944 89 Engine, gearbox transplant...

[Crank Case]

Well...

I wondered what the hell I was doing when I decided to not only remove the screen/headlight washer bottle... and then the power steering matrix ...and then the headlights yesterday.
Now i'm feeling a tremendous amount of job satisfaction and very glad I did it. Tomorrow (energy willing), i'll put it all back together.
It means that there is hardly a part of the car unexplored left.

The headlights are all clean and working - working in terms of adjusters, screw fittings (new spire nuts, new stop bolts required, before I forget) and they will be re-installed, all lubricated up.
Tested both washer motors and they are fine, cleaned up all the electrical contacts 'cos as a stand alone job, removal of the washer bottle alone is a pig of a job.



The matrix was a chore to clean up, strip and paint - as you can imagine.

[Waylander]

I see the OCD is running rampant, glad you’re having fun

[Crank Case]

Right, gearbox is in and more or less hooked up.

I'm having a lovely time adjusting the fully (and too) adjustable 'Precision shift' rear gear linkage. It's a PITA.

After spending roughly 15 minutes (that was enough) on the gearbox mount, I took another tack.
This is my revised gearbox mount replacement procedure. You might think it a bit long winded but it turned out to be a lot more straightforward.

1. Jack car up onto axle stands.
2. Remove fuel pump/filter assembly and unplug reverse light switch connection.
3. Remove off side wheel.
4. Support gearbox with trolley jack.
5. Undo selector rod bolt and slide it off rear gear linkage.
5. Remove the bracket from gearbox to gearbox mount in it's entirety.
6. Remove the 2 cross member mount bolts
7. Lower gearbox enough to get clearance to remove cross member. About 50mm (2 inches in old money).
8. Slide cross member (replete with gearbox mount through the wheel arch, rotating 90 deg clock wise half way.
9. Remove mount
10, Install new mount to cross member (easy peasy).
11. Slide cross member back in.
12. Attach gearbox mount to gearbox bracket.
13. Attach bracket to gearbox.
14. Raise gearbox on trolley jack.
15. Bolt in cross member and..
Put the rest back together.

It took me about 1 hour (if you don't add the 15 mins faffing with the mount before I decided to give up and try something else).
If you add the fact that I already had the fuel pump/filter assembly out, I suppose the job would be roughly 2 hours by this method and a helluva lot less contortion, battling with tricky clearances etc.

Tomorrow finish box linkage adjustment.
Put centre console (and install new gear stick rubber boot - wahey).
Attach exhaust
Attach ECU
Attach battery
Put all fluids in*. Gearbox was done off the vehicle.
Give it a go!

*Not power steering fluid - still haven't got the new reservoir.

[Waylander]

Getting closer

The two bolts that go through the hanger on the gearbox on the 968, were supposed to come out with a tap or two, to facilitate easy removal, after hitting the with a 2lb club and them not moving a mm, I had to rethink the whole thing

Fun these old cars ain’t they

Put the old tank back on for testing as you will do damage running the PAS pump dry, or just leave the belt off

[Crank Case]

Oh don't worry, the belt is off - in fact, I have mislaid it.

[Crank Case]

Well...

I have had a bit of a run around.

I established a poor, intermittent connection to the pump via the rubber connector.
I elected to wire a bulb (easier to see than a multimeter screen) across the fuel pump and see if it lit up whilst cranking and it did.
This established that not only the DME relay is fine but also that the crankshaft sensor is doing it's job as well as a good connection through the relay between 30 and 87b. Yes M, you are right. The route from DME to pump through 87b is direct (via fuse 34).

Then because of poor fuel pressure at the rail, decided to investigate further.
Removed pump, (gravity) tested using my power pack. Nothing came out.
Removed non return valve; got a dribble.

Out of curiosity, I removed the non-return valve and I cannot get anything through it.

I can only surmise that the bust non return valve has goosed the fuel pump.

