Friday 23/12/11

Hi

Just little jobs today; the first was a good look at the gearbox, I have been trying to figure out where the push button of the reverse switch has gone. It certainly didn't drop out when I removed the switch or pulled the electrics, even after a good look inside the selector box and gave it a upside down shake I couldn't figure it out. All of the gears select ok so I guess this has been looked at in the past and the outer end of the switch was just pushed back in and left.

I have put the bell housing back on and shall have to find some where to stow it until the engine has been stripped and re-built, It certainly look a lot better now.

Type 9 gearbox

In between house jobs I decided to re-build my front calipers and do a little picture story of it, all of the overhaul kits and new pads arrived a while ago, I just haven't had time to do the rebuild.

Just a reminder of how they started

Rusty caliper

I am lucky enough to have a large compressor and blasting shed, If yours look like this and want to overhaul them then look for a powder coating firm and let them do all of the hard work. 

I did not want any of the blasting material to enter the calipers so I have left the pistons and rubber seals in position, I could not remove the attached pipe without damaging the nut so I have left them in place and just taped over the ends. The pistons in mine were seized and took a lot of work to release them, I had to use a combination of compressed air and leverage in and out to get them moving but eventually they came free.

Once freed and cleaned up I stuffed the piston holes with paper towels and re-fitted the rubbers, a spray of primmer and a couple of coats of caliper paint and they were ready for re-building.

Silicone brake fluid

I am going to use silicone brake fluid when I refill the system, it is a lot more expensive than dot 4 at around £30 a litre but has many advantages over ordinary brake fluid and is also for clutch systems, I only have a 1/2 litre so will have to buy some more.

Pads and rubbers

Brake pad numbers

 All of the parts to re-build the front brakes are easily available and I have posted the part numbers on earlier posts. This is all of the bits I used, pads, shims & pins with the rubber seals.

This is what you will start with, the rubber boot held in position with a spring ring.

Spring ring and boot removed, this is were the piston needs to come out. You can try with a couple of screwdrivers and lever up or if you have a compressor blow the first one out then put your finger inside and cover the hole and force out the second. (Take care not to break your fingers as they do blow out)

Once removed then the inside and outside of the piston can be cleaned up, just don't use anything abrasive  on the polished piston.

You can see in this photo the rubber seal, this needs to be removed and replaced by the new seal. For lubrication of the rubber seal and the piston I have used a silicon grease, I have looked in 3 different part shops and none had caliper piston lubricant so after looking on eBay I found some and it says it is just specially formulated silicone grease, so I dragged mine out and applied a thin coating.

The piston is then pushed into position, strangely on one caliper I just used finger pressure while the other I need a bit of help from a clamp but once it pushed past the rubber it went up and down with ease.

Here you can see the piston in a high position and the rubber boot fitted with the top lip in the piston groove.

Now push the piston all of the way down and the bottom of the boot will fit over the bottom caliper groove.

You can now stretch the spring ring around the boot locking it into the caliper groove. That's all there is to it, no reason to buy new calipers just overhaul them.

Re-fitting the pads is quite simple, I bought a new set a while ago but when I compare them against my old one's I can see that my old one's have had no use since first fitted so I shall keep these to re-use.

One thing I did notice is that the springs in the replacement set are different than what came off, but on checking Haynes they are the same as shown in there photos.

The shims need to face the direction of travel so lay out the pads and place the shims in position till you get it right, a little bit of lubricant between the pad and shim to prevent squeal then slot into position.

Once the pads are in position you can put your hand between to stop them dropping out while the first pin and spring are fitted. The new springs have a hook which the pin slides thru, you then fit the spring over the shim and dropped it down past the hole for the next pin to slide thru. With it being a spring it requires a bit of tension, just push the spring down with a screwdriver and the pin slides thru .

Now push the pin thru and hook on the next spring then slide the pin all the way dropping the last spring end over before it enters the pad and push it thru, just the R clips and new dust caps, all done.

That's the calipers complete just a little touch up on the paint where I have scratched them and ready to fit.

Well that's probably all I'll get done this time home and it looks like I'll be doing a 3 week trip when I go back and just maybe the bush's will be ready when I return as the engine re-build is reliant on having a rolling chassis.

Bye for now and a Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year

Paul

Thursday 22/12/11

Hi

Well I've been busy since the gearbox came out, yesterday was spent mostly under the car.

