Getting back on the road

@mrtask the four cylinder cars don’t have the removable slam panel unfortunately. As Demetrius says, I’m so close I could probably just pull the engine at this point. Having said that I’d need to remove the servos and drain the brakes too. Hence trying the partial removal.

Ahh, depends on the age of the 4-pot. The later series 1 cars do..
 
Isn’t solid meaning not bolted. it’s welded from sections like yours.

Day two, never trying this method again, way quicker on nada models to just pull the engine and box together. almost finished now, another few hours left tomorrow and I’m good I think.
 
Isn’t solid meaning not bolted. it’s welded from sections like yours.

Day two, never trying this method again, way quicker on nada models to just pull the engine and box together. almost finished now, another few hours left tomorrow and I’m good I think.

None of them were bolted. People have drilled out the spot welds, braced it and made it removable.
 
Sometimes the front of the sump catches on the crossmember stopping the eingine tilting right back, but it will come past. With any sound deadening removed from the heater box, the cam cover should be pretty much touching there, and the top bolt hole on the front tie bar bracket should bolt into the bottom hole in the engine. The dowel bolts need to be removed from the bellhousing completely so that the gearbox can be spun clockwise (looking from the rear) until the starter hump is at the top, and then it will come out.
 
Thanks Harvey, all back in now. I found the sticking point on the NADA cars is the two brake servos. I had to unbolt the front one to clear the dissy and used a tie down strap to pull the engine forward and over the cross member. To be honest I’m the future I’m going to stick with the manual approach. It’s far less stress and easier to deal with.

The verdict: Apart from the pain of removal and replacement it feels a lot better. There’s some transmission noise coming into the cabin. The rubber isolator on the spring for the rear mount had disintegrated so I reckon that’s the culprit. Easy enough for me to to make up something as a replacement I reckon. The one bearing on the input shaft I didn’t replace on the new box is a little rattlely at idle. So I’ll be searching for that big guy and planning a replacement in the future.
The good news:

Whining in 1-3 gears is no longer.

The pronounced transmission snatch is completely gone (I’d assumed it was in another part of the drove train).

Shifting between gears is lighter and more controlled.

The big one: A dry, leak free box after a good 8 mile test drive, including highways.

Sorry Harvey, but I’m doing the full engine plus box next time. Just not worth the hassle on a Nada LHD car. :)
 
Well done.
"...next time" – you're addicted! Only eight miles of driving and you're already looking for an excuse to do it again! Incorrigible Roverphile. ;)
 
Well done.
"...next time" – you're addicted! Only eight miles of driving and you're already looking for an excuse to do it again! Incorrigible Roverphile. ;)
You may be right, but I can’t possibly comment.
She’ll be good for this season, but I want to get the last bit sorted. I know I can do a full engine pull and replace in 8 hours, it’s just much easier to set up the box and such on the bench than this. added To that the box and underside will be clean of oil and gunk next time!
 
Good to know that you have made it.
In my experience a sorted gearbox and gearchange linkage is quiet and a pleasure to use and will stay so for a long time.
When i did mine, my local SKF shop managed to find for me all the required bearings, except for the (not a surprise...) rear mainshaft one.
 
I think it’s the input shaft bearing in my case. So full strip down to replace. The good news is the bearings seemed fine in the old box, the gears themselves and seals were bad though. Gear shift is much improved and transmission snatch is gone completely which makes for a much nicer driving experience.
 
So, update from yesterday. I cleaned up the old box this morning and stripped it down. All the bearings are super sweet, the gears look good until you examine them closely. You then realize that the teeth have a wear pattern covering the whole drive and backlash faces of each tooth. That’s my guess of what the whining and shunt was from.

I’ve taken out each cluster and the main input shaft bearing. Mark Gray has shipped me a new gasket set plus a few extra rubber parts I noticed needing replacement so I hopefully will receive them next week.

Plan now is to remove engine and box (again) strip the new box (again) and swap the bad bearings (while I slap myself silly) with good ones. Put the gearbox and engine together (again), and refit to the car (again). Enjoy silent running. In a very strange masochistic way I’m enjoying this. The gearbox work in the shop in my basement is rather zen like. I stream Radio 4 via my phone and just spanner away quietly.
 

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Had some time this afternoon. In three hours I had the engine and gearbox out of the car and split apart. So much easier! I’ll strip down the box tomorrow and fit the new bearing. Gaskets and a new spigot bush are slated to arrive tomorrow afternoon, so with luck have the car in one piece for the weekend.

In a bizarre way I found it therapeutic doing the work, no hurry needed. I knew the stuff to do under the car in one job. I knew the stuff to do in the cabin and the stuff to do in the engine bay. I just listened to podcasts and plugged away. Stay tuned for more fun—-
 

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I reckon achieving that in three hours earns you the right to go and put your rubber underwear on. Might even help getting it all back in place in the same sort of time frame once you've fitted the new bearing to your gearbox. ;)
 
I reckon achieving that in three hours earns you the right to go and put your rubber underwear on. Might even help getting it all back in place in the same sort of time frame once you've fitted the new bearing to your gearbox. ;)
Gin o'clock Alasdair ?
 
Cobraboy, I was still sober when I wrote that. I was envisaging said underclothing might make it easier to squirm about in the confines of the transmission tunnel. Now that booze-o-clock has arrived I must admit it makes for quite a remarkable image in my minds eye. Sdibbers, that is, in his special outfit. Not my cuppa, any more than pulling an engine and box repeatedly, if I'm honest! I'm going to go and sober up. Apologies if I lowered the tone on this otherwise sensible thread!
 
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