So, another day and some fixing to be done.
Heat exchangers off
What a bu$$3r getting the barrel nuts off was though.
My standard 3/8” drive allen head socket is too fat to fit into / through the holes in the heat exchangers, so previously I used the long allen head socket (right above). Unfortunately, the barrel nuts had gone on so far that the rounded end of this socket wouldn’t grip the barrel nuts enough to extract them. So onto plan C, but even trying the ring spanner on the short end of the allen key failed me. Plan D involved a grinder and an old 8mm allen key. The result was the short length in the middle above, which when used with the ¼” drive set and an 8mm socket did the job. Note to self – use a washer under the barrel nuts when reassembling.
B4st4rd oil pipe fitted
And heat exchangers refitted (and I did remember the washers)
Oil pipe connections tightened once I was sure that the h/ex would fit
Further observations – I ‘ave an ‘ole
I am assuming this is from the air pump which had gone before I got the car. Not going to weld now that things are painted, but some panel glue may be useful. I suppose I could make a removable plate, just in case I want to refit an air pump (joke about that last bit).
There also seems to be something missing from here. I’m sure I’ll work it out in a bit.
I couldn’t find the connector for the reversing light switch and I didn’t have any female connectors that would fit on the male pins coming out of the switch. Rose Passion had the best prices for the rubber cover boot, two connectors and a few of the captive nuts that go under the rear access panel (access to the shifter coupling).
When the bits arrived, I realised that the male pins poking out of the switch were in fact the connectors that should be soldered to the wires. They were in quite hard, but realising that they did some out of the switch, verified by Google images of the switch, I was sufficiently aggressive and managed to pull them out with some long nosed pliers.
At least it was easier to solder my wires into virgin holes (sorry Phill) that trying to melt out the solder from the old ones (now my spare ones). All now connected but not checked, so I hope that the switch still works. Now is not a good time to think that I should have checked the switch just before refitting the gearbox. It worked when I parked it, but ……
Drive shafts fitted
Mother of God (to be slightly topical), how on earth are you expected to get the grease into the CVs without it getting everywhere, including places you haven’t even been !
I am glad that the CVs were supplied with 80g sachets of grease, as trying to weigh out the right quantity would have put me in a spin.
Bringing us up to date, today was connect and adjust the clutch
The manual is a classic ‘and reassembly is simply the reverse’…. Yeah, right. The omega spring just didn’t look right (even though I realised that I had put it on the release arm upside down and had to swap it around). I tried it every which way, then resorted to Google. There was a great Pelican post showing where it was necessary to belt a huge dent in to the SSI type h/exchangers to allow the spring to fit. However, as I got the h/ex from Chris Taylor who had them fitted to his SC, I didn’t see why such drastic action was required. Further reading enlightened us, dear readers, to the fact that this particular writer on Pelican was an ejit.
Having worked out how to fit the arm (place it with the spring loosely in place, then use a big screw-driver to pull the arm towards the rear of the car and ‘flick’ the spring over centre), I can see what the Bentley dis-assembly was about and therefore what reassembly intended. It was not at all clear when disassembly had occurred a few years back.
My next mental issuette was adjusting the clutch. Step 1 is to fit the little arm and adust the stop bolt to give a 1.2mm clearance. Then fit the clutch cable and adjust the cable to give a 1.0mm clearance at the stop bolt. Simples…….except there was no way that my clutch cable would fit…..
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This is when I realised that the clutch pedal is sprung in the cabin and was currently sitting in the fully depressed state (a bit like me lying under the car at the time). By jamming the pedal in the fully up position, I suddenly had plenty of cable. Can you tell that I’ve never worked on a 911 before ?
I do need some replacement spring clip for the end of the clutch release arm pivot. I had a 19mm clip but it was too loose & the 16 too small, so I’ve ordered some 18 and 17mm versions.
With everything (except the silencer) now fitted, it was time to lower the car. I had the oil breather pipes to fit, and the car was previously too high to reach. I also needed to tighten the rear shock top mounts.
So car back on terra firma
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Still a little high, but definitely no longer looking quite so much like the safari option. It’s about 350 from the ground to the middle of the rear arches and 380 at the front.
New set of boots (PS4) ordered today to fit my new wheels. Well, it avoids having to clean the old ones.
Oil breather pipes, from the engine breather on top of the block to the tank and from the tank to the airbox, both fitted. It was a pain in the ar$e to reach behind the airbox to refit the breather there, and if doing it again, I’d remember to fit it before installing the engine.
I added about 8 litres of oil so feel a little safer now. Not sure quite how much to add, but my plan is to spin the engine over without plugs to build up pressure before checking levels. I’m assuming that I’ll need around 10-11 litres until the thermostat opens up, then another 2 or 3. Even though the starter relay is out (not standard, but added and hidden as part of my alarm system), and the engine has (had ?) plenty of engine build lubricant, I’d hate the engine to be spun over by mistake.
So, next jobs are to see how the silencer fits with the rear valance. It’s a 2 out Dansk unit and the valance only has an exhaust cut out on the near side, so I’m expecting more metal work in my near future (I have a spare rear valance, still in primer). Also, I need to identify the scraping when selecting 5th or reverse. I’m hoping (naive or what) that I can remove the auto heater without removing the driver’s seat (again), but I reckon that I’ll need the seat out to be able to get into the access hatch and spring off the actuating arm.
I’ll also look to paint the petrol tank, as I have my (future) son in law’s motorbike tank to spray.
Now I'll get to see how easy it is the remove and refit them while lying on my back. I guess it was a lot easier when the engine was sitting inverted on the stand, but I didn't want to risk damaging the oil pipe. Bad call - should have fitted the pipe or left the h/ex until now.
