dinghyguy's restoration of "Mark"

[dinghyguy]

Thanks Drummond for the advice, now all i need to do is build the garage and get the rotisserie! That might be the winter project!
In the meantime i have the tranny on the bench and looking to replace the input bearing located between the bell housing and the tranny proper. I have no problem building making the press bits to do the precomprression etc to get the snap ring out and with a bit of heat i think the bearing will come out and goin reasonable well (no serious hammering allowed) But my question for the brain trust is....

Can the input shaft be pullout of the tranny without disassembly of the tranny. That way i was thinking I could also change the needle bearing the main shaft sit in as well. Looking at the tranny manual I don't think the shift forks hold it back and thus I don't see why the input shaft can not be pulled out. Anyone know the answer?

now of course when i dot( if it is possible) my luck will be that the needle bearing will stay on the main shaft and not come out.....but hey that is a different problem for the future...

cheers

dinghyguy

[dinghyguy]

Update of sorts.....
- Tranny all cleaned up, took more time to clean the outside than it did to take it out!
- all the various black painted bits are now repainted, including rear tranny support, tunnel cover, clutch fork, tranny pan (outside only) and bell housing lower cover.
- All the nuts and bolts and studs cleaned up with tap and die, so everything will go back together easily
- rebuilt my backup switch successfully by removing cast in material to expose terminals, soldering on new wires and casting in some epoxy (see post in electrical for more details and pix tomorrow)
- now comes the fun part, replacement of input shaft bearing (i finally found out that to change the needle bearing between the main shaft and input shaft the tranny does have to come apart) so not this time.... work will be input bearing and the oil seal in the bell housing.
- also will do pilot bearing (without removal of flywheel i hope) and of course the clutch and throw out bearing.

and for a diversion did some cleanup and painting on an air horn set i was given. as always the electrical connections to the compressor needed work, in particular disassembly of the fuse holder to enable wire brushing and cleanup.

cheers
dinghyguy

[spider2081]

and for a diversion did some cleanup and painting on an air horn set i was given. as always the electrical connections to the compressor needed work, in particular disassembly of the fuse holder to enable wire brushing and cleanup.

This might be a great time to take apart the compressor motor clean/dress the commutator, clean out old gelled grease and replace with a modern synthetic lube.
Of course your photos and details will be greatly appreciated by all.

[DieselSpider]

and for a diversion did some cleanup and painting on an air horn set i was given. as always the electrical connections to the compressor needed work, in particular disassembly of the fuse holder to enable wire brushing and cleanup.

This might be a great time to take apart the compressor motor clean/dress the commutator, clean out old gelled grease and replace with a modern synthetic lube.
Of course your photos and details will be greatly appreciated by all.

Non-Conductive lubes only inside electric motors so no aluminum, molybdenum, zinc, graphite, etc fortified lubes.

[Nanonevol]

I take it your input shaft was making a discernable noise prompting the replacement.
I replaced mine on my rebuild but can't recall enough to answer your question.
Does the rest of the transmission look good enough to leave as is after 40 odd years?
I found getting the tranny in and out of the car the hard part and the rebuild kind of enjoyable.

[dinghyguy]

thanks all for the advice. I have now taken apart the horn compressor and rebuilt it with no problems other than the rusty nuts and bolts.
Re the tranny noise, shifting was fine, synchros seem good (not perfect but good) and this work is planned to address the clutch, pilot bearing and tranny input bearings as one task, thus eliminating the various whines and making the car much more pleasurable to drive.

Finally stopped raining yesterday so last night while lying on the ground working on the clutch and doing general cleanup of the tranny tunnel area i discovered two issues:
first, one of ears on the block that the tranny mounting bolts connect into had previously cracked and about 25% of the diameter of the ear fell off in my hand. The crack was old based on the corrosion and crap in the crack. So when i put it all together I will have 3 and a half bolts holding the tranny in place. Unfortunately unless i pull the engine i see no easy way to attempt to weld the bit back on and then tap the hole. This is the first significant issue i have discovered in the car that can not be easily fixed. Oh well, the engine is coming out next winter anyhow for other reasons so i can turn the car on its side nd do the rust repair on the rear wheel wells.... sigh.

second issue is two 0.9" dia holes in the sides of the tranny tunnel, one each side. I assume they are supposed to have rubber body plugs in them, but do not. Is that correct?

the good news is that the metal in the tranny tunnel all seems good with very little rust. I am going to paint it with some rust paint for now and continue.

dinghyguy on the driveway......