First job was to replace the fuel tank pipes that I had removed to paint under, I had to drill out the clip pop rivets which damaged them so eBay supplied the replacement. These are rubber sleeved to prevent any rubbing on the copper.

Next was to get on with the underside painting, I had stopped at the gearbox and was now able to carry on right to and into the engine bay; around 90% done. I found only one rust problem which was built into the car, this is on the 2 gearbox cross member brackets. They have been stitch welded into position leaving around a 2 mil gap most of the way around, perfect for all the water and mud to get forced in and badly rust.

Cross member bracket

You can see the gap, which is all the way around; I would advise those of you who have laid the car up for the winter to check this area out. I scrapped out as much rust as possible then sprayed in rust converter, once this had dried I sealed all around it with roof and gutter sealant before painting.

Another area I checked out was under the fire / heat shields, these are kept in place with pop rivets which I drilled out to remove for painting. All in good condition underneath.

heat shields before

Painted

These sprayed up nice using VHT ally paint, will contrast well with the black chassis paint.

Today's efforts have all been directed to the gearbox, with all of the oil leaks and rust it looked in pretty bad condition.

 Before I finished yesterday I gave it a good spraying with gunk and let it soak in to give me a fighting chance. First job was to drain out what was left of the oil, the book say's it holds 1.9lt of 75W90 semi-synthetic well I managed to get out just over half a litre and that was with leaving it to drain for half and hour and shaking it. So if you have a leak check the level.

I also removed the support bracket and found one side of the rubber was broken away from the metal section, luckily a number is stamped on so hopefully I will be able to track down another.

Cross member rubber support

I have pushed a screwdriver into the split off portion.

After a good wash down with more gunk I attacked the gearbox with a wire wheel and wire brush and underneath that oily exterior was a beautiful  butterfly; well gearbox anyway. 

Oily Oily

Shinny Shinny

I could now start changing the oil seals as the new ones arrived yesterday and started removing the bell housing. Firstly the release bearing and fork had to come off. Out came the Haynes manual as with everything else this is my first time.

The release bearing plate and plastic backing disk can come out as one by using a short screwdriver at the back of the plastic bearing holder and levering. The plastic tabs have little clips hidden at the back which are easily released.

Release bearing

To see what I was doing I removed the release bearing from the plastic bearing holder but this is not really necessary. Once this is off the fork is just slipped off the securing pin.

I removed the bell housing next, this is just 4 bolts and it tapped off revealing a gasket behind; I did not think to order any gaskets but I have the material and have spent the last 39 years making them so I'll knock a one up.

Bell housing removed

You can now see the condition in the bell housing interior, a lot oilier than I first thought but soon got cleaned up.

The drive gear bearing retainer is held on with 4 x 10mm bolts which need to be removed to access the oil seal.

This is a view of the drive gear bearing once I removed the retainer, this has a cork gasket which is in good condition so I think a little hylomar when I re-fit the retainer.

As I said earlier I had ordered my oil seals from the same company I got my diff oils seals from and they are great quality.
eBay number 310347096166 Gearbox oil seals

Front, rear, speedo

Once the retainer is off then it is a bit of a job to remove the oils seal, unfortunately the oil seal removal tool I ordered did not arrive until after 4 this afternoon, all done by then
So it was a case of brute force and ignorance again, with a little bit of care.

Retainer & new seal

I managed to get the retainer seal out with just a few scratches that soon were polished out, a spray of WD40 to ease the way and tapped it in place. As I said, I replaced it using the old cork gasket with a rub of Hylomar. This was bolted back on then onto the next.
The speedo bearing came off a lot easier, just a screwdriver in and out it popped.

Speedo & new seal

The last one and the biggest was the drive end, again this was a bit a workup as the bigger they are they seem to have more steel in them. Still a little chisel work and out it came.

New seal in position

This is the new one in position,
It was a very tight fit getting it back in and would not go in by equally tapping around, so a large hole drilled into a lump of wood made the job much easier.
With the seals all replaced it was just a job of painting, I plugged what holes I could and masked the flanges then a couple of coats of primmer, when dry a top coat of gloss and hey presto a new looking gearbox.

Bell housing

Not the best photo's as it is standing with the drive thru a hole in the bench but will post a photo when rebuilt.

