Hey I have done some work on one of my cars! And, it was totally non-productive! Check this out.
When I bought my Carina I found it was mega low geared leading to lousy fuel consumption and 'reduced driving pleasure' so this weekend I drove to Paris to buy a 5-speeder from a TA40 Celica, not super cheap at €80 but there you go.
So tonight I rushed home from work eager to crack on. I'd been defeted once already converting these old J crates to 5-speed when i attempted to do the koop, and wasted a couple of days of solid work. Here's the new box:
A cursory glance suggested it was swappable with the old one so I cracked on.
Centre console (and then gearlever) out:
Bellhousing bolts undone:
i whipped off the slave cylinder , reverse light wires and crossmember, then the propshaft:
after a minor war the gearbox fell out onto my chest with a slight rib-cracking noise. Result. Here are the old and the new side by side:
Hmm, the curse word gearlevers are in different places. Maybe I can swap over the tailshaft housings over. It was at this point that the inevitable happened: The 'Exxon Valdez' dumped its load all over the garage floor. Luckily I had the old Kitty litter on hand, and leaped into action:
Nice clean formula 1 workshop environment.
Swapping the tailshaft housings would have been a good idea if it had worked, which it didnt. Selector levers are different lengths:
SHAG A DOG THIS IS TURNING OUT JUST LIKE THE KOOP. So, if you look at pic two you can see the gearlever is at a right bizarre angle on the 4-spd so looking at the 5-spd i decided to follow the example of many catholic priests, and bosh it in, worrying about the consequences later on. I figured that the gearlever could move back 10 cm or so without a big problem.
In went the box after a load of sweating and swearing and half a pint of gear oil poured over my groin, this added to the already unpleasant micro-climate down there caused by the 30-degree heat. Now my duds were sticking to my ass and I was getting proper fed up.
Anyway it went in and I did up the bell housing bolts, starter, crossmember etc and I tried to fit the slave sylinder. But whats this?
Hmm, the clutch fork is resting on the side of the bellhoising hole with no free play. Thats not good. Could it be the supposedly identical bellhousings are different? YES IT BLOODY COULD!
So, out with the gearbox again and more cracked ribs and crud in my eyes.
turns out the clutch pivot arrangements are all different:
So, tomorrow I will swap the bellhousings and clutch pivots and try again. Hopefully it will fit then I will deal with the gearlever position. Here are my boxers:
Mmm, EP90 flavour, always popular with the laydeeeeez. More tomorrow!
When I bought my Carina I found it was mega low geared leading to lousy fuel consumption and 'reduced driving pleasure' so this weekend I drove to Paris to buy a 5-speeder from a TA40 Celica, not super cheap at €80 but there you go.
So tonight I rushed home from work eager to crack on. I'd been defeted once already converting these old J crates to 5-speed when i attempted to do the koop, and wasted a couple of days of solid work. Here's the new box:
A cursory glance suggested it was swappable with the old one so I cracked on.
Centre console (and then gearlever) out:
Bellhousing bolts undone:
i whipped off the slave cylinder , reverse light wires and crossmember, then the propshaft:
after a minor war the gearbox fell out onto my chest with a slight rib-cracking noise. Result. Here are the old and the new side by side:
Hmm, the curse word gearlevers are in different places. Maybe I can swap over the tailshaft housings over. It was at this point that the inevitable happened: The 'Exxon Valdez' dumped its load all over the garage floor. Luckily I had the old Kitty litter on hand, and leaped into action:
Nice clean formula 1 workshop environment.
Swapping the tailshaft housings would have been a good idea if it had worked, which it didnt. Selector levers are different lengths:
SHAG A DOG THIS IS TURNING OUT JUST LIKE THE KOOP. So, if you look at pic two you can see the gearlever is at a right bizarre angle on the 4-spd so looking at the 5-spd i decided to follow the example of many catholic priests, and bosh it in, worrying about the consequences later on. I figured that the gearlever could move back 10 cm or so without a big problem.
In went the box after a load of sweating and swearing and half a pint of gear oil poured over my groin, this added to the already unpleasant micro-climate down there caused by the 30-degree heat. Now my duds were sticking to my ass and I was getting proper fed up.
Anyway it went in and I did up the bell housing bolts, starter, crossmember etc and I tried to fit the slave sylinder. But whats this?
Hmm, the clutch fork is resting on the side of the bellhoising hole with no free play. Thats not good. Could it be the supposedly identical bellhousings are different? YES IT BLOODY COULD!
So, out with the gearbox again and more cracked ribs and crud in my eyes.
turns out the clutch pivot arrangements are all different:
So, tomorrow I will swap the bellhousings and clutch pivots and try again. Hopefully it will fit then I will deal with the gearlever position. Here are my boxers:
Mmm, EP90 flavour, always popular with the laydeeeeez. More tomorrow!