[dinghyguy]

Short update. Tranny tunnel all cleaned off and painted, two coats. Pilot bearing replaced, new clutch and throwout bearing installed. Tranny cleaned, input bearing replaced (had to make a special gizmo to grab the shaft and push against to get the snap ring reinstalled) and all put back in the car. Took about and hour and a half to install the clutch, tranny and starter motor. The JBWeld seems to be holding on the broken casting repair, although i didn't do that bolt up as tight as the others. Very useful to have a tranny jack adapter plate for my jack, was able to lift it all up and then just slide it forward slick as could be. Checked the torque on the rear tranny mount nuts and one of the studs broke off.....sigh. Out with the grinder, make the stud flush, drill it out and JBweld a bold from inside on the floor through in the right place, after waiting a week for the rain to stop. Some paint touchup and back on track. just have to put the cover back on the tranny tunnel ad we should be good to go. Time to clean enough of the garage to be able to park inside.

In doing all this work i did discover that there are little v shaped tabs in the flooring bent down leaving a couple of small holes in the floor pans. I assume those were, are, intended to be drains for when the top leaks.

My question is: Do people seal them up when they do their restorations or do they leave them as was designed?

Oh and through some of the local itialian car people I have been able to source 2 momo rims to match the 2 momo ones that cam with my car. YEA, now have alloys as well as the original cloverleaf steel wheels.
Cheers

dinghyguy, on the driveway

[DRUMMOND]

My question is: Do people seal them up when they do their restorations or do they leave them as was designed?

I would leave them open. Also make sure you can take out your rubber plugs, helps dry the carpet and drain out any water accumulation from a leaking roof or an unexpected downpour

[dinghyguy]

rubber plugs? i see no rubber plugs?

[Jimb]

Did you replace/reinstall the original foil backed insulation in the transmission tunnel?
Jim

[dinghyguy]

the PO added foil backed insultation inside under the carpet. The exterior had black paint, some undercoating (thin and patchy) and 40 years of grime and oil. Now it is clean and painted.

[jdssr]

Great restoration, great details and explanations. Thanks. Where did you purchase your wiper relay kit? I need to do mine.

[DRUMMOND]

rubber plugs? i see no rubber plugs?

If most of theses plugs had been opened, then most of the standing water in this car would have drained out. Its all the round black holes all of them still had the plugs in. Most if not all convertibles have them.

[dinghyguy]

Hi All,

yes progress and entertainment continues...… but Christmas is coming and time to prepare a list for santa.

In particular i was sondering about some performance upgrades.
Car is a 1979 but the orignal intake manifold and carb have been replaced. Currently has a single plane manifold and a weber 32 ADF carb which was new in 2006 (about 10,000 miles ago) and seems to be in good condition and seems to tune up according to the manual and information i have collected. Other than that engine is stock as far as i can tell. Exhaust is newish with test pipe. Suspension is stock exceptfor the addition of a rear sway bar. Brakes are stock but new, or nearly new and in good condition. My thoughts have included
new suspension bushings, ball joints etc.
maybe adjustable cam pulleys but not sure if that is worth it without valve job and perhaps a different head. (if i did want to change the head and do the valves, any suggestions? )

In the non performance catagory i was thinking of perhaps a spoiler (to improve cooling) or maybe an electric antenna.

feel free to suggest.

happy thanksgiving to our US cousins
Dinghyguy in the great white north

[nelsonj]

Best bang-for-the-buck upgrade I did: Weber 32/36 carb - sounds like you may already have this.
Upgrade I really like but was expensive (labor) - new shocks and lowering springs (IAP red at the time). These really helped the handling of the car and made it ride like a sports car rather than an off-road-vehicle.

Merry Christmas.
Out.