Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Jul 2004
- Posts
- 20,344
- Location
- Stanley Hotel, Colorado
Looks like you ripped that driveshaft out with one hand, so I wont argue on your choice of plate font 
My Rally Project
- Thread starter Lopéz
- Start date
Wasn't planning to do a lot this week, but after dinner I was feeling fidgety so I decided to crack on.
Firstly, the driver side driveshaft. Apparently notoriously tricky and awkward to do.
Undo the 2 11mm nuts that hold in the intermediate bearing, undo hub nut, split balljoint and lower the arm same as the other side, then use hammer and drift to knock it out. Piece of the proverbial.
Then, use a 13mm spanner and lever off the gear linkage rods.
After this was done I decided to unbolt the top engine mount again on the driver side.
This meant I could lean the engine forward a bit and cut out the bolt that holds the manifold to the downpipe (the first bolt was cut off a while ago, this one required more room to get the grinder in)
Whoops-a-daisy
I forgot that would happen
Firstly, the driver side driveshaft. Apparently notoriously tricky and awkward to do.
Undo the 2 11mm nuts that hold in the intermediate bearing, undo hub nut, split balljoint and lower the arm same as the other side, then use hammer and drift to knock it out. Piece of the proverbial.
Then, use a 13mm spanner and lever off the gear linkage rods.
After this was done I decided to unbolt the top engine mount again on the driver side.
This meant I could lean the engine forward a bit and cut out the bolt that holds the manifold to the downpipe (the first bolt was cut off a while ago, this one required more room to get the grinder in)
Whoops-a-daisy
I forgot that would happen
Last edited:
Sensing that I had reached somewhat of a "Point Of No Return", as the car was sticking out the garage doors with a half fitted engine, I decided I'd better carry on.
So, unbolt the last engine mount
And disconnect the speedo drive
Lets the engine sit flat on the floor
So, jack the car up, high as it will go, rock the engine backwards, and slide that sucker outta there
One knackered 1.6 XU engine. Never raced or rallied.
Leaving me with this. Ta da!
I think that'll do for tonight, I'm off for a soak in the bath.
So, unbolt the last engine mount
And disconnect the speedo drive
Lets the engine sit flat on the floor
So, jack the car up, high as it will go, rock the engine backwards, and slide that sucker outta there
One knackered 1.6 XU engine. Never raced or rallied.
Leaving me with this. Ta da!
I think that'll do for tonight, I'm off for a soak in the bath.
Last edited:
Fantastic work! Has Kate seen the state of the garage floor yet? I doubt she'll be pleased
Is it true that hub nuts usually have a reverse thread? I've tried to undo one with a large breaker bar in the past but it wasn't having any of it... if the thread is reverse then that explains it all!
Is it true that hub nuts usually have a reverse thread? I've tried to undo one with a large breaker bar in the past but it wasn't having any of it... if the thread is reverse then that explains it all!
Every driveshaft nut I've undone has been a normal thread, use more leverage and eat more weetabix
Nice going Leon, your updates are putting mine to shame
Makes a change!Nice going Leon, your updates are putting mine to shame
agw_01 said:Fantastic work! Has Kate seen the state of the garage floor yet? I doubt she'll be pleased
She has. It's MY garage so it doesn't matter
As for the hub nuts, I had to stand on a 24" breaker bar, both feet on it and bounce until the nut cracked loose.
Eat more Weetabix/pies.
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Jan 2004
- Posts
- 12,773
- Location
- Leicestershire
it does undo normally, i use a halfords extension bar with a 4ft bar over the end of it. works a treat.
Yep, garage is here at the house.
As for Hydrate80, it certainly *looks* effective, seems to do what it says on the tin. All the magazine tests seem to rate it as the best too. I guess I won't know for sure until it does/doesn't start rusting in a year or 2
Next job = strip out the engine bay and degrease (it's seriously coated in oil, it's awful)
Oh and clear up the oil slick so I can work without sliding about everywhere
Couldn't care less about the garage floorFantastic work! Has Kate seen the state of the garage floor yet? I doubt she'll be pleased
I was more concerned with the walking, talking oil slick that appeared out of the garage at about 9pm. He was made to strip within seconds of entering the house Been busy with work this week but still got some stuff done.
The majority of work has been degreasing - cleaning down an oily engine bay is horrible work, fiddly, tedious, messy and smelly. I'm sure I can still taste Gunk this morning.
Been removing bits as I go, still undecided as to what I'm doing about the petrol pipe system - it's cumbersome and bulky and I want to bin it and replace with an inline filter, but I need to check if I can still make a sufficiently fuel-tight connection to the injector rail first.
Anyway, here's where I'm at so far.
Before:
After:
Still got loads to do, but it's incredibly boring so I've taken a break
The majority of work has been degreasing - cleaning down an oily engine bay is horrible work, fiddly, tedious, messy and smelly. I'm sure I can still taste Gunk this morning.
Been removing bits as I go, still undecided as to what I'm doing about the petrol pipe system - it's cumbersome and bulky and I want to bin it and replace with an inline filter, but I need to check if I can still make a sufficiently fuel-tight connection to the injector rail first.
Anyway, here's where I'm at so far.
Before:
After:
Still got loads to do, but it's incredibly boring so I've taken a break
Last edited:
Well, nothing exciting happened last night.
