Misc. tips & observations

[CFritz7001@aol.com]

My son and I are just finishing up fixing a broken rear plate on the tranny
of my TC. It started out (and was intended) to be merely a job of replacing
51-year-old rear tranny mounts, and installing a new rubber tranny cover, but
quickly escalated when I discovered the broken rear plate, meaning that the
engine and tranny had to come out, and while I was into it this deep---well,
most of you know how one thing leads to another--- In this far more involved
process than I'd innocently started, we ended up tearing the tranny down
completely, replacing the front & rear bearings and thrust washer assemblies,
and any other items which seemed suspect/worn. Here come the tips and
observations I promised:
1. READ the "sacred" little brown book (i.e. MANUAL)!!!!
2. If your rear tranny plate is broken where the mount is fastened (usually
this happens on the driver's side, I've been told), you WILL have to pull the
engine and tranny. You DON'T have to disturb the lower portion of the
firewall/scuttle to do this, IF you can devise a way to gradually tilt the
power unit up at the front during the lifting process. (This leads to tip
#2, which follows.)
3. To get the gradually increasing tilt we needed, David used a ratcheting
load-strap looped over the boom of the engine lifting crane, and hooked to
the chain end which was attached at the front of the engine. (These straps
are sold to cinch down loads--sorta like a miniature "come-a-long" winch,
only MUCH cheaper.) Worked like a charm, snagged the engine and tranny out
like taking off a pair of socks, despite the tight quarters!! We did not
even have to drop any of the steering rods.
4. Repairing the broken rear plate: We had the two pieces welded back
together, and installed external reinforcement plates (one one each side of
the tranny), and (mostly) the existing bolts/studs to mount them. In a
couple of places, it was necessary to use longer-than-stock bolts and
spacers so that the reinforcements sat level--for spacers, I used pipe
"nipples" shortened to fit. The reinforcerment plates are stainless steel
about 1/8 inch thick, but could also have ben made of slightly thicker plain
steel. (Sorry, I'm not calibrated in metric dimensions, you'll have to do
with the old English system!) The hardest part here was in drilling the
holes in correct locations--SS is TOUGH STUFF!
5. Installing the "lay-shaft": A piece of ordinary 3/4" OD electical
conduit, 7&1/2" long fits perfectly into the layshaft to hold the rollers,
etc. in place as the layshaft is lowered into its temporary location at the
bottom of the box. To raise it to its final position, we used a "cradle" two
pieces of light-gauge wire, looped over the sides of the box until the
mainshaft was installed, then twisted around a piece of wood (broom handle),
so that the layshaft could be raised to its final position, and the temporary
shaft pushed out with the layshat's shaft.
6. After much thought, David and I decided that, because of the tight
clearances between the tranny and the undisturbed toe board, it would be much
easier to install the tranny & clutch housing first, THEN the engine. We
also discovered that it's easiest if one installs the left-side mount on the
tranny, but the right-side mount on the chassis bracket (NOT on the tranny)
It's impossible to get the mount bolts into the chassis brackets if both
mounts are already bolted to the tranny!! The right-side mount-to-tranny
junction is the easiest one to make once the tranny is positioned properly.
This system worked perfectly--the tranny & bell housing unit was in and
bolted down inside of 15 minutes. with the help of a floor jack to do the
final raising into position.
7. Whiile stripping out the interior, I found that my carpeting was badly in
need or replacement. I had bought a batch of "industrial-strength" 2ft x
2ft rubber-backed carpet tiles some time ago, and found that the color and
pile are a pretty close match to the original TC carpeting, so you can guess
what hapened. The tiles are a lot easier to handle than the original pattern
of a few large pieces. I bought a roll of insulation (brand name is "Frost
King") used for air-conditioning ducting at Lowes for about $15. It has a
1/8" thick core of closed cell foam, an outer surface of aluminum foil, and
the other side is coated with an adhesive. The roll had just enough material
to cover the back side of all my carpeting with this heat and sound deadening
stuff.
8. Master cylinder access: I have always hated the process of peeling back
a big piece of carpet to get to my brake master cylinder, so with the new
carpet, I decided to make it easy.. I cut out a rectangele out of the carpet
just about 3/4" smaller all around than the rubber heel mat, which sits right
over the master cylinder access port. When the new heel mat arrives, I'll
have the local shoe-repairman sew the heel mat to the top of the removable
rectangle. Easy access means I'll check brake fluid level more frequently.
9. Years ago I lost all my brake fluid whan a pebble worked its way between
the bottom of the master cylinder and the stone/heat shield, wearing a hole
in the tin-can reservoir. My fix was to solder the hole shut, cover the
bottom of the reservoir by cementing on two layers of rubber cut from an old
inner tube, then re-install the cylinder and its shield. No pebbles are
going to cause me any more leaks there.
That's enough from me for now. Hope this helps someone.
Regards to all,
Carl Fritz