[Waylander]

There was another thread about pumps, there are a few affordable options from about £30

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263410980268

[Crank Case]

There was another thread about pumps, there are a few affordable options from about £30

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263410980268

One for the future perhaps as I bought a Bosch with non return valve (correct part) for £65. 5 year warranty. RTG parts - same outfit I bought the coil from.

[Crank Case]

Day eleventy twelve

The gear lever retaining pin...

I'd lost it. Pretty sure it was down the side of one of the front seats. So I took them out. It wasn't there. Then on replacing the seats at least 3 bolt holes with the sort of captive nut were in poor shape. So I re-tapped them. I was about to re-install the seats and something peculiar came over me.

I vowed that after the engine and box was in, I would have a look at some metal under the carpet at the left passenger foot well and also pull out the front 2 sections of carpet to clean. Trying to get Linen coloured carpet spares is like trying to find pink rocking horse shit. And, you call breakers and they all say "...as soon as we get Linen carpet, it's out the door..." and my thoughts are 'well, I spend enough money with you, you know i'm 'on the list' and want bits, so who have I got to bum in order that you contact me?'

I pulled the carpet out and I have spent the best part of 3 hours scrubbing them. I won't know the full extent of the cleanup until they are dry but there was a helluva lot of dirt came out. I used very hot water, a soft scrubbing brush, detergent and Vanish, twice. Then a strong solution (first tested on a patch) of hot water and bleach.

Meanwhile, the foot wells and the floor pan isn't too bad. 2 identical patches have been welded in around the base of the throttle pedal and a similar spot on the passenger side. Not much rust.
From about the rear seat bolt apertures backwards, the floor pan is very clean.

I spent roughly an hour with the wire wheel prepping the wells and bits of floor pan, then treated with BH Hydrate 80.
Tomorrow it'll get painted.

I'll post pics of the carpet and floor pan before and after (if the results are good enough).

The gear knob retention pin was in the glove box.

[Waylander]

It’s just amazing the way one thing leads on to another and another, I have now got into the habit of putting all the bits from one section of a job in a zippy bag and labelled then chucked in a bigger box labelled front back or inside

I get fed up with mislaid parts

[51rider]

I see the mission creep continues
Might as well get it done whilst you can though.

There are some really good carpet brushes that can be fitted in your cordless drill & they seem to work quite well from what I have seen. If I could work out how to post a link I would.

I've taken to bagging & labeling up anything that I take off now and then putting it all in a box that gets kept on the workbench. Still doesn't help if you put stuff in boxes in the shed loft store- I found the struts I was looking for two weeks ago today when I was looking for some garage decoration............

[Crank Case]

If I could work out how to post a link I would.

Doesn't whatsApp do that for you?

Click on the address bar and click on it and copy the entire address bar ^ and paste. (It should highlight the text) such as:

posting.php?mode=quote&f=25&p=172813

Or (as this doesn't always work as a link you can click on, rather you may have to copy it and paste it into the address bar), copy > paste and then highlight the link and then click on the URL icon above:

posting.php?mode=quote&f=25&p=172813

For an image - right click on the image and on the drop down box in the dialogue box that appears, click on 'copy image address':

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XrWuFUSELrg/maxresdefault.jpg

Then, highlight the link and click on the Img ^ icon above:

[Crank Case]

New fuel pump fitted. Primed it, cranked it, started pretty quickly.

Then discovered a oil leak. An oil leak?! Somewhere behind the timing belt cowling.
Bollox. bollox, bollox, bollox...

Will investigate tomorrow. Cross fingers.

[Waylander]

Not much in there that’s easy

Balance shafts
Crank pulley
Or worst of all the oil filter housing

What a pain in the arris rail

[Crank Case]

Thank fully it's not coming from the crank pulley - that bolt is frikkin tight.
My gut feeling is that it's the lower balance shaft end seal.
I made doubly sure everything was A okay and I replaced all the seals, including the oil pump seals. It could be from there.

I can lock the flywheel and hopefully get 'easy' access.