Getting back on the road

Everyone is allowed a little slip... said the actress to the bishop.
Although the rubber might help in that regard.
 
Well, leave it to FedEx to bugger up your day... they did their normal thing of trying to deliver to the wrong place twice (after me calling them) then claiming I'm not in. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGG!!!!!!!

In more fun news, in my stash of parts I had the gasket for between the gearbox casing and the bell housing, and the replacement front mainshaft and roller bearing. Yay my ebay habit!

I've found the culprit for the rattle, as suspected it was the front mainshaft bearing. The bearing cage had fractured! Not sure what could have caused it, I checked all the teeth, the other bearings and synchros and there was no other evidence of damage.

bearing.JPG

I've stripped the box, pulled everything apart and cleaned it up. Pressed out the offending bearing, replaced the roller bearing in the middle of the main shaft and installed the new front bearing, assembled the clusters, casing, selector forks, top housing and reverse gear. Torqued it all down to spec.
The good news is the input shaft is solid now, as my friend up in Boston would say, the gearbox is like 'buttah', smooth as a cashmere codpiece and devoid of play. There's very little backlash in the lay shaft to the main shaft assembly. All that's left to do is assemble the rear cover and release mechanism when I get the gaskets.

I've told Fedex to not try and redeliver, I will go to them in the morning to pick up the package as I can't trust them to follow a simple delivery address.

I can't wait to put Beryl back together
 
So FedEx completely screwed up the delivery and sent it back to the UK after only 7 hours in NJ. Total mess. Mark has sent another package via UPS that will arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed I’ll be good by the end of Tuesday and back on the road.
 
And she’s back together. Replaced and updated items include:
- New input shaft bearing
- New roller bearing (NOS)
- New gearbox oil seals and gaskets
- New clutch release bearing and clutch
- New bushings on remote arm (the thin Series One type)
- New foam pads between shifter plate and chassis
- New rubber bushes for the gearbox mount and mount spring
- Added weld to selector finger where it had worn and shaped to cylinder as per original
- Welded snapped steel plate for two of the studs that hold the shifter plate in place.
- Nipped up the exhaust manifold as it had a slight blow on the head
- Cleaned and sealed the joints for the middle exhaust pipe

Just taken Beryl for a test drive. Wow, what a change! I knew the old boxes were worn, but had no idea how much of a difference it would make. The combination of new bearing, new bushings, tightening up worn parts and general resetting of everything has made for big improvement in vibration, noise and harshness. She finally feels like a viable alternative to a jag when it comes to comfort. It was almost worth me doing the work twice to get it right. Not an awful lot of photos I’m afraid, I’m working alone and need all my hands for putting stuff together.
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yesterday before fitting.
 
Great result !
We have a saying over here...... if at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer !
I see you know that saying too :)
 
Great result !
We have a saying over here...... if at first you don't succeed, use a bigger hammer !
I see you know that saying too :)
Yep, that comes from my big box of hammers :) (actually from over there too, accidentally married a Yank years ago)
 
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They are very nice to drive when properly sorted, aren't they?
But they can be equally disappointing when worn out and neglected.
 
They are very nice to drive when properly sorted, aren't they?
But they can be equally disappointing when worn out and neglected.
I didn’t think it was that bad before if I’m honest, just the massive oil leak was becoming terrible and the rattle was getting worse. The car’s feeling much more sorted for it.
The pedal feels a little off. I noticed the slave cylinder has a weep so I’ve ordered a rebuild kit for it. If I pump the clutch pedal it feels fine so I’m pretty sure that’s it.
 
That was a general comment on P6s, not referring strictly to Beryl's gearbox.
I made this comment because i remember quite vividly how much i was disappointed during first drive of my Rover. In retrospect i should not expect anything better. I had bought a very tired and neglected car as a non-runner, and it took me years to uncover its real talents.
 
That was a general comment on P6s, not referring strictly to Beryl's gearbox.
I made this comment because i remember quite vividly how much i was disappointed during first drive of my Rover. In retrospect i should not expect anything better. I had bought a very tired and neglected car as a non-runner, and it took me years to uncover its real talents.
It’s the curse of, especially, the four cylinder cars. Their values dropped so low that they weren’t maintained correctly for years. I know Beryl suffered from this and a lot of the work I’ve done was down to poor quality repairs or lack of maintenance.
 
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Values still are ridiculously low, especially on the S2 four pots!
To be honest, I think the four cylinder engine lasts longer than the V8 too. Seeing that Rover we’re developing twin cam 16 valve heads and a five cylinder version says they wanted to continue developing it too.
 
To be honest, I think the four cylinder engine lasts longer than the V8 too. Seeing that Rover we’re developing twin cam 16 valve heads and a five cylinder version says they wanted to continue developing it too.

You're talking about the P6 five cylinder?
 
Clutch was only just releasing since the build. I realized that the clutch release lever was almost vertical. ‘Simple’ I think, I’ll remove the nut and bolt, rotate a spline and put together.

You guessed it, putting the nut back on and ‘plink’ it drops into the bell housing - oh FFS!

Option 1: Pull engine and gearbox again - no bloody way!

Option 2: Buy a 2” hole saw and put a hole in the housing. - Yep, hello hardware store.

I’m pretty confident it’s not weakening the housing much and I now have an inspection port. Next step, buy a 2” grommet. Not over the moon about it, but I’m sorted at last

Well, the good news is the clutch fully releases and I have proper travel on pedal and slave cylinder.

91927171-1CBC-453C-8FB9-0B608942AC32.jpeg
 
You guessed it, putting the nut back on and ‘plink’ it drops into the bell housing - oh FFS!

Option 1: Pull engine and gearbox again - no bloody way!

Option 2: Buy a 2” hole saw and put a hole in the housing. - Yep, hello hardware store.

I’m pretty confident it’s not weakening the housing much

The hole in the bellhousing won't be a problem. There are loads about with the same hole cut in them, albeit mostly for a different reason, getting the remains of an inertia starter mechanism out after it has broken.
 
I'm surprised you didn't seize the opportunity to take option one, and improve your personal best time taken to whip the engine and box in and out. :cool:
 
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