Removed the 4 bolts that hold the gearbox to the engine and wiggled the gearbox a lot until it fell off That thing needs a serious dose of Gunk to clean it down, it must weight twice as much as it's meant to given the amount of grime on it.
Flywheel off and clutch out, new clutch is on the way and I'm going to try and get the flywheel lightened by a local company.
Hydrate80'd a bit more of the engine bay corrosion.
Removed the bonnet because it was blocking the light working up by the bulkhead.
Took the top water distribution block off the old engine because it's different to the one on the new engine and thus needs swapping over.
Not very exciting or worthy of pics but I shall continue tonight!
Removed the 4 bolts that hold the gearbox to the engine and wiggled the gearbox a lot until it fell off
That thing needs a serious dose of Gunk to clean it down, it must weight twice as much as it's meant to given the amount of grime on it.Flywheel off and clutch out, new clutch is on the way and I'm going to try and get the flywheel lightened by a local company.
Hydrate80'd a bit more of the engine bay corrosion.
Removed the bonnet because it was blocking the light working up by the bulkhead.
Took the top water distribution block off the old engine because it's different to the one on the new engine and thus needs swapping over.
Not very exciting or worthy of pics but I shall continue tonight!
dont worry about that, when i was welding at college it was just classic bird ****[*]I am not the world's greatest welder
Associate
- Joined
- 16 Mar 2006
- Posts
- 410
- Location
- Telford
Tonights conclusion is that
- Gasless MIGs can weld an inner wing
- It ain't pretty
- Weld spatter takes ages to grind down
- I am not the world's greatest welder
I know that feelingI find plain old petrol better than Gunk etc. for degreasing stuff - cheaper too even at today's prices
Grrrr welding is on hold, managed to weld the wire to the tip and realised I don't have any spares to hand.
In the mean time Kate pulled the outside tap off the wall with her bare hands (why are women so cack-handed?) so I've had to switch into DIY mode for the weekend instead.
Anyway, here are the pics of my welding so far.
You can see the hole much better from this side so I'm going to weld from underneath at first.
Grinding away all that underseal takes a surprisingly long time. You also have to cut back any little corroded edges as the welder will just burn through weak metal like this.
One plate. I used an old brake pad box as a template, then cut this out of my sheet metal with a grinder as I don't have any snips. After that I bent it to shape with a hammer over a paving slab. This basic plate was then trimmed down until it fitted nicely.
First bits of welding done. Strong but very messy! Welded the plate from underneath too (much harder) to stop water ingress. Now that the top side is secure I used a hammer and drift to flatten the other face so it's all pretty much flush.
Finish off by welding the other side and joining the gaps. Pigeon-crap city!
This will all need grinding flush, which will expose any weak spots in the weld, which I will touch up as needed. Then it will get primed, given a thick coat of Schutz ready for topcoat so it will be relatively disguised.
Same applies for underneath but with lots of Schutz over it to make it look less conspicuous. As long as it's strong I don't honestly care, the car isn't being built to win shows!
It's not pretty but I am getting better. Welding on a bench with 2 shiny pieces of metal is pretty easy. When you are welding together different thickness metals, laying on your back, with a lead lamp to help you see what you are doing, trying to fit your head (and helmet) under a wheelarch it all gets a bit trickier!
I'm definitely going to source a gas bottle and regulator though. Gasless welding is MUCH harder to get right IMO if you are doing bodywork, the amount of spatter and mess you get (even with shiny metal) is phenomenal. It will take longer to grind that mess down than it did to weld in the first place.
In the mean time Kate pulled the outside tap off the wall with her bare hands (why are women so cack-handed?) so I've had to switch into DIY mode for the weekend instead.
Anyway, here are the pics of my welding so far.
You can see the hole much better from this side so I'm going to weld from underneath at first.
Grinding away all that underseal takes a surprisingly long time. You also have to cut back any little corroded edges as the welder will just burn through weak metal like this.
One plate. I used an old brake pad box as a template, then cut this out of my sheet metal with a grinder as I don't have any snips. After that I bent it to shape with a hammer over a paving slab. This basic plate was then trimmed down until it fitted nicely.
First bits of welding done. Strong but very messy! Welded the plate from underneath too (much harder) to stop water ingress. Now that the top side is secure I used a hammer and drift to flatten the other face so it's all pretty much flush.
Finish off by welding the other side and joining the gaps. Pigeon-crap city!
This will all need grinding flush, which will expose any weak spots in the weld, which I will touch up as needed. Then it will get primed, given a thick coat of Schutz ready for topcoat so it will be relatively disguised.
Same applies for underneath but with lots of Schutz over it to make it look less conspicuous. As long as it's strong I don't honestly care, the car isn't being built to win shows!
It's not pretty but I am getting better. Welding on a bench with 2 shiny pieces of metal is pretty easy. When you are welding together different thickness metals, laying on your back, with a lead lamp to help you see what you are doing, trying to fit your head (and helmet) under a wheelarch it all gets a bit trickier!
I'm definitely going to source a gas bottle and regulator though. Gasless welding is MUCH harder to get right IMO if you are doing bodywork, the amount of spatter and mess you get (even with shiny metal) is phenomenal. It will take longer to grind that mess down than it did to weld in the first place.
Last edited: