Felly Fav and Trum. *Wanna see a fupped gearbox?*

[Yoss]

So I have rebuilt one of these gearboxes before (this one in fact) but in 1997 and under the supervision of somebody who knew what they were doing so I really don't know what I'm looking at. 

Fourth gear and the 3rd/4th synchro hub slid off easily enough but then I hit a problem. There is what looks like a broken circlip. 

I tried various circlip pliers and screwdrivers seen here pointing at the two gaps. 

So, after much poking and studying the workshop manual I notice these are called split collars. So they're not broken, there are supposed to be two of them. After about an hour of studying this picture...

...and reading the text and going back and poking it again all of a sudden this ring popped off. 

And the collars just fell out. It's so obvious once you know. The collars sit in a groove in the main shaft, the retaining ring goes over them to stop them falling out then the next gear slides on keeping the whole lot in place. 

Genius. One of those moments when you feel clever and stupid and the same time. There are several of these collars going down the mainshaft separating each gear. After the first one I just used a magnet and they just pop out. 

This is third gear and I have to say it looks pretty good, same with second gear. A couple of minor marks but if they were the only ones left on the planet I'd happily put them back in a gearbox after a clean up. 

I got down as far as the 1st/2nd synchro hub with only 1st gear and one synchro ring behind it but it won't budge. It moves a bit but I think there is a slight burr on the edge of the splines that hold it to the mainshaft. 

The workshop manual tells me to use special tool S323 which of course I don't have.  No idea how it works, the picture shows a big black cylinder. I suspect there are some sort of jaws in there and it's a fancy hub puller. The manual doesn't explain because it is a genuine Triumph workshop manual for genuine Triumph workshop people, not a Haynes manual, so they assume you know what this tool is. 

 

But as the wierd noise on the new* gearbox is on 3rd and 4th I figure I don't need to go this far anyway so I'm leaving it there. 

This morning I practiced refitting the little plates and springs in the synchro hub. These. 

I think these are what give the positive click as you change gear. It's a bit fiddly and they fall out quite easily and the big round springs pop off quite easily too until you get a synchro ring either side. Then you have to put the selector rod on at the same time as you slide it all on to the mainshaft. A few times it all pinged apart and I had to start again but I've got the knack now so I feel confident I can do it on the gearbox in the car and not have it all collapse on me. 

I feel I need to get the hang of it because I have to work through this hole. 

And this is from further back sitting in the drivers seat.

So I think I'm ready to do it now. 

 

[Yoss]

Well that didn't go to plan. 

It is tricky getting the centre plate off from inside the car. The first problem was the speedo gear which has to come off to remove the centre plate. On the other gearbox it just pulled off though it has to be a fairly tight fit so it doesn't slip on the end of the main shaft where it sits. It is just a push fit, there is no key or anything to stop it spinning but as the speedo doesnt really put any load on it I don't suppose it matters.

I tried a small puller and it just pulled the nylon bit off the knurled metal bit it sits on. 

And you are left with this. 

This is after I'd removed the centre plate but I can't go any further until I get that knurled bit off as the gears won't go past it. 

But more problematic was that when I removed the centre plate it didn't come off in the same way as the the other gearbox. The layshaft stayed attatched to the centre plate instead of staying in the box.  Here it is lying on the subframe. 

Unfortunately the spindle that the layshaft sits on pulled out too far and all the needle rollers fell out into the bottom of the 'box. 

So that's more work. It could have been worse I suppose, they could have fallen on the floor. 

But more annoying, the third/fourth selector rod stayed attatched and pulled the synchro sleeve with it. 

Obviously this was, I think, where the strange noise was coming from and I was hoping to get the cover off and find the problem but the problem area has just collapsed in to the bottom of the 'box. 

Also with the synchro sleeve off, the little rectangular shifting plates... 

...these...

...also fell out and the only way to reassemble them is to get the synchro hub off and I can't do that until I can get the remains of the speedo drive off. 

The chances of me being able to rebuild this without taking it back out of the car are diminishing rapidly. 

On the plus side the layshaft, the idler cluster and the gears I can see all look perfect. 

So I still have all the parts I need to make a working gearbox but not necessarily in the right order. 

I realise these last two posts are just pictures of random bits of gearbox which don't really mean a lot unless you're here to see them all together but I'm taking the pictures, and lots more besides, for my own reference. But have one more picture anyway. This is what the footwell of the car looks like at the moment. 

