https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bv_IyVF6GCa8Iy3VzYooOsIdeRZLHG4R?usp=sharingTo start with for pictures
and now the stories begin……
So I’ve wanted a quaife diff for some time, and bought a new one from a few months ago. So for £750 you get a new diff, with bearings and the new oil seal plus a 2nd hand output cover from I think an Alfa 147 GTA , which is needed to deal with the gap the viscodrive leaves.
Then you randomly stumble across other goodies on the internet and end up buying a lightened flywheel for £200, and some Motul Racing gearbox oil, and that’s a £1000 spent!!!!!!
I contacted Mick @CG Clutches up in Leeds and they will reline the Valeo OEM friction plate with a Kevlar material for a £100. I might just post it to save me a 4 hour round trip
I’ve mentioned before that I’ve acquired a set of lower subframe to floorpan plates from an Alfa GTA, so during the reassembly I’ll mess around with fixings and get them fitted
So that should be the upgrade part of the project done
For general maintenance, as I needed the gearbox I thought whilst Im there, I may as well….. spend more money!
So as the gearbox for me at least is the crappiest job, I’ve taken both wishbones off, disconnected the hubs so I can change the wheel bearings.
So wishbones come off pretty easy, and likewise removing the hubs is ok, but getting the wheel bearings out is a whole world of pain without a hydraulic press . I spent a good hour with the pullers and various blunt instruments with little success, so I’ve called in a favour where they have a 20 ton press to both remove the old outer bearings cases ( I’d smashed the inner parts out quite easily) and fit some new QH bearings at £50 a pair.
The bearings were definitely the original ones as the grease looked like a Caramac candy bar, so they’ve definitely stayed the course over almost 3 decades. I simply wanted to change them whilst I’d got other work planned, to last me another 20 years
I then moved on to taking the gearbox out, which to be honest wasn’t as bad as I remember, but there’s definitely a load of bolts to remove that just takes time
A tip for anyone thinking about tackling a gearbox out job is to double nut the threaded studs that go from the gearbox to the engine and remove them. This way it gives you a good couple of inches of lateral movement to make getting the box out a lot easier.
So gearbox out and then I can inspect the original clutch and the flywheel…..
So Graham did the clutch job during his ownership, and I’d guess the car has done circa 15,000 miles on that clutch, and on inspection (photos in the google drive link) I’d say it was more than 50% worn. It’s never slipped but there are a few hot spots appearing on the flywheel
Onto the flywheel, I think graham had it machined when he last did the clutch, but looking closely there are lots of what I call fire cracks, which I guess isn’t a surprise with the age of it.
Anyway these parts take 10 minutes to remove, it’s the gearbox that is the pain element
Onto flywheels so my OEM flywheel weighed 9 kilos, and the new chromolly one weighs 4 kilos, so it should make the engine more responsive both in terms of accelerating and braking
A quick spray with brake cleaner and I fitted it in 5 minutes
The next job (Saturday 14th June) is to remove and replace the inner tie rods, purely as a load of stuff is out of the way and I’d say there’s a tiny amount of play there.
Bought a pair of new rods for £30, plus a £10 for the tool to remove them
Never done this job on any car , but I’m not expecting any pain
Tune in for more updates
Cheers Jamie