Also arriving in the post today was the new reverse switch I ordered, when comparing the two together I asked myself where has the plunger section gone. Still in the gearbox I guess, and I will have a bit of a job pulling it out I reckon.

eBay number  120741892699  REVERSE LIGHT SWITCH for FORD CAPRI & CORTINA

Well that was more than enough for today, may get an hour or two in tomorrow, lots of chores gone undone as I am spending every hour I have on the car.

See ya Paul   

Tuesday 20/12/11

Hi

Well a full day today and a good email from Terry B, when I posted yesterday saying that the reverse light twists off well that was a little fib (it came of in me and guv Honest). It appears that my car suffered from a common fault in that the plastic connection on the reverse light breaks, when I first got the car home and tested the lights the reverse light was not working then. So it seems that when I tried to remove it yesterday it came off rather easily, I have just bought a new one on Ebay £11 inc p+p Ford Capri reverse light switch to fit Mk3 2.8 I will post a picture and order number when it arrives.

On the Bush front, I have called Cat at Floflex who said the bush model is perfect for a mold but can't be made until after the new year, not a problem as I will be away after Christmas and won't be back until a few weeks into January also the cost is £50 so; so far that's £76 inc P+P. Also on the bush front, I have been informed by Terry B that not all Kallista's have the same size bushes. I don't know whether this means early 2.8's or later one's or 1.6's or 2.9's, mine is an 86 and the sizes are posted on the previous blog so if you require bushes then take a measure if the chassis side is 48mm external fit and the arm size is around the 34.5mm internal then they should fit and I think they will be charging around £13 a set but to be confirmed.

The rest of the day has been spent removing the gear box, the first job was the fork gripper, after I figured out how to remove it; now its off I shall spend the next 6 months trying to figure out how to refit the damn thing. 

First, pull back the rubber boot protecting the fork hole, once this is off you can see the fork gripper.

Fork gripper & rubber boot

Now this took some looking at to figure out how to remove it, on close examination you can see from the back a key hole cut out. The button end of the cable slides through the large hole and slides up the key, the  gripper is slotted on and the rubber is pushed through the keyhole locking everything in place. To remove you need to use the play in the cable and the forward movement on the fork, I found it easiest to clamp the clutch pedal in the forward position under the fuse box which saved me having sore finger from pulling it.

Clutch pedal clamped

This alows the gripper to be pulled from the keyhole it is then just a matter of turning the gripper and sliding it off the button, which can then be slide out of the large hole.

Freed cable

The cable is also fed through a very tight plastic bush to hold it secure during operation, mine needed to be jacked out of the bush using the lock nut used to hold it secure, of course I forgot until I had pulled of the bell housing, typical.

Clutch holding bush in orange

 Next was the removal of the gearstick, I know from reading Terry's how to; that the carpet needed to be removed to access the plate riveted onto the tunnel under the gear stick rubber. So first I removed the seats which are now sitting in the loft, this was quite a simple operation just slide all the way forward and back to reveal the allen hold down bolts, then the seat belt anchors. Once I lifted the carpets I realised that the whole center console had to be removed as the carpet runs all the way thru to the front pedal area. I'm afraid this was to much for me, I know it will have to come out eventually but not today, so I'm afraid I did a bit of a bodge job.

After lifting the gearstick rubber I could get to 2 of the torx bolts but the third was just covered by the cover plate so I'm afraid I got the drill out and managed to cut out sufficient metal to get the torx key in. The gearstick lifted free but had to be pulled clear from below, I'll worry about the refitting later.

Access to torx bolts

I could now set the jack under the gearbox and start removing the bell housing bolts, I also set a stand under the engine sump to keep the engine in the correct position once the gearbox is pulled.

Sump held

Gearbox held

 I took the advise of Terry and slung a strap under the rear end of the gearbox through the stick hole and secured with a hammer shaft

back end of gearbox secured

I next removed all the bolts around the bell housing but left 1 bottom bolt in its hole just loosely tightened, I then undid all 4 bolts holding the cross member and the gearbox was ready for removal, strange thing; as one of the top bell housing bolts was missing. Wonder where that went.

Using a large screwdriver I was able to lever the bell housing away from the engine quite easily, once it started to move I removed the last bolt and went under the back of the car and eased it out. Once the front was clear I removed the strap and gently lowered the jack, this was possibly the easiest part of the whole operation as it just pulled out from under the car and through the tunnel space.