It looks a little daunting but I'm sure it will all go back together. Eventually. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

It is impressive that you do this job yourself I would never have dared to and delivered the gearbox to a specialist instead.

[Yoss]

59 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

It is impressive that you do this job yourself I would never have dared to and delivered the gearbox to a specialist instead.

Thanks but I'm more impressed with the work you're doing on your Mercedes and the speed your doing it. 

I've done every other job on this car, I've had it 27 years, and whilst this is one of the more complex and time consuming ones it is still fairly simple for a gearbox. 

It also helps that I have a spare gearbox to practice on plus a proper Triumph workshop manual. On top of that I have this little book of service training notes. 

But unfortunately I don't have Filmstrip no. 746 to go with it. 

 

But it is full of useful pictures like this. 

I just wish I had some of the special tools. I'm getting round most of it but it would be so much easier with them. 

 

[Yoss]

We're taking green Favorit on holiday in a couple of weeks so I'm giving it a bit of a service. Noticed the front tyres are getting a bit low. Looked at the price of new ones but decided I may as well use the Ronals I had in the garage that were previously on the Felicia. 

Not sure which ones I prefer. The black Team Dynamics go with the mass of black plastic on the car but I'm attracted to the shinyness of the Ronals like a magpie. They are actually nowhere near as good as they look in this picture. I spent an afternoon rubbing down the white powdery bits, repolishing and putting a bit of laquer on them. I think they have now become my winter wheels. 

 

Thought I might as well stick this picture in. 

I was parked here to go the cinema out of shot to the right but building behind is Southamptons fanciest hotel. You normally get a few fancy yachts here (I mean it's all relative, we're not talking Monaco or Cannes but fancy for Southampton) but the small one attached to that very tall mast has more kudos than all the fancy ones. Used for the Vendee Globe single handed round the world yacht race. Very niche and no doubt very expensive. 

[Yoss]

I've recently fitted a new stereo as the DAB stopped working on the old one and I've had to resort to listening to Radio 2 instead of 6 Music and we can't have that. But now one of the speakers has started distorting. It doesn't help that they are only attached to the door trims with two push on nut things like this. 

This is because the original ones were oval but they were properly knackered so these are actually the ones out of the Felicia. But being round only two of the four holes lined up. And of course these are also 24 years old. 

So I picked up a pair of Pioneer speakers of roughly the same size but this time I've screwed them in to the doors themselves with plenty of gaffer tape between the speakers and metal. 

They don't quite line up with the original speaker grilles but they aren't far off and the sound is much improved and it still looks standard.

I can turn it right up without the all the CDs in the door pockets vibrating too as they are attached to the doors not the door trims. 

I tried it out with this, 

as I'm not allowed to have this on when Mrs Yoss is in the car. 

[Yoss]

Back to the gearbox for a bit. Previously I couldn't get this remnant of the speedo drive off of the end of the mainshaft. 

The knurled bit. 

 

So I bought this mini puller.

It is designed for alternator bearings and the like but as there was such a small gap between the remains of the speedo drive and fourth gear I couldn't get the jaws of a normal puller in there. This has two threaded pins to hold the jaws together but these were too close together to fit over the end of the mainshaft so I had to use a cable tie instead. 

 

It took a couple of attempts but bingo... 

 

Then I started cleaning the roller bearings that had fallen out of the layshaft from the bottom of the gearbox. These. 

But also there were a couple of split collars and four shifting plates. Three of those would have fallen out of the 3rd/4th synchro hub when I took the back plate off. But the other one... ? Also two of them are a bit chewed up. 

The split collars are the thicker ones from either between 1st/2nd or 2nd/3rd. But this might explain the problem as without them the gears can move up and down the shaft a bit. Not much but enough to cause the noise I heard as it felt like it wasn't quite engaging or not quite letting go. This could have been the problem. 

 

Another problem is that the good layshaft has the circlip and retaining ring for the needle rollers missing at one end. The other shaft still has them but has lumps missing out of several teeth. 

Old shaft with circlip and retaining ring and needle rollers. 

 

And the other old shaft with none of the above. The circlip groove is clearly visible. 

I reckon it was running like this as there is no sign of circlip or retaining ring anywhere in the gearbox. The needle rollers couldn't fall out as that end face butts up against a thrust washer but they would have an awful lot of end float and it would explain why some of the rollers were a bit shorter with slightly chewed ends! 

