So a few pieces of progress news today.
Firstly, an outstanding effort by Matt Monson in getting the LSD and billet cover plate shipped, it must've been the very second that the wired funds cleared into his bank, and was sent at the end of your public holiday on Monday. It arrived here in Blighty before 10am this morning. Not seen any photos of it yet, it went straight to Fearnsport. Thanks Matt.
The transmission specialists have now stripped the gearbox. First findings show that there's axial and radial play on the lay shaft and the pinion shaft, requiring both of the bearings to be replaced that sit in the "tensioning plate". This plate also apparently needs to be replaced to remove the thrust play.....I'm certainly no transmission expert but having watched a few videos of 915 rebuilds, isn't the shim (Item 26 below) that sits behind the tensioning plate used to dial out any end-float?
If anyone here has experience of this, please let me know asap...a new plate (Item 1) (>$700, likely the same in GBP) is about to be ordered from Germany.
Both the 4-point bearings I think are in UK stock; hoping these are Items 15 and 24...in which case they're the slightly cheaper ones, £307 + VAT & £142 + VAT respectively. Not going to skimp on trying to source pattern parts, genuine all the way for this exercise. Just hoping that the other pair of bearings aren't also needed (#16, #23), they're £427 & £410 respectively! Also, no word yet on condition of the synchros, but I can feel slight notchiness on 2nd-3rd shifts, so am anticipating this will need attention as well.
In re-reading back through this thread (I knew it'd come in handy one day), I've also noticed a faux-pas on my behalf. During Build #1, I timed the cams up to 1.36mm at 0.1mm lash, ie., the factory timing of 1.26mm + 0.1mm tolerance they allow.
For some reason, on Build #2, I timed to 1.26mm. No idea why, and upon speaking with Chris earlier, this is likely to give a few more top end bhp, but at the sacrifice of low end torque. Moving to 1.36mm will lose me a few hp but for a road build, the additional low down torque will be more appropriate. Fearnsport are re-timing it, while the engine is out.
I'm hoping to get up to Silverstone on Monday to watch the transmission being rebuilt - I want to actually eyeball what I've just spent £3k on with the new Guard diff and cover! Besides, I find transmission rebuilds fascinating to watch, having never attempted one myself.