Looking good. Shame you didn't have more time to have the wishbones, hubs and rear beam powder coated.

I wish mate! Already out of money ha ha!

 

 

Talking of which, this is the reason why...

 

Goodies arrived

 

 

 

Mocal oil cooler kit arrived too!

Edited 29 October, 20178 yr by alex_e3

Coming along nicely Alex, will be a different car once back together ;-)

Them bolts are a little over priced in my eyes haha. Same setup as me there, you'll be impressed.

Nice, that has to be one of the best mods you can do on a tuned Fabia

Wow this is going to be one hell of a monster when finished. Definitely want a ride when it's all done [emoji57]

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You'll love the difference. I've got the wavetrac one and I'm now addicted to roundabouts lol

Them bolts are a little over priced in my eyes haha. Same setup as me there, you'll be impressed.

 

Yeah they're bloody extortionate aren't they! Saying that... I used work in the aerospace construction industry and some of the bolts there were about the same price but for 1!!

You'll love the difference. I've got the wavetrac one and I'm now addicted to roundabouts lol

 

I'm really looking forward to what it drives like now! Gonna be like a kid waiting for Christmas when I'm bedding the clutch in!

Ok, so been busy with work. All finished now so started again today. Off to see Southy to fit the diff for me tomorrow, as he's done it before and has access to some better tools.

 

So today I set about opening up the box and getting the standard diff out and the standard gear ring off.

 

 

Quite scary seeing the insides of your gearbox...

 

 

 

Took the diff off to my work and popped into the machine shop. Had some fun trying to support the diff, but got them all drilled out in the end...

 

 

 

Just gotta press the remainder of the standard rivets out of the gear ring tonight.

Edited 29 October, 20178 yr by alex_e3

Nice to see the gear box internals. Bit of a work of art aren't they, can see why they are so expensive when they go wrong!

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You just best hope I remember how to put one back together, it's been 8 months since I had mine apart haha

It's alright, I took it apart today so should be ok ;-)

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No nasty surprises hiding in the gearbox I hope Alex... always a worry when you start opening things up

Rather you than me Alex, the internal workings of a gearbox are like witchcraft to me!! Im ok with everything else but a gearbox always looks impossible..

No nasty surprises hiding in the gearbox I hope Alex... always a worry when you start opening things up

 

Relax pal! All was good

 

 

 

Rather you than me Alex, the internal workings of a gearbox are like witchcraft to me!! Im ok with everything else but a gearbox always looks impossible..

 

To be honest mate I was a bit worried myself at first. It's not actually that bad!

Ok, so a fairly nice update for today

 

First off... a HUGE thank you to Southy on here for the help with fitting the diff today! Paid a visit to see him and had the use of his tools at work which made the job far easier for us. Plus he makes a damn good bacon bap

 

 

So.... gearbox cogs were removed today along with selector rods...

 

 

 

Cleaned up the gearbox housing. Then Southy heated the casings up and tapped the original diff bearing races out.

 

I got the shiny new diff out of the box and set about lubing up the new bolts to help ease them in...

 

 

Damn these things were tight! We tried to use the hydraulic press but they weren't shifting and I didn't want to risk damaging the diff flange. So we positioned the diff on a couple of parallels and carefully hit the bolts home with a hammer. Result!...

 

 

 

Next up the original gear ring had to be dropped onto the bolts. It was very tight so we heated it up first then it dropped on nicely...

 

 

 

 

ARP assembly lube was used on all the heads then. I torqued them up to 40ftlbs first, then up to 70ftlbs to ensure they were all seated correctly. Backed off again, then back up to a final 50ftlbs. All cleaned up with brake cleaner to finish off.

 

 

Next job was to fit the new bearings to both ends of the diff. These were an interference fit again, so heated one up and tried to push it on quickly. Not quick enough it seemed, so we decided to press them on instead. Which actually turned out to be much easier! Carefully pressed on the inner race to avoid the possibility of bearing damage...

 

 

Finished article ready to go in...

 

 

Far too pretty to be hiding away in a gearbox!!

 

 

Ok, so whilst I was faffing with the diff itself, Southy set about drilling out the standard roll pins that held the selectors together. One of them had to be tacked with a weld first. Afterwards he then tapped the holes and fitted a really strong high tensile bolt into them. 3 out of 4 rods needing strengthening...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the bolt heads need to be fairly flat due to the assembly of the gearbox and interference. Hence the necessary bolt heads and tails were ground down. Then each selector rod was welded over the top for strength...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the diff and rods all sorted, we now turned our attention to the case. I ensured that both diff rubber seals were tapped out, and also tapped out the input shaft seal. All cleaned up, then the new races were then hydraulically pressed in with appropriate shims behind...

 

 

 

 

The selector rods were cleaned up and put back in place on the gears. We then had a bit of a faff trying to relocate all the gears & new diff and mesh them correctly. Everything only really goes in one place, but they're not easy to get it...

 

 

 

 

We had to flip the box and gears over to the over casing a few times to try and get them all in. Success in the end! Then a layer of gasket maker was put on the mating surface before re-assembly...

 

 

 

Gearbox all nicely torqued back up ...

 

 

 

A good 5 hours work that was! I actually enjoyed doing it. Nice to work on a gearbox for the first time

 

I will now order my 3 new seals and big rubber end seal to be fitted as soon as they arrive. I also have a shim for any end play which I forgot to bring today (kindly donated by Kev!). So I'll be seeing if there's room for that to pop in to take any play out. Hopefully it won't need it.

Edited 29 October, 20178 yr by alex_e3

Top work guys

Enjoyed doing mine.. Not the smell though

Ha ha yes I know what you mean! Having to drive 150 miles with the smell of gearbox oil behind me all the way was not nice!!!

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Awesome work

Nice 

 

Poor Adam having to put up with you for 5 hours, bet he was well chuffed when it was back together to see the back of you!!!! 

Are you not suppose to shim the diff up before reassembly?

Southy was well glad to get shut of me I'm sure

Original shim was used and free play is within tolerance mate.

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Progress has been slow lately due to other things I've had to do. I'm back on it now until it's finished. So I finally did a job that I've been dreading today.... sealed the underside of the car.

 

Took me hours to do this today. I feel high as a kite still after being on the floor under the car with that stuff!

 

 

First I went along and took the middle exhaust crossmember off, lowered the fuel cooler, and removed all the hoses from the clips and then removed the clips themselves. I then cabled tied the rear brake lines together so I could manoeuvre them out of the way when painting. You can see where I've gone through the original protection where I've jacked the car up over the years...

 

 

 

 

Here's the end result. Needs touching in tomorrow in a few places, as it doesn't go on thick in places - mainly in the centre tunnel where the heat shield was...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gonna paint the front hubs and some other parts with Hammerite tomorrow and then start rebuilding the rear suspension and fit the new bearings.

Edited 29 October, 20178 yr by alex_e3