a blanking plate, and welded the section in place - now I can fit the inner section and outer section of the heater hose as separate pieces, and can remove the engine bay section if needed.

 

 

when i overhauled the distributor i found part of the main assembly was loose, so whilst i had the welder out i put a couple of small tacks on the spring posts to fix them in place.   

 

Edited by KTS, 10 July 2021 - 05:12 PM.

[KTS]

sorry for the lack of updates recently, but my stepfather sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago after a short illness

 

i suspect it'll be a while before i get back into the project, as we've got quite a job on our hands sorting out his affairs, one of which is sorting out his garage. Fortunately for me, my mother put her foot down many years ago and refused to let him build a double garage.  Unfortunately for me, he was very inventive in his quest to maximise the usable storage space.

 

He still had his old work overalls in his garage, so they now hang in mine..

 

Edited by KTS, 22 August 2021 - 08:53 PM.

[IronmanG]

Sorry for your loss Pat.

[REVVIT]

Sorry to here of your loss..i had the same issue with my brother in January ..He was a car and bike enthusiast took 5 months to clear his house most of his stuff is now at my house and resembles steptoes yard !

[KTS]

life is returning to something like normal now, and have managed to get a few more things done

 

first up was to fix the exhaust clamp which had a nasty fatigue crack along the back, so ran a hacksaw down the length of the crack, and welded it back up.  just to be on the safe side, i  added a fillet along the bottom edge to try and stop it flexing and cracking again

 

 

found a local shop to regrind the pot-joint output shafts to the correct size, and after confirming they fit the output covers, shimmed and refitted the diff, and that is the gearbox done.

 

 

one thing i did remember to do before refitting the gearchange oil seal was drill a couple of holes in the alloy sleeve so i can get the thing out if i need to

 

[jbuenavides]

The progress of this build, looks amazing I can't wait for you to unveil it. 

[KTS]

quite a while ago i sent the block off for a de-glaze, and after finally get my act together and gave the block a deep clean before having the cam bearings fitted and reamed to size.  I also got him to check the con-rod big end tunnels which revealed nothing needed doing, which was good.

 

after another good clean, the block is ready for re-assembly

 

 

crankshaft in, and main bearing running clearances checked - like the cylinders, clearance is running at the upper end of what's recommended 

 

 

crankshaft endfloat measured at 3 thou.  happy with that

 

 

new omega ring packs fitted and pistons installed;  this type of piston installer makes very easy work of it.  Ring gaps were checked prior to fitting, but no surprise that none needed any adjustment 

 

 

as with the main bearings, big end bearing running clearance also checked - at 2 thou probably on the larger side of ideal, but hopefully good enough to keep me going for a few months

 

 

next job to do will be fitting the cam and setting the timing