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jlaird

jlaird

Great Pumpkin
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Pulled engine and tranny today.

Took tranny up to shop.

He called awile ago and asked me to come up and see what he found.

Wrong spring in second gear detent, Much much too long. So too much pressure on plunger thus hard shifting.

Found a ball bearing in a hole that should have a plunger, in fact plunger was in there also. huh.

These are not my errors. It was like that when I got it. Boy is that guy, Allan, a professional. I am really impressed. Think I should have a tranny back first of the week, best get going on other things while engine is out.

You know, the might as wells.
 
Up date, had dinner so went out to garage since the engine was out and it was dark. Useing a flash light inspected the front seal, no leakage at all. Inspected the rear scroll, I could find no leakage, not even the drop. The inside of the rear plate was dry, the oil pump cover was dry, the front bottom of the rear plate was dry as was the rear of the oil pan.

Maybe, just maybe.

Did notice a bit of weepage along one side of the oil pan gasket. Think I will pull the pan and reseal it with some good stuff just to be on the safe side.

Tranny guy says he has a special black stuff, showed me that he uses on trannys, aboslutely will not leak he says and he has to pull em and redo if they do leak so I would bet he is correct. He also said it is easy to remove.
 
Think that is it.
 
Permatex "Great Stuff"? If so, the "secret" is to have CLEAN surfaces on each side and partially tighten things and wait a few hours before final torque. No leaks.
 
A bit of progress:

Everything on the engine or under the bonnett that is polishable or has been polished and clear coated with the hi temp stuff. Even redid the heat sheld and polished the carb dash pots. Is looking great just like a new engine in fact. Maybe even a bit better. Needed done for Miss Agathas self esteme.

Tightened up the oil pan bolts, oh about a quarter to a half on most of them.

Now need to clean up my work bench etc again and get back to a starting point.

Checked the rear of the engine, scroll seal and such again in day light, I find no oil anywhere, everything dry as a bone. Guess the real test will be after it is all in with a test run and parking on a peice of cardboard. The new front seas with the rubber real seal is fine.

Now if Allen comes through with a first class tranny, which I am sure he will, we will be good to go anywhere anytime. Maybe as soon as the end of next week I hope.

I am sure my truck would like to get back in the garage.
 
Think I have all the might as wells done to engine and engine room.

All is in readiness for reinstall when tranny is complete.

I actually picked the engine up today so I could see under it, I can find no oil leakes anywhere, very unusual to say the least.

Can not wait for test run. Maybe it will be right this time.
 
One never knows what will be found in a Spridget transmission when disassembling. I've seen the above and worse in 30+ years of taking them apart and rebuilding. Interlock balls in the wrong places. Missing parts (detent springs) in the 1/2/R slide gear and the 3/4 slide gear.

Nothing should be too big a surprise after 36+ years of existence and who knows whose hands having worked on them.

Have a good test run!

Mike
 
Stoped by tranny shop this morning, is all apart, he found lots of things assembled wrong but as he says, nothing major. No wear on any of the parts.

In addition he found a ball missing.

His greatest problem was how to tell me that his big cleaner was going to take all the paint off. Gesh, that is not one of my worries at all and told him so.

He also said he hoped to have it ready for me to pick up this afternoon, would be nice but I can wait a bit if he needs the time and told him so.

Man, just can not wait to get this back and installed. Should be fun having a tranny that works like a new one.
 
Jack, you keep pulling that motor out, you are going to give British cars a bad name :smile: Hope you are having fun. When it gets hot down there you need to load her up and bring her up here to the hills so we can run the mountains. I will take some vacation and we can just go riding the little cars.
 
Jack's my hero when it comes to engine removal and replacement. The last time I took the motor out of the Tunebug, it took almost three years to get it reinstalled.
grin.gif
 
Tranny was not ready yesterday afternoon, said he was still messing with it a bit. That man is a profectionest.