I think I shall be taking these to a friend who has a background in engineering and many special tools. I have various circlip pliers but none of them are going to work on this. 

 

So now both gearboxes are in a similar state of dismantlement I am leaning towards rebuilding the original box. This will of course mean removing the engine again and splitting it from the new box and putting it back on the old one. 

But I am faced with the option of rebuilding this one...

Which is sitting in the front of the garage angled up towards me with lots of natural light. Or this one...

Which is only accessible through a hole in the bulkhead at an awkward angle with no natural light. It'll be more actual work but I sense a lot less swearing when trying to fit split collars and holding synchro hubs together if doing it outside the car. 

[Ian_Fearn]

On 9/11/2022 at 5:04 PM, Yoss said:

Not sure which ones I prefer. The black Team Dynamics go with the mass of black plastic on the car but I'm attracted to the shinyness of the Ronals like a magpie. They are actually nowhere near as good as they look in this picture. I spent an afternoon rubbing down the white powdery bits, repolishing and putting a bit of laquer on them. I think they have now become my winter wheels. 

I rarely have any opinion on wheels (except I prefer standard ones) but for some reason those Ronal Turbos just look absolutely fabulous on this car.

For info, I think the Favorit is also fabulous!

[Yoss]

33 minutes ago, Ian_Fearn said:

I rarely have any opinion on wheels (except I prefer standard ones) but for some reason those Ronal Turbos just look absolutely fabulous on this car.

For info, I think the Favorit is also fabulous!

Cheers, I like the standard wheels too which is why I have them on the blue Favorit with no plans for anything else but this car can't take 13" wheels any more because of the uprated brakes. It might just take 14"s but I don't have any of those lying around. 

[Yoss]

So, back to the gearbox. I'm not rushing this. I could go quicker but I can't be arsed half the time. 

So leading on from the last post, I took both layshafts round my friends to get the circlip out of the mangled one. But we then found that the one without the mangled teeth, which had the circlip and retaining washers missing had worn quite badly where the needle rollers were able to float back and forth. The retaining washers are supposed to be a tight fit, you tap them in and out but in this shaft they just float about.

So I have one shaft knackered on the outside and one knackered on the inside. If I had to use one I'd use the one with better teeth, I'm sure a bit of play in the needle rollers would still last me a good while with the mileage I do with it. But there was a third option. Ring another friend who I knew had a couple of spare gearboxes. So I went over there on Friday and removed the layshaft from one of those. I slid the shaft gently out to check the circlip, retaining washers and needle rollers were all present and they were so I slid the shaft back in before the rollers had a chance to escape, bagged it up and brought it home with me. Sorry, no pictures but as I said before, it's just more pictures of gears. 

 

Also previously I was stuck with first/second synchro hub and first gear itself still stuck on the mainshaft. All the other gears just slid off but these last ones were sticking on what I assume is a slight burr on the mainshaft. Both gearboxes were the same and I assume this is normal otherwise Triumph wouldn't have made a special tool to remove them. Figure 28 below. 

You can't see what's inside but suspected it was just a fancy puller. It needs to be about 10 inches long to fit over the mainshaft. I have pullers but nothing that long. I found some for sale but they started at £40 and they weren't here now. As with all these jobs that need special tools, they don't usually need special tools they just need a bit of ingenuity. So I basically disassembled all the pullers I had and joined them together to come up with this. 

 

This just about worked on the gearbox in the garage but I just couldn't get it to stay on on the one in the car. As I say it's just so much fiddlier trying to work through that little hatch inside the car. More ingenuity was called for. 

This little tyre lever was just long enough that when I hooked the end behind first gear the other end stuck out the end of the box giving me room to clamp the G clamp on the end. I could use this first as a hand hold and then had just enough room to tap it with the hammer. 

Then I found the next problem. Up until now I had left reverse alone. It is up in the top of the box away from all the forward gears and I was hoping I wouldn't have to touch it. But you then realise first gear is bigger than the others, which is obvious when you think about it, and it catches on the reverse selector rod thing. 

This is the homemade puller just extracting first/second synchro. Reverse is on the top left. 

 

So reverse had to come out too. On both boxes.

So finally I got first gear out and as expected it had a few chunks out of it which I was expecting as the corresponding gear on the layshaft was damaged. Fortunately the other first gear is good so I now have everything I need to start putting it all back together. 

I mean I couldn't have stripped it any further. Look, no gears. 

As I write I have finally started putting bits back in. So far just reverse and first and I've cleaned up the first synchro hub ready but that's it. Slow but sure. 

I even have new synchro rings. Rimmers were selling them off cheap a few years ago so I bought a whole bag full. 

I've got ten spares. 

Well, I've got eight left now. To be honest the old ones looked OK but you might as well put new ones in whilst it's apart. I actually only changed first and second as they are the synchros that do all the work. You never have trouble selecting third or fourth however old the box is. 

[Yoss]

The rebuild has been going on a little at a time, most of the time being spent cleaning the old potentially contaminated oil off of everything. I didn't take many pictures because it really is just more cogs. 

But there are a few here. 

The replacement layshaft from my friend. 

Cable tied at each end to stop the spindle dropping out because they do very easily then all the needle rollers fall out. Looking at the parts book the early boxes had bushes, phosphur bronze I presume, rather than needle rollers which would make life a lot easier when rebuilding but they must have swapped for a good reason as replacing two bushes with dozens of tiny rollers must have cost more. 

 

Another new discovery here. I thought this was just a part of the moulding of the centre plate but as I started trying to clean all the gunk out it moved. 

Turns out to be a magnet. It just sits in this recess collecting swarf. Once cleaned... 

Obviously completely overwhelmed by all the shrapnel in this one but a nice touch. 

This is all the cogs finally in place. 

And the centre plate covering them with most of the selector mechanism in place. 

 

You will see here that I upended the gearbox as that seemed the easiest way to do it, especially when loading all the gears and synchro hubs on to the mainshaft. Dropping them in one at a time and fitting the split collars in the grooves. This would have been very tricky working on the box in the car and I can't see how you'd do it. I know it can be done, probably with all the special tools but I'm glad I did it this way. I've actually quite enjoyed it, I've learned a fair bit on the way. 

And here it is all boxed up. 

The screwdriver was used to select gears in the absence of the gearlever. 

All* I have to do now is swap it with the one in the car. 

 

[Yoss]

So the gearbox is all back together and ready to be fitted. So the first thing I had to do was repair the sack trucks. They live outside and the end caps had rusted and fallen off leaving the wheels free to follow suit. So I had to drill holes through the axles and put big split pins through. 

Not pretty but it works. The sack trucks are an essential tool in Triumph FWD gearbox swaps. Laid horizontal as such... 

And then lift the gearbox on. 

This is just about the limit of how far I can lift it on my own. You will also note the trolley jack. This is then used to get the gearbox level because when filling it there is no dipstick, you just fill it until it reaches the level of the filler plug. 

So I put the first litre in and went to get some more, official figure is 1.3 litres, when I noticed it was already leaking. I tried tightening the bolts and there was a little movement but not enough to make any difference. 

So I went back indoors to consider my actions and drink coffee when I remembered the gasket betwixt the centre and back plate was an odd shape at the bottom, and of course it was leaking. 

You can see here it doesn't follow the line of the mating face. 

But the packet said 1300 and 1500 FWD so I thought oh well and put more Wellseal on the missing bit. 

But consulting the book does show the 1300 centre plate is slightly different. 

I knew the aluminium casting of the back plate was different as the 1500 has a beefed up gearbox mount but I assumed the centre plate was the same. Well apparently not. 

So I whipped the back plate off again (meaning all the oil falls out again) and used part of a spare gasket that was roughly the right radius and stuck it on

It's just tacked on here, it fitted better once I'd smeared it in Wellseal and flattened it out. Then put lots more Wellseal on the corresponding bit of the backplate and stuck it all back together. 

I've left it to set overnight. Tomorrow I will refill it with oil, but not a whole litre at once this time. A bit at a time and keep checking. 

Then I'll be ready for the swap. Everything on the car is undone and the rope is attached ready for the lift so I may get it done tomorrow but I won't hold my breath. 

[jonathan_dyane]

Great work, I've never been inside a gearbox before to this level (and I hope I don't have to).

*Top tip* it's pretty easy to make a gasket from a sheet of thick brown paper (the sort of stuff you might wrap parcels in). Just cut roughly to size and place over where in needs to live then you use a spanner to tap the brown paper, the sharpness of the casting will cut it to shape. Start over a bolt hole and then when you have created the hole drop in the bolt. Sort out the bolt holes first and drop the bolts in then do the edges. 

Alas a gasket which is in separate parts like the one you have created invariably will leak it's just a question of to what degree.

[jonathan_dyane]

Actually parcel brown paper is probably too thin. I usually use brown paper bags from work

[Yoss]

10 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Great work, I've never been inside a gearbox before to this level (and I hope I don't have to).

*Top tip* it's pretty easy to make a gasket from a sheet of thick brown paper (the sort of stuff you might wrap parcels in). Just cut roughly to size and place over where in needs to live then you use a spanner to tap the brown paper, the sharpness of the casting will cut it to shape. Start over a bolt hole and then when you have created the hole drop in the bolt. Sort out the bolt holes first and drop the bolts in then do the edges. 

Alas a gasket which is in separate parts like the one you have created invariably will leak it's just a question of to what degree.

 

10 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Actually parcel brown paper is probably too thin. I usually use brown paper bags from work

I appreciate the advice but it would have been a very fiddly shape. I shall rely on the power of Wellseal, it's good stuff. I only used a smear the first time to keep the gasket in place whilst putting it together. This time I've trowelled it on around the bottom. 

Only time will tell but I've just put half a litre of oil in and come in for a coffee. 

We shall see when I go back out but last time it was dripping out almost immediately. 

[Yoss]

Well there were no leaks so off we go. 

The engine is out. 

And on the deck, and the clutch is refitted. 

The clutch only had to come out to get to a little grub screw to remove the reverse gear shaft. Normally you'd leave it on. Lunch time now. 

[MiniMinorMk3]

14 hours ago, jonathan_dyane said:

Actually parcel brown paper is probably too thin. I usually use brown paper bags from work

Cereal or washing powder boxers are good for gaskets.

[Yoss]

Engine and original gearbox are reunited. 

Could have done without the shower that arrived just as I was readying the sump gasket, had to throw a bit of ply over the open sump smartish but you have to deal with these things working on a drive. 

[Matty]

Bloody hell Yoss, that's a tall old lump all things considered!

[Yoss]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

Bloody hell Yoss, that's a tall old lump all things considered!

Yeah, don't I know it. 

Well the engine and new* box are back in the car. It's a bit more of a palava getting it in than out but that's the case with most things. No pictures on the way because I just wanted to get it done but here it is back in the garage. 

It has go in to the engine bay at angle with the clutch end hanging down to get it under the hole in the bulkhead so there's lots of dumping it on the subframe and sliding the hook along the rope and lifting it again and pushing and pulling the front around but it's in now. The front engine mounts are in. The rear isn't yet but I can do that in the garage with a trolley jack. 

All* I have to do now is join everything up but I can do that a bit at a time in the garage. This was the one job that once started I had to finish in one go and that's done now so I'm quite relieved. 

 

You'd think this box would be lighter seeing as it's empty. It's not noticeably. I think all the weight is in the cast iron shell. 

 

[Yoss]

Haven't updated this for a while because I really couldn't be arsed to get out and put it back together. But I have just got enough together to be able to start it. 

And... 

We have some sort of transmission! That's fourth gear. I had it on axle stands and put it in every gear and brought up the clutch. It seems to select every gear without any graunchy noises or bearing noises so so far so good. It's not the same as putting it on the ground and putting the weight of the car through it but it's a start. 

Only slight problem is the manifold gasket has blown. I know you're supposed to put a new one on every time you remove the manifold but I didn't have any to hand and I have reused them before without issue but I have probably reused this one once too often. Never mind, that's a minor job in the grand scheme of things. I'm off to order one now. 

[Yoss]

Two ordered for £8 including postage, can't get much cheaper. 

[Yoss]

The lethargy continues. I put it all back together a couple of weeks ago but I needed to clean up the garage and as our drive requires the cars to park line astern I've just been too lazy to go and try it. It doesn't help this time of year that by the time I get home from work have lunch and a cup of coffee and then another cup of coffee there's barely an hour of daylight left. But that's just excuses really. But then on the other hand, if you don't feel like it there's no point forcing it, it's supposed to be a hobby after all. 

But my friend came round to pick up his engine crane so I made the effort to clean the accumulated detritus off it and get it out. 

This is the first time it has seen daylight since May. I only took it up the road and back, probably just over a mile but I selected all gears easily with no strange noises and significantly the gearbox even on idle is practically silent which it hasn't been for about a decade. I really should have done it before it went bang but its done now. 

I'm planning on taking it on a longer run tomorrow. I might take it shopping but as it hasn't been out for six months it seems wise to take it steady not just for the gearbox sake but everything else as well as a lot of stuff has been disturbed doing this job. 

A quick note to @Andyrew, the Felicia seats that were being stored in the back of the Triumph,

Are now safely ensconced in the loft, 

So there's no hurry, they can stay there  for as long as needs be. They fitted nicely through the gap between the rafters (or are they joists?) and the railway, its almost as if I planned it when I built the baseboards but I didn't. 

[Yoss]

Well it's been a few weeks, the Triumph has been on a few runs, but never too far and mostly sticking to bus routes just in case. The gearbox appears to be working perfectly but I don't want to jinx things. I'm still a little tentative as I still can't quite believe I have successfully rebuilt a gearbox! 

But we've had a couple of other issues. Firstly the radiator. There is a tiny hose outlet at the top leading to the header tank. You know how it is when you try and remove a hose that hasn't moved in years, it tends to stick. And it's such a small outlet that I've bent it a couple of times getting the hose off but it's thin brass so I've always bent it back. 

So when I bent it again removing the radiator for the gearbox job I bent it once too often and it creased and a couple of tiny holes appeared. Obviously it really needs a new tube brazing on but I really wanted to get it running to test the gearbox so I wrapped it in self amalgamating tape. This worked for a couple of weeks but steam started wisping out from under the bonnet last week. So now we have bodge number two. 

A bit of Quicksteel epoxy putty. This should also be a temporary repair* but I've a feeling if it works I'm going to forget about it. 

But the starter motor started getting slower and finally siezed up. I had two spare ones in the back of the garage. I've had them about twenty years (I certainly remember moving house with them) and they have had all the protection of a disintegrating carrier bag in that time but to my amazement I rigged one up to my professional* test* rig*... 

... and it fired first time. So I cleaned it up as best I could and lubricated the bits I could reach and bunged it on. It spins the engine twice as fast as the old one ever did and it starts better too. The old one was obviously drawing so much power that it was taking power from the ignition. So that's a win win. 

I bunged a bit of oil on the old motor and put that on my test rig and that was soon spinning again, without having the weight of the engine to spin, though not as quick as the replacement but I'm sure it can be made to work again. It's certainly too valuable to throw away. The motors on FWD Triumphs are mounted at the front of the engine on the offside and spin anticlockwise so are unique to these. 

But, (this is where one thing leads to another) to change the motor you have to pull the exhaust manifold, and by extention the inlet manifold, out of the way. It's not a bad job, eight nuts and a couple of hoses, but when I was refitting I managed to pull one of the studs out of the block whilst doing the nut up. I can see now that the stud wasn't in properly... 

(and yes, that's a dog licking a battery behind). When you undo these eight nuts sometimes the nut just comes off and sometimes the stud comes with it. This one the nut came off leaving the stud behind but the stud had obviously come undone a bit at a time too (I take these manifolds off quite regularly) and it is one of the middle two under the manifolds so you have to do it by feel as you can't see them. Thankfully it looks like only the last three threads were in so I'm fairly sure I'll be able to clean the thread in the block with a thread tap and it will be OK. I have old studs but they've been sitting in a bucket of nuts and bolts for thirty years and none looked too happy so I went mad and a bought a whole set of new ones. 

Yes I know it says Midget but the Midget 1500 used the Triumph engine and I have a 1500 manifold on mine but they all use the same studs anyway. 

For now, with seven of the eight studs/nuts in it's not blowing so I can use it but for how long I don't know. At some point whilst I send the radiator away for repair I can take the manifolds off, remove all eight studs and put the new ones in nice and tight. Then hopefully the next time I have to remove them the nuts will undo and leave the studs where they should be. 

But despite all this, the gearbox (touch wood) is lovely. Almost silent, all the synchros work, and the selector is precise and the whole thing is a joy to use. So I can live with the other jobs. 

[Yoss]

Not much been happening with the fleet, they just keep plodding on. Except yesterday I managed to smash one of the green Favorits fog lights with the blue Favorit.

 

Because of the way the drive is we park like this.

Although yesterday they were parked the other way round and the blue Fav has a towbar. And because I'm an idiot I like to park the front car without using reverse. The road is uphill so I drive past, stop and roll back, while turning in but you need to get some speed up or else it stops before you're fully in. Well I don't need to explain the rest.

If they'd been the other way round they would have just bounced off each other.

I know this from experience. And Favorit bumpers have lots of give in them, they're not like Mondeos.

Fortunately I had a spare