Just when I thought I would be able to hibernate for the winter it's got busy in the workshop... A Ghost of Christmas past to kick off with, none other than the gearbox out of Liz's 8 for a refresh. Funny to take it apart and see your own handiwork from nearly 30 years ago. I'm going to bring it up to current spec, so I'll kick off by machining the cases for the Diff, as they had been done with a Grinder before I had a Proper workshop.
What has not been so helpful is that 1st gear had picked up on the Mainshaft. This is more common on 5 speeds and is aggravated by low oil levels and sustained high speeds, what happens is that the mainshaft is turning at say 4000 rpm, but 1st gear which is freewheeling on the shaft is going at 1108 rpm, so there is a big speed differential between the 2 spinning parts, which must be well lubricated. It's usually worse on a 5 speed as the differential is even worse with the motor and input doing 4000 rpm, the mainshaft is doing 4651 rpm and the gear is 1108rpm.
As this car is still competing, I needed to find a solution
It has damaged the bore of the spinning 1st gear which had to be pulled off the shaft, normally they have about 4 thou of clearance.
After some debate with our Local precision Engineering company (Agra Engineering) The Shaft was undercut, metal sprayed and ground back to size.
I need to speak to the owner as I think the original set of gears is at least 50 years old and has been getting thrashed for more than 25, it's time to change them for a later style set with a more truncated toothform which is theoretically stronger.
The original early style is on the left and the later style '72 until end of production mid/late 80's you can see the different tooth forms.
I have managed to get some dirt/ condensation on the inside of my phone camera lens. Yet another job.......... FFS.
In other news and a big part of why it's been quiet. Malcolm and Leeann got a pup, but as they work I foolishly agreed to provide daycare facilities. Its mostly fun, but there have been a few moments.
This is Stella a 6 month old Labsky, who is mostly good, except when she's not, must be her Husky side........
The things I get into ......