Engine is ready to bolt to tranny, clean polished, etc. As good as I can make it, no offence but looks as good as Haps.

Engine room is ready as well, Miss Agatha up on four jack stands, all clean and tidy ready to go. Work bench clean, tools clean and ready to go. Paint cans and such all put away till next time but for the engine paint, will need to repaint the tranny. Floor spotless, wonderful to be able to just roll under the car in a white tshirt and not get it dirty, wife likes it as well. In fact I don't know when I last had to use hand cleaner. Clean is good.

Wonder what I can get into while I wait. Oh yea, outside light bulb needs replaced, and I know there is something else on wifes to do list but I have forgotten what it is, sigh. Does it sound like I am boored, I am. I am more than ready to get Miss Agatha on the road again. I missed the club spring picnic in the park last weekend and I have no intention of missing anymore events till it gets hot.
 
jlaird said:
Does it sound like I am boored, I am.
Click to expand...

No Jack, you're not a boor - you're one of the politest ones here
grin.gif


it must be maddening, but, on the bright side it will be done right and you will be set for miles of brisk motoring. hang in there.
 
Jack, does this engine have an accessible oil pump drive, like the Triumphs? On a 6 engine you can pull the distributor and use a drill and a shaft and spin up the oil pump for pressure(do it all the time on rebuilds). I thought a friends MG motor was similar.

If so, while you're waiting for the tranny rebuild have you considered, pulling the distributor and spinning the oil pump up for awhile to get oil everywhere and see if you can instigate a leak that way? Would be easier to fix while the engine is out.. Probably not leaking engine, but just a thought I thought I'd throw out your way to help alleviate your boredom.
 
Oil pump is driven off the back of the cam shaft.

Found the tranny prob. I just happened to be standing there when Alen found the prob. Second gear slides and has four spring loaded maybe 1/8 inch ball bearings to lock it in its centered position. Man it was all you could do to get it to slide. Took balls and springs out, slides smooth as silk.
So, hmmm, could find no rough spots were balls were on either ramps, Balls were fine. We think the fix is to make the springs a bit shorter so there is not so much friction. He has also polished all the shift linkage where it goes through housings, polished every thing else that moves through things and such, smooth as silk it is except for that one gear.

I expect tomorrow will tell the tail, we will see. Still has to go through the big cleaning machine.
 
Adam called about 5:30, tranny fixed and back together. Will pick up in morning.

He says it is smooth as silk, guess we will see in the next couple of days.

Spent this afternoon polishing car and carb filters, oh how she shines.
 
of course we will need pics just so we can get green with envy!
 
Jack:

FWIW, The 1/2/R slide gear assembly has 3 ball/spring sets and 1 detent "Pill". There should not be 4 ball/spring sets. If you look at the inside of the 1/2/R slider, there is a "ramped" part of the gear that will line up with a through hole in the center gear hub, that goes on the mainshaft, when the outer ring is located to match the baulk ring "ears". That is where the "pill" goes. Put a little bearing grease in the hole and push the pill in.

Actually, for racing purposes, racers will stretch those springs to create a little extra grab when the outer ring moves forward to engage 2nd gear.

If your trany is missing the "pill" and VB or Moss or other sources don't have any, let me know. I have a parts bin full of all the balls, springs, detents, etc. left over from 30+ years of working on the darn things.

HTH with understanding the trany workings.

Mike Miller
 
I think I mis spoke it was the rear most gear. Do have all the parts, thanks for the offer, all seems fine with out a run up the road and back. That will happen in the next several days.

All is fine now, never had a tranny that shifted so easly or smooth even with the engine not running. Have all the gears even, that Adam seems to know what he is doing. Charged me for three hours of labor only and I know he put more than that in it. $240

Now is ready to go in, fresh coat of paint and all that. Just waiting to build up a bit of energy and for paint to dry. Thanks for the support guys, only we few know what that means.

Sure hopes it works as good as it seems. Not looking forward to the seventh engine pull.
 
Engines in.
 
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