Occie gets a 5-speed box!

Brain finally clicked in over the snub rubber :oops: ... so that's ticked off! :)

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Decided a spacer block for the exhaust strap was over-complicating things, so I turned up a couple of spacers...
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...and fitted...
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Looking at the original slot in the strap, it's suggesting I could be about 1/4" out with the lateral position on the box, but the lever's central inside the car so I'm happy enough.
 
Good work Stan, those spacers and bolts look to be of far higher quality than the strap they are holding in place and I shouldn't worry about the alignment if the gear stick is central on the inside of the car - if that wasn't lined up it would niggle you everytime you changed gear.

I was going to say nearly there now, but is that the slave cylinder I can see dangling down unattached in the last picture?
 
ewokracing said:
looks great!
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Thanks!
Given the length of spacer needed, I wondered whether I'd got the box positioned a touch high in the tunnel but the tailshaft centre line tallies with that of the P6 box.
 
testrider said:
Good work Stan, those spacers and bolts look to be of far higher quality than the strap they are holding in place and I shouldn't worry about the alignment if the gear stick is central on the inside of the car - if that wasn't lined up it would niggle you everytime you changed gear.

I was going to say nearly there now, but is that the slave cylinder I can see dangling down unattached in the last picture?
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Your eyes don't deceive you Paul! :)

Yes, still a few bits to do including swapping the slave cylinder for the SD1 type.

Planning to replace the exhaust system with stainless at some point but hopefully the existing one will do its job for this year.

Cheers,
 
Well, I can't get hold of an SD1 manual dust shield for love nor money at the moment. Managed to pick up an auto one though that'll do for now with a bit of carvery, 'cos I need to get on and finish this project.

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Easy enough to cut the slave access, but it's missing the horn that wraps around the other side of the cylinder. Improvised for now with a bit of 1mm galvanised sheet.

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Cheated a bit with the clutch hose, which needed the metric fitting flaring on in place of the UNF one. The 3/16" steel pipe at the slave end is good old-fashioned hard steel and you could see it would be hard to flare without heavy-duty tools, so I took it over to Glen at my local garage (plug for Muddimer's on Beaumanor Road in Leicester - one of the old school and to be treasured :) ) who flared it with his Sykes-Pickavant kit.

Got the gearbox filled today as well - and after much thought I've gone with Castrol SMX.
 
Nice work :) Bet you'll have occie going very soon!

Muddimer's on Beaumanor Road in Leicester
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Priceless information - I'll remember that one!

*Edit* And handy for you too! :) ( had to google maps it even though i have been past there before... my geography is fading!)
 
Even I feel I might be getting close to finishing this off soon... :roll:

I'd had to relieve the tunnel a bit on the nearside where the box was fouling, not far from the new filler plug access hole. Difficult to get a large-ish blanking grommet in place due to the tunnel contour so I've mackled up a combined cover.

Behind this there's also a rubber flap that runs down the inside tunnel wall to prevent water ingress...hope so anyway! :)

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Not too much left to do. Bleed the clutch, and sort the gearlever to body gaiter and I'll be somewhere near. I'll probably get the Waxoyling done whilst the car's up on stands before the (fingers-crossed :wink: ) road test.
 
Hello Stan,
Rimmer Bros are showing the bellhousing shield in stock for £30 inc vat. Part no: FRC 142.
All the best with the road test!
Roly.
 
Roly said:
Hello Stan,
Rimmer Bros are showing the bellhousing shield in stock for £30 inc vat. Part no: FRC 142.
All the best with the road test!
Roly.
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Many thanks Roly! :)

I'm sure that wasn't there when I checked the other week...but, then again, maybe I missed it. It's me age, you know.... :wink:

Cheers,
 
Today had to be the day....

...but while she was up in the air with the carpets out, thought I'd get some Waxoyl into the sills.

Plus point...a good reason to give my camping stove a runout before the season starts! :)

Many thanks to quattro for the loan of the injection kit!

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...then time to start up (at last! :roll: ). Plugs out and ignition disconnected for the first few spins on the starter...oil pressure coming up OK. Plugs in and fire up...brilliant! Great to hear that V8 again...she's not run since before Christmas, what with the tank unit repair, seat refurb, etc!

And an indescribably greater feeling to get back on the road.

Nicely warmed up and a blast up the A6 towards Loughborough. Woo-hoo! Brilliant! :D :D :D

70 mph pulling 2500 rpm as expected, rather than the 3000 previously with the 4-speed box. (The 5th ratio is 0.833 - would have been marginally better if it was the later 0.792 but hey...I'm happy! :) )

Satnav at 40 mph and the speedo reads 27/28 mph. Think I've abandoned the idea of fitting the SD1 head, and will get the existing speedo recalibrated...once the new wheels are on and I can get a good fix on what's needed with a few more accurate readings through the range.

Just what the car's always needed! Happy Bunny indeed!
 
Excellent news Stan. How do you find the feel of the gear change comparably to the old four speed, is the clutch any lighter or different at all?
 
adamhotrod said:
Excellent news Stan. How do you find the feel of the gear change comparably to the old four speed, is the clutch any lighter or different at all?
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Hi Adam,

On the short run today, the gearchange felt fine. I've read quite a bit about how the LT77 is very notchy, but I didn't find it so even from cold. Whether that's the SMX (which seems well-recommended) I couldn't say. Also felt really smooth coming down the box, especially 5th to 3rd coming up to roundabouts.

Clutch, I would say, feels a bit lighter than the P6.

I've still got to sort the gearlever to body gaiter, which I'll have a go at tomorrow. The only issue left (I hope!) is the gearlever height, which sits too high even though I'm sure I got the tailshaft flange at the same height as the 4-speed.

The conversion notes that Dave McSweeney kindly emailed me make reference to shortening the lever by about 40mm - which I think I'll probably be doing as well. At the moment I've got an SD1 gearknob on - which is quite long - so I'll hang on a bit until I'm sure. I'll try one or two other knobs first.

PS - how's the job search going?
 
vaultsman said:
70 mph pulling 2500 rpm as expected, rather than the 3000 previously with the 4-speed box. (The 5th ratio is 0.833 - would have been marginally better if it was the later 0.792 but hey...I'm happy! :) )

Satnav at 40 mph and the speedo reads 27/28 mph. Think I've abandoned the idea of fitting the SD1 head, and will get the existing speedo recalibrated...once the new wheels are on and I can get a good fix on what's needed with a few more accurate readings through the range.

Just what the car's always needed! Happy Bunny indeed!
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Great stuff :)

The speedo calibration sounds about the same as mine - mine reads about 30mph at 40, and 22-24mph at 30 (I've got slightly lower profile tyres than standard/what I'd like). I'm looking forward to seeing how you cope with the speedo calibration, as it's a feature of my car I'm not wholly satisfied with.
 
vaultsman said:
The only issue left (I hope!) is the gearlever height, which sits too high even though I'm sure I got the tailshaft flange at the same height as the 4-speed.
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I did think you were going to have that problem when you were doing it, because the spacers you made to mount the exhaust to the back of the box were far longer than the ones I used, and although you cut and shortened your crossmember in exactly the way I did, your bolts came through in a different position to mine. You also had to cut the tunnel for clearance, which I didn't either. All I can think is that after measuring the position of the original flange in the tunnel, I dropped the back of the box a bit to compensate for the flange on the SD1 box being further back, and hence further down the slope towards the diff. Can't really remember, after all it was 25 years ago.....Only problem I had was the lever touching both sides of the console when in 1st and 5th, but that may be something you don't suffer with as your lever will be higher so won't have the range of movement level with the console to cause any problems.

Regardless of all that, I'm glad you're happy with the result.
 
Tofufi said:
The speedo calibration sounds about the same as mine - mine reads about 30mph at 40, and 22-24mph at 30 (I've got slightly lower profile tyres than standard/what I'd like). I'm looking forward to seeing how you cope with the speedo calibration, as it's a feature of my car I'm not wholly satisfied with.
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I'll have a spotter in the back seat taking readings from the speedo & satnav at various points, work out the ratio and get Speedy Cables or JDO to recalibrate. Simples!

What can possibly go wrong? :D

Cheers Jim!
 
SydneyRoverP6B said:
Top stuff Stan,

Well done.. :D

It is such a good feeling when the outcome is as you would have hoped.

Ron.
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Thanks Ron!

Must admit, the job's gone on much longer than I thought it would. But then again, they all seem to with work and other complications intruding! :)
 
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