Winter Chassis Re-fresh

[wixer]

More fun in the garage today,

dry fit of new driveshaft & intermediate shaft

New intermediate shaft has a larger shaft diameter, I guess this was an specification upgrade during the cars life.

and more air-con seal changes

[wixer]

Hopefully this will be the final chapter in this winters overhaul. Fitted the last few bits back to the car, filled the gearbox with MTF3 & torqued everything up. Then came the moment to start the car & test to see that the clutch operated correctly, with it still on the ramp. BUT, I couldn't engage any gears properly & couldn't get into reverse at all, there was definitely no proper dis-engagement of the clutch........As you might guess, the air became a tad blue, at the possibility of having to remove the gearbox & clutch again.

After an email to Kaz & doing a few searches on the forums, I had a few ideas. Kaz suggested re-doing the clutch initialisation procedure & checking the pedal travel adjustment. Apparently the mid plate could get knocked out of place, if you struggle to get the gearbox back onto the engine, which did happen to me, working alone. I'd definitely recommend getting an assistant for anyone else who might attempt to do a DIY clutch change.

I re-set the initialisation and clutch pedal travel as per Kaz's video & re tested to see if the gears selected correctly & success, every gear could be engaged easily including reverse. I have yet to test drive the car, as I need to borrow a torque wrench to tighten the driveshaft axle nuts up, my largest torque wrench maxes out at 210n/m & the nut is 335n/m but fingers crossed, there'll be no more gear selection issues when I do go for a drive.

I also replaced the two air-con pipe seals at the front bulkhead. Not the easiest of tasks.....



but the two seals were in good shape, compared to some of the other seals I've replaced from the under floor connections but new ones now in the cleaned up joints.