congrats on sticking it out. the trans will get easier to shift after the parts wear in over a day or two. see, that trans fix wasn't too tough, eh?

The trans fix was not that hard, as you said. I am more worried about the clutch.

It is amazing to me that I can drive down the road actually using a stack of loose gears that was sitting on my workbench two weeks ago to propel the car! I have set up differentials before, but this is more striking to me due to the movement of the gears. I can't help but visualize their movement as I shift.

One of the things I love about these cars is the fact that they are simple enough that you can use the process of elimination to determine what is wrong. I had spark, fuel, and air, but no compression, so that pretty much had to be it. Sure beats replacing expensive computer modules at the dealer.

Olivier

Way to go Olivier! You da man.

I would have never guessed it was the valves. But you got it going and I know that is a great feeling.

Your success may have let loose a monster.....yes I'm thinking of giving it a go, this from a guy that cant keep rod caps straight.

So JW, Olivier dont go anywhere. I'm going to need you.

Vol

you actually didn't have much fuel or air because the open valve let it all out on the compression stroke.

Vol,

I am the worst keeping things organized as I take them apart. If I ever rebuild my engine, I will literally haft to have my wife stand there and put a gun to my head to make me label and organize everything!

I am still having clutch chatter problems. I added as much preload as I can to the part of the clutch cable between the tunnel and the transmission, but the clutch still feels chattery leaing a stop in first gear.

Olivier

you know about rubber center vs spring center discs right?

Yes, I had a spring-centered regular Sachs and put in a spring-centered Sachs sport clutch.

I have been reading other posts about adding more preload to the Bowden tube that houes the clutch cable between the transmission and the center tunnel.

I added as much as I could, but I only have 3-4 threads showing on the tunnel side of the adjustment and that is all I can do before the entire cable starts rotating. It helped a little, but there is still a slight chattering.

I have been adjusting the bolt that pre-tensions the helper arm to the actual TO arm to see if that helps.

I had everything set to the specs in the Bentley manual, but that is what got me all the chatter.

I hope I have not fried the disk in the meantime!

Olivier

Last update - the car has been fine and the transmission does seem to be breaking in over time. 3/4 are taking the longest, and I may have to fine-tune my linkage even though it was perfect before the removal. I think it may be necessary due to the small changes in the fork positions, etc.

The clutch turned out to be not enough length in the cable because the clevis pin was screwed on too far, even though I followed the spec in the Bentley manual referring to how far onto the cable the clevis should be installed. Maybe they meant that much distance should be showing outside the clevis rather than inside the clevis. It would not be the first spec in the Bentley manual to be backwards.

Overall, I am glad I can add rebuilding the transmission to the list of things I can do myself. This is certainly not a money-saving route, though, as the parts most commonly replaced still add up to around $800-$1000.

Olivier

Way to go Oliver, my tranny took a few days to break in as I replaced all syncro, sliders & brake bands, along with dog teeth on 1 & 2. I've been driving it almost a week and it's shifting great. Third is sometimes a bit notchy, but all-in-all she's beautiful. I truely enjoy driving/shifting gears for the first time since buying her. This weekend I'm hoping to install my new Sines gate shift kit for the last shifting upgrade.

I dunno about the saving money part. Yes, we both went about $900 in parts (some I may not have needed) but to have a shop rebuild your tranny, they START at $1,500 if you hand them the tranny and that does not include all the stuff that I did. A professional rebuild with the parts I replaced would have easily been over $2k, so I'm sure I saved money. And now I KNOW how to rebuild one of these...it's not just getting there, it's also the journey :)

Good job brother, peace!

You're probably right about the rebuild costs, I was looking at estimated for just a first gear refresh back all that time ago!

I have the spring-centering kit on the shifter (like the Robotech), and it is great. My wife would never drive the car until after I put that in. I guess that could be a positive or a negative, though!