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Spitfire Spitfire gearbox overhaul

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jdubois said:
Ok, dumb question of the day. Can I hope to get this throw-out bearing off it's spindle and the new one on by myself, or am I headed back down to the machine shop again?
Click to expand...

Should be easy as pie.
 
billspit said:
Should be easy as pie.
Click to expand...

Never was good at making pie /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

Here's the problem, as I see it. The disk at the back of the spindle has a larger diameter than the throw out bearing, so I can't get anything behind the bearing to press it off (see picture). I can imagine a variety of pullers I could build with some metal and threaded rods that would get it off, but that seems like a lot of effort.

throwout.jpg
 
Nevermind, I was having a brain freeze. I just had to reverse my thinking. Press the spindle off the bearing, not the bearing off the spindle. Problem solved, the new bearing is now installed.
 
Sometimes you just have to put things down and walk away. When you come back you may see a whole different perspective.

It would really have helped if you had a press. I hope to get one whenever I can come up with more room.
 
That occurred to me, but I didn't see any other way to press it on. It went on with very little pressure, and I reasoned that it sees more pressure than what I exposed it to when the clutch is disengaged (i.e. it's pushed against the pressure plate fingers). The bearing still rolls fine and without any noise, so I hope I'm ok. But please tell me now if I did bad, as it's easy enough to get another one at this point.

Other than that, I got the flywheel and clutch re-installed and torqued down. It was kind of a pain getting the clutch torqued because the outer flange of the new clutch pressure plate was too small to get a socket on the bolt heads. I ended up putting an extension and crow foot on the wrench in order to get the bolts tightened. I'm sure that threw the calibration off on the torque wrench, but I set it at the top of the torque spec range in the manual and hopefully it'll still have been within range.

The gearbox didn't show up today, so I expect it'll be here tomorrow. I should be ready for it when it arrives. I did notice tonight that the engine has sagged a bit on the stack of wood I put underneath the rear. So I'm going to have to jack the engine back up and rebuild the stack before I try and get the gearbox to mate up.
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif The helpful folks at Fedex Ground decided they couldn't be bothered to deliver my tranny this week. Apparently they tried (and I use the word try loosely) to deliver it on Tuesday but couldn't find my work address (which they deliver other things to almost every day!!!) and rather than informing anybody of this they just parked the tranny at the depot and forgot about it.

So... assuming they're back in the delivery business next week, I should have it monday.
 
The tranny is finally back home!!! It looks great. John cleaned it all up, painted the case, and included all the old parts in the box for me to ogle at. Didn't expect all that from him. Now lets just hope it works as good as it looks.

I'm taking the day off work tomorrow so I can have a nice long few hours without family or other interruptions to try and get it back in the car. Wish me luck! I'm hoping that I can at least get it all back together enough tomorrow to take a quick test drive. We'll see.
 
Thanks Jeff, with my scattered brain I might just have done that!

I spent about six hours on it today, and got the tranny installed and the bellhousing bolted down to the engine. Got the clutch slave hooked back up and bled, and the clutch seems to be working fine. Hooked up the speedo cable, re-attached the exhaust and intake manifolds, put the shifter remote back on and shifted through all the gears. They seem a little tight, but I'm assuming that'll work itself out as soon as I get some oil in the tranny and run it for a bit.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the car back together enough to take it for a spin. I still need to get the prop shaft hooked up, and the rest of the exhaust system re-installed. Oh, and I've forgotten where the plus lead from the battery hooks into the car. I thought it bolted to the bellhousing, but I ran out of holes (i.e. I had enough bolts in the "bellhousing" hardware bag to fill all the bolt holes) so I don't remember where the bolt at the end of the lead is supposed to go.

After I get those few things done, I just have to re-check the torque on all the bolts to make sure I didn't forget any, bleed the brakes again, and I should be good to give it a spin. Then I guess I can go back to my simple project of installing new carpets that started this whole mess!
 
Pictures! You can't take too many pictures when you take something apart. That way you know how to put it back together.

The gear lube should be GL-4 not GL-5.
 
jdubois said:
Oh, and I've forgotten where the plus lead from the battery hooks into the car. I thought it bolted to the bellhousing, but I ran out of holes (i.e. I had enough bolts in the "bellhousing" hardware bag to fill all the bolt holes) so I don't remember where the bolt at the end of the lead is supposed to go.
Click to expand...
The negative ground (black) lead? Or are you positive ground?

On my '78 it is attached to the bell housing. The RH upper bolt (about 1 o'clock if you're standing behind the gearbox looking at the back of the bell housing) also holds the ground lead.
 
It's a positive ground car, but where you describe your ground lead on your '78 is exactly where I thought mine was supposed to go. Undoubtedly then that is indeed where it belongs. Hmm, where did I get this extra bolt from then...
 
I wound up with TWO spare bolts, washers and lockwashers. Scared the bejabbers out of me for a while until I remembered I had installed two new 5/16" bolts from under the frame to hold the rear gearbox mounting bracket.

I must have looked all around that bell housing 10 times, and I just couldn't see where those extra bolts were supposed to go.....

Hate to make you paranoid, but hopefully the bolt you're holding isn't one from inside that holds the bell housing to the gearbox.
 
guzzul said:
Hate to make you paranoid, but hopefully the bolt you're holding isn't one from inside that holds the bell housing to the gearbox.
Click to expand...

No, I'm sure it's not one of those. I put those in a different bag, and I remember torquing all five of them down. But I am getting paranoid. I'm wondering now if perhaps I actually missed a hole in the bell housing. That would be an easy solution. I think I'll go down to the garage and check.

[Time passes]

Bingo. The second to the bottom bolt on the driver's side of the bell housing is missing. I must have been getting punchy after six hours. Good thing I decided to quit when I did!
 
Good news. You're getting close. It took me more or less the same amount of time to get it all done and back together. Its a lot of work.

Before you put the tunnel cover back, get a good test drive in to check the clutch. I had to re-bleed the clutch hydraulics because the clutch was engaging too low to the floor. Felt ok at first, but after a while seemed to be just too low.
 
Success! I think. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banana.gif

Everything mechanical is hooked back up, with the exception of the camber compensator. I'll get that back on, but it's not immediately critical, and the bushings are worn so I wanted to see about replacements.

But, of course, pretty much as I was torquing the last bolt down, the sky let loose and started to pour /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif So I can't road test the car yet. I did start her up. She was a bit cranky from her slumber, but after a couple of extra seconds of cranking she purred into life. I then put her in reverse and backed up about a foot, then put her in first and move back into the original position. Clutch felt good, nice height, and smooth engagement.

If the rain lets up I'll take her for a quick spin to shake down all the gears tonight, otherwise I'll get her out tomorrow morning.

Here she sits now in the garage waiting for the chance to stretch her legs, for the first time in a month with the bonnet closed!

spitgarage.jpg
 
tdskip said:
What is that red thing blocking the view? ;-)
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Well, it's not British, so it's not important. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Took the spit out today for about a 10 mile ride. Everything worked great. Transmission feels awesome. I think I'll call this job done. Hmm... now I'm bored. What else can I break on this thing?

Thanks to everybody who helped me through the job, it was all great advice, and it was a huge boost to know everybody was looking over my shoulder the whole time!
 
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