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72 Hour Rivergate Conversion Challenge

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jhorton3

jhorton3

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My Rivergate conversion kit came in today, so tomorrow starts my 72 hour challenge to perform the conversion by myself. I'll take photos along the way and post them each evening.

Tomorrow will be spent pulling the engine/transmission and modifying the 5 speed. Friday I plan on installing the conversion pieces and getting the engine and 5 speed back in the car with the drive shaft connected.

Saturday will be spent connecting electrics, fuel supply, filling coolant and getting ready for the first test drive.

Keep your fingers crossed!
 
Good luck!

My top hints:

#1 - When the engine and tranny are in the bay, before you set it down, loosely connect the mounts to the front plate and the towers to the mounts.

#2 - A set of ratcheting end wrenches is worth the exorbitant price for a good set. The $90.00 I spent on the Craftsman set is one of the best, most convienience-oriented purchases I've ever made. Make sure you have the kind that only require 5 degreees of movement because...

#3 - ... the 9/16ths ratcheting end is perfect for tightening the one bolt on the mount stud to the tower. Sure beats flipping over the open end a thousand times and they get into places that ratchets won't go!

#4 - My dad used to always try to "stab" the driveline yoke from the back of the tranny tunnel. It's much easier to lay the driveline in the tunnel and then, from the driver seat with a bent coat hanger, hook the yoke and pull it in from there.

Everything else is pretty straight forward.

Again, good luck and your timeline/goal is very reasonable.

JACK
 
hehehe, 72 hours ?!?!?!?!?!?

It's taken me over a week to put "my own" carpet in !!!

Granted, I am taking my time.

Good luck !!!!
 
Read all the way through the directions before you start so that you can go buy tools/supplies that you may be missing. Also, there is some required drying time in there for the sealant around the oil seal. Other than the drying time, there is no reason this couldn't be done in a day.
 
Another trick I've used is to wrap the end of the driveshaft in masking tape to keep it from flopping around. You could also cut a hole in the bottom of the tunnel so you can just reach up there and slip it in...I seem to recall that hole exists on the 1500cc cars. Makes future maintenance easy as heck too.
 
On the rivergate, there is room to reach in through the shifter hole and install the driveshaft.
 
Thanks guys! Conversion started at 8AM this morning. Battery disconnected, hood off, carb off, interior console out of the way, gear lever removed.
 
Good luck, Jim!
 
10:11AM Coolant drained, radiator and shroud removed. Intake removed and exhaust manifold unbolted from engine. Alternator and temperature gauge disconnected. Quick break for breakfast.
 
Forgot to mention two things. Grill removed in 2nd hour, and I'm going along and putting all fasteners in zip lock bags and labeling them.
 
11:20AM Drive shaft disconnected and remove from car. Valve cover removed. Transmission mounting bolts in the tunnel removed.
 
Label like crazy Jim - even it is seems obvious.

Are you taking pictures every hour? Would be fun to do a time lapse thing...
 
Not exactly every hour, but I will post them to my web site. At 1:20 I got the engine out of the car and onto the ground. Time for lunch.
 
2:46PM and the clutch pressure plate, flywheel, and rear engine plate are off the engine. I had to break out the power tools and fire up the air compressor so I could get the flywheel off. Everything looks clean inside. Paper gasket for the rear plate is toast, literally.

Now that I've got all that off I'm going to wheel the engine into the corner and cover it up, then clean up the big mess the transmission made. When I jacked the front of the car up to relieve the oil from the transmission and engine, the rear transmission seal started leaking like a sieve. Now I've got a 3 foot puddle of oil and goo on my floor.
 
5:00PM the remainder of the paper gasket has been removed from the back of the engine, the Rivergate supplied yolk installed on the drive shaft. Dropped the carburetor off at the shop for a modification.

Spent a lot of time cleaning up that oil spill. Will start grinding smooth the transmission ridges next.
 
jhorton3 said:
Now I've got a 3 foot puddle of oil and goo on my floor.
Click to expand...

It's a Midget. I fail to see how this is out of the ordinary.
 
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