YO!!! Further pre-CARS progress on this 5-speed carry-on tonight.
I needed to make a new hole for the gearlever, so tonight I bought one of these monodex cutter things:
It made a neat job of enlarging the hole, you can clearly see that the floor panel is designed to accomodate the 5-speeder.
I needed to make a cover to blank off the old hole, but didn't have any sheet steel. After a faff about I hit on the idea of making a plastic one, so my old knackered toolbox was sacrificed:
It was ideal for the job.
Next, I had to move the gaiter for the gearlever. To do this I went down to my mate's house as his tool game is far stronger than my weak effort. Plus he is on holiday so I can tat about without annoying him. I had to bosh the propshaft in before I set off, and go steady as there was no oil in the gearbox, but, no problems.
I had to fill the gearbox with oil and was looking for a mess-free solution. I found an old grandad-style garden-shed-door-hinge oil can with a squirty thing on and filled it with that, took ages but no oil blattered everywhere, so a good result. Finally I drilled and fitted the gaiter:
Quick quality check by the cat:
and job done!
I am a bit disappointed because after all that, the new gearbox is a bit noisy in 5th gear. Not 'death throes' noisy, theres just a high-pitched whizzing noise in top only, which is bloody annoying after all that work. Despite this however the car is transformed with the 5th gear, a steady 75mph is no problem at all, and the car has the zip to make it quite a painless experience even on uphills etc.
I am certainly not gonna put the 4-speed back in, and I have more than enough faith in the 5-speed to set off to UK in it in a couple of weeks time, just a shame when the rest of the car is so mint (only 31,000 miles).
I needed to make a new hole for the gearlever, so tonight I bought one of these monodex cutter things:
It made a neat job of enlarging the hole, you can clearly see that the floor panel is designed to accomodate the 5-speeder.
I needed to make a cover to blank off the old hole, but didn't have any sheet steel. After a faff about I hit on the idea of making a plastic one, so my old knackered toolbox was sacrificed:
It was ideal for the job.
Next, I had to move the gaiter for the gearlever. To do this I went down to my mate's house as his tool game is far stronger than my weak effort. Plus he is on holiday so I can tat about without annoying him. I had to bosh the propshaft in before I set off, and go steady as there was no oil in the gearbox, but, no problems.
I had to fill the gearbox with oil and was looking for a mess-free solution. I found an old grandad-style garden-shed-door-hinge oil can with a squirty thing on and filled it with that, took ages but no oil blattered everywhere, so a good result. Finally I drilled and fitted the gaiter:
Quick quality check by the cat:
and job done!
I am a bit disappointed because after all that, the new gearbox is a bit noisy in 5th gear. Not 'death throes' noisy, theres just a high-pitched whizzing noise in top only, which is bloody annoying after all that work. Despite this however the car is transformed with the 5th gear, a steady 75mph is no problem at all, and the car has the zip to make it quite a painless experience even on uphills etc.
I am certainly not gonna put the 4-speed back in, and I have more than enough faith in the 5-speed to set off to UK in it in a couple of weeks time, just a shame when the rest of the car is so mint (only 31,000 miles).