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

Friday 16/12/11

Hi

Well back home for Christmas leave so hope to get some work done while I can, not much done yesterday as I had a MRI scan arranged; noisy things but still managed to fall asleep inside the machine.

Today's main task was getting the rear axle finished so it was mostly brakes, yesterday about all I managed to get in was the brake pipes polished up with wire wool and refitted plus a bit of wire wheel cleaning.

I have bought a new set of shoes and springs for the brakes, I was considering new pistons but after a turn on the wire wheel they came up like new, I think these where changed by the last owner and have no millage on them. The piston are from a 2.0lt Capri whereas the shoes and springs are from the 2.8 to get the front and rear braking balance correct, I hope I ordered the correct items as I discovered a problem with the adjuster springs. The problem I spotted is that there is a left and right hand spring fitted to the car but the spring pack contained 2 right hand springs, I suppose I could have fitted it ok but thought it safer to use the old one polished up.

Spring pack for 2.8 Capri

You can see in the picture the 2 short springs are the same but should be left and right, not a problem as the rest are identical to what came off.

Ford Capri 2.8 Spring set Ebay    £11 inc p+p

The brake shoes were also from Ebay, no problem this time as they matched and fit perfectly

Ford Capri Drum brake shoes Ebay   £29.99 inc p+p

Capri drum brake shoe number

As I mentioned in a previous blog I have never had any dealings with drum brakes in the past and was a bit wary of them, I even had my Haynes book of brakes out and studied the different types. After looking at some of the others these are defiantly the easiest.

It took quite a few attempts this morning to fit the *^"* things until I discovered what I think is the easiest way for one person, never realised I was so kack handed until I tried balancing springs and shoes. This is the way I found best so hopefully if anyone out there wants to save some money by fitting there own then here is my attempt.

1, I found it easy to understand by laying the shoes and springs out on a table to see what goes where, of course I photographed everything before I removed them. It is also important to get the shoes the right way around, as you can see one side of the friction material is higher than the other

Setup to understand

   

Original setup

This is the photo I had to work from, this was taken of the left hand side as you can see from the suspension spring. The friction material is lower down on the shoe facing the direction of travel. Typically I started fitting and photographing on the right hand side of the axle so the photo's show thing back to front with the direction of travel to the right of the fitting photograph's.

2, The first job is to lubricate the sliding plates on the back casing, I just used copper slip although proper brake grease is available. Then slide the handbrake / auto adjuster arm with the adjuster spring in place through the hole and fit the rubber boot on at the back, if this is forgotten it is rather difficult to fit after the spring tension is on the arm. (I found out on one of my attempts)

Handbrake lever/adjuster in place

3, Fitting the left hand shoe, hold the adjuster and feed handbrake arm through the hole and attach the spring, a bit fiddly but it will fit easily enough.

4, The shoe now need to be held in place to fit the shoe retaining clip, first slide the bottom of the shoe into the anchor plate and the top of the shoe over the piston. Have a clamp ready to fit, then lock into position.

held by clamp

5, The shoe retaining clip can now be fitted, I did not have the correct tool available but found a pair of pliers worked just as well. Insert the pin from the back and fit the spring, hold retaining clip at the end of the pliers, line up the cutout, push on and turn.

4,  Now fit the upper and lower return springs

5, Take the other shoe and fit the auto adjuster arm thru its hole, then clip the upper and lower springs in place, doing it like this means that there is still a bit of play in the springs so no effort required trying to stretch them.

Other shoe attached to springs

6, With the springs attached the bottom of the shoe can be pulled until it slips into the anchor point, now with a bit of force pull the top of the shoe until it slips over the piston then push onto the backing plate.

Shoe in place

7, Now just a simple matter of fitting the other shoe retaining clip and all done. With all of the pulling the self adjuster will have pulled to its full extension, you just need to tap the edge of the serrated cam with a plastic hammer and it will drop back to its least position. It will then self adjust to the correct position when the drum is fitted.

 As with all published how too's, I cannot be held responsible for nipped fingers, dirty hands or any swearing, and of course your brakes not working after.
Once done I fitted the wheels and got the axle out of the way to make room, I still need to blast and paint the drums but that's for another day.
Next was the prop shaft, this just needed to be slid out of the drive. It appears to be in great condition just a bit of oily dirt around the gearbox end which appears to be from the oil seal on the gearbox leaking, as if I was surprised, I will have to ask Terry B what type of gearbox it is and order a seal. Once the shaft was cleaned and wire brushed a spray painting and good as new.

Before

 

After

Next was to get the exhaust out of the way, I have been soaking the bolts every time home so the pipes came off the manifold easily enough and the box just got knocked off. This has now given a lot more room underneath so it was out with a bucket of cleaner and I carried on with the underside. I have scrubbed up to the gearbox and scraped any rust and applied rust cure then out with the chassis black, just the right wing area to complete then all done till the engine / gearbox comes out.
That was that for the day.

Bush's!!! nothing but problems, you would think that after all these years it would be easy to get a set, well it is for the front but the rear is a different matter all together. The void bushes no problem, I have been in contact with Floflex a number times and they can supply the poly version of the void from either the Capri or the Cortina as Ford used the same bushes. It is the bobbins fitted to the Panhard and the upper and lower trailing arms that are causing problems, I have been reliably informed that these are possibly  from a Vauxhall Viva or suchlike. Terry B had an offer on through the club where Deflex supplied a close match and Terry modified these to suit, 50 sets were ordered and if Terry modified these then I bet they fit just fine.
The quandary I had was;
A, to modify a set like Terry B has done.
B, (of which was my favorite) was to say sod it and re-fit the originals, which would be a bit difficult for the 2 bobbins I removed for Floflex as they deformed a little and would be difficult to refit. or
C, Have a model of a correct size bush turned on a lathe then send of to Floflex for the correct mold to be made so as I and everyone in the future can just call Floflex and say I would like a rear poly bush set please.
So the decision was da da!
C, was the winner (at one point it was defiantly B but I won't be beaten on this) yesterday I dropped off the Panhard rod and a piece of Teflon rod with a Floflex stainless 12mm drilled center to an Engineering firm I have used in the past, I got a call today that it is ready to be picked up. Unfortunately I could not get there today so tomorrow I shall see what the guy has come up with, hopefully it will be spot on. There is only one small problem I foresee, not a problem for me but for some others; is that there is two different bolts sizes used, the upper arms and the Panhard are 1/2" BSF and the lower arms are 7/16" BSF. Where is the problem I here you say, well everything is metric these days so Floflex centre tubes will be in metric 12mm or 10mm, 12mm fits 1/2" perfectly whereas 10mm  is much less than 7/16" and would have to much play through the bolt on sections. So my remedy is to have both the upper, lower arms and Panhard at 12mm, this is where a few people may have problems in that you will have to either file or drill the holes out to fit the 12mm bolts. Its only a little but some people are not that way inclined.
Anyway I will find out tomorrow, only £20 for the mock up and Floflex will let me know how much for the making of the mold by the amount of material used, so if they charge me for the mold I hope I get commission for each set they sell other than mine. I shall post a picture of the model tomorrow.
Well that's all for now
see ya Paul