Ford type 9 gearbox

Now that it is out I can try and find out where all the leaks are from, by this photo it looks like the top cover is leaking.

Looking in the bell housing doe's not show any obvious oil leakage, but I shall still re-new the oil seal.

Clutch

The clutch looks like it just came out of a box but I shall be replacing this as well, the plate gasket which you can just see has a lot of oil around the bottom which may indicate a leakage from the engine seal. Investigation required.

Well its sitting on my work bench looking rather sorry for itself but will soon be cleaned up and lovingly painted just as soon as I have sorted all of the leaks.

I also feel much safer now as I have replaced my Aldi stands with a couple of sets from Halfords, much safer.

See ya Paul

Monday 19/12/11

Hi
Well the bush saga so far!

Fantastic, well that's maybe a bit OTT; but I am very pleased with the Teflon mockups. I have test fitted them in every position and they slide in with perfection, so they are on there way to Flo-flex on next day delivery. Hopefully they will give me a realistic price on the mould and not try to rip me.

This is the 12mm center I mentioned in my last blog, I have not asked but they may be able to make the centers to 7/16" for the lower arms as fitted. I had to grind the nuts off mine as there was no way I could get them to turn so 12mm is ideal.

If anyone reading has been looking for a set of rear poly bushes for their car then please give Flo-flex a ring and voice your interest for when my set have been made and fitted, it may gee them along a bit. 0044 (0)1745360070

I have managed to carry on with a few other bits despite my wife wanting a bit of attention.

First was that last wing, I got the wire wheel on it and hiding under the old underseal was a lovely hole.

Hole in wing

I have sprayed the inside of the holed box section with rust converter before welding a patch on and given it a good coat of chassis black, once covered with undercoat it will be invisible.

welded patch Ok I'm not the best mig welder

It was the same story in the rear corner of the inner wing as it was with the other side in that there was a hole cut into the steel section when it was formed, I have filled the holes in on both sides using gutter sealant which is designed to stop water ingress so no more problems from that area and I would advise all to check, a very vulnerable spot.

So that is the the whole of the back section painted upto the gearbox.

rear underside painted

 Next is the gearbox, I remembered reading the latest thread in the club tech forum about gearbox removal and checked it out again. Lots of info in here, mainly the answer to my question of which type it is, well it's a Ford type 9 box and lots of bits available for this box. I have been on Ebay and searched out a set of new oil seals and found a set from the same business that supplied the diff oil seals. You get 3 seals in a pack, which is just as well because the rear is leaking, the speedo is leaking and there is oil around the front of the box which could be either from the engine or the front seal, don't know yet. Unlike the removal of the diff seal I have splashed out a fiver and bought an oil seal removal tool, so taking these out should be a doddle.

I started with the starter motor; this is quite easy although the top nut is rather difficult to get at, luckily it turned off quite easily.

Starter & electrics

I don't know yet what servicing I can do on this but I have the big boy's book off classic car electrics of which I shall digest avidly.

I still have to drain the gearbox of its oil which I shall do once I find the drain plug, unfortunately my big nose was touching the bottom of the gearbox so I had to raise the car to the last hole on my stands. Very uncomfortable feeling being under a car sitting on a fully extended set of Aldi axle stands so I am off to Halfords tomorrow to buy some jackable heavy duty stands for Christmas and I may see New year (although not in this country).

There are 7 main items to remove before undoing the bell housing bolts; the starter motor (done):  the drive shaft (done): the reverse light (done): the speedo cable (done): the clutch cable (to do) gear stick (to do). the support bracket (to do)

Reverse, speedo and hanger & leaky seal

 The drive shaft I have already removed, just paint mark the flange to the diff and remove the bolts then tap the flange if it doe's not free immediately. Drop down to clear from diff flange and pull out.

The reverse light has a twist connection that is easily undone and just pulls clear.

The speedo cable is a little more involved well it was for me as I did not have circlip pliers of the right size, mine are off the standard size whereas the circlip fitted has very small holes. So it was out with the dremmel and sanding attachment and ruined a good set of pliers to get them to fit. Still its out now

Reverse light removed, speedo leaking

Cable removed

You can see the leaking oil seal which will be replaced.

Well that was about all I have managed today and will carry on tomorrow If I can figure out how to remove the clutch cable, the gear stick and drain it of oil; which is off course all part of the fun.

Well thats all for now as a pint of Guinness has just been put in front of me.

see ya Paul