Update February 28th 2019

After not looking like I was getting much done since October, I was in fact quite productive, identifying and sourcing even more parts and making some decisions on some of the detail.

Gearbox

The gearbox has been fully rebuilt and in the process 4th gear has been upgraded by fitting a new crown wheel and pinion (3.875) to the higher ratio found in the AT boxes.

Before

 

The mounting bolts for the cradle where a bit of a worry, the threads were really nasty so I had very carefully clean them out using an 18mm 1.5mm tap







Gearbox has now been mounted to the new cradle which has been powder coated RAL 4007, it's the colour that will be used on the engine detailing.

Gear Rod 

The gear selector rod has been cleaned, rubbed down with wire wool and spray painted. I wanted to achieve a smooth surface to reduce the wear in the plastic bush, which doesn't look like the most robust of replacement parts!

I did find a much stronger alternative which looks like its engineered to last longer than the car. Link

Top tip!! I used some garden strimmer cord, tied it to the end of the gear rod before I pulled it out, then once cleaned I used the cord to pull the gear rod back through the tunnel


Gear rod fitted and coupled to gearbox with new urethane coupler

Gear Shifter

I blew the budget (again) and have gone for what is definitely a different shifter!. It has a built in short shifter reducing the movement by 40%

Fuel Pipe

The original fuel pipes was fitted through the tunnel and held in place with 3 clips, which are impossible to get at. Most advice is to run the fuel line on the outside of the tunnel. But I didn't want to do that. 

There were two challenges, the first getting the fuel line fed through the top of the tunnel at the front and appearing out of the offside gearbox engine support leg with little access.

What I did was to feed the pipe down from the front of the car to the end of the tunnel, there was no way I could get it down the leg and get it to appear after a 90 degree bend out the top. What I ended up doing was feeding a small sacrificial length down the leg to meet up with the main line, where I could get my hands in. I then connected the two pipes using  a 5mm threaded stud and some strong glue. Then a mixture of pulling, pushing and afew scraped knuckles later and the pipe appeared. 

The second problem was to stop it rattling in the tunnel. I bought some "Plastazote Tubing thick with an internal diameter of 6mm. This i normally used to help people who have a weak grip, the foam is inserted over the handle of tool, cutlery etc . 

View down the tunnel
with Plastazote tubing in place

Once I made a slit down one side it was easy to slide these down the fuel pipe to 3 places in the tunnel, it was a tight fit and did the job perfectly.

Handbrake Cables

Have been shortened and fitted.

Next Jobs

• Fit spring plates
• Fit all brake pipes
• Fit accelerator and clutch cables (away being shortened)
• Fit pedal assembly
• First fix on front and rear upgraded roll bars