John McM

Engine off the yoke and lowered onto a small ATV lift using an engine crane. It's at this time that I really wished I had bought a strong hydraulic table lift as it's a nervous moment having a $$$$ engine hanging in the air. In any case it went smoothly and it's not that often I do this.

With the engine off the yoke I fitted the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate. The flywheel bolts were new and torqued to 90Nm. The pressure plate bolts were re-used and torqued to 24Nm.

NB: I had completely forgotten to re-face the flywheel and pressure plate. Rather than wait longer to sort it, I just gave them a light sand and clean. The clutch was fine before the reseal so no need to fret over perfection.

Next up is mating the engine and transmission.

Super90

Looking good John !!

Don't forget those tips I forwarded that I learned from my mechanic before mating the transmission.

No way to prove it, but based on how smoothly mine went together, I am a believer in their benefit.

John McM

I have those printed out. No spare input shaft to use instead of clutch tool, but I was careful.

I spent time last night cleaning the clutch fork bearing and shaft. I have a spare end bearing if I have an accident. I managed it last time. Maybe that was beginners luck?

Super90

I'm sure it will be done in 15 minutes with you turning the wrenches !



R.

John McM

Breakfast time


A break from the garage. It’s road trip and track day time.

John McM

Light track work. Road tyres, pads and normal fluid.

John McM

Mt Ruapehu in the central North Island of New Zealand.

My 900 mile round trip was completed with two (very light) track visits. Faultless operation and a big smile on my dial, albeit a few more stone chips. That makes about 3,000 miles of spirited driving and only two reported puffs of smoke. I’m conflicted here as surely an engine with 145,000 miles needs a top end rebuild soon, but the advice from an experienced mechanic is leave it alone until it smokes. If I can’t justify rebuilding it I’m going to sell it....some day soon.

John McM

My son didn't volunteer to help after the last engine/transmission mating effort so I had to work smarter. The engine crane and adjusting bar made it so simple to get the alignment that I had it done first go.

The clutch fork was a little bit more problematic. I inserted the shaft only to find out that the throw out bearing had moved and one of the fork arms wasn't correctly seated. I carefully removed the shaft and it went in properly on the next go.

Starter motor fitted and the assembly put under the car. As I've said many times, the lift makes this job so much easier that I'm looking forward to the next step.

John McM

Fork correctly seated. A worthwhile check as I would have had to re-pull the engine to fix the original misalignment.

John McM

I sacrificed a 1mm feeler gauge by bending it to allow setting the correct crank sensor gap

John McM

The Engine and box are back where they belong. I expect to complete the install tomorrow along with a 13 point bleed. I’ve borrowed a PT999 to bleed the diff locks.

John McM

The physical fitting of the engine and transmission is the easy part. There's a lot of other parts to reconnect, especially on RHD C4.

One of the biggest pains is the clutch line. In the RHD C4, the line crosses under the transmission. If you are very careful you can leave this in place when you remove the engine/transmission. However, hit it and break the pipe and you will have fun replacing it. I chose to disconnect it and got a run of brake fluid while I reconnected it.

John McM

Another fun task is the longitudinal slave cylinder. You need to compress the plunger enough to push the cylinder in and insert the holding key. The plunger wouldn't compress enough unless I opened the bleed valve. Oh well, I knew it needed a full bleed anyway.

Has anyone found a supplier of 7mm flare wrenches?

Super90

Congrats on getting the engine and trans back in !!! Big step.

I have to say, it was a lot of effort to get my trans mount bolts in, though mine is a C2. I was on my back pushing with my feet while the missus started and tightened all the bolts by hand. I couldn't get it done by myself. I had the engine mount bolts in, but loose. Still, no joy. Maybe there is a trick to that, but I couldn't figure anything out at the time.

And yes, it's exciting to get the engine and transmission bolted up, and then you realize, "Now I have all these other connections to take care of !!".

Richard H

Britool do one 7 x 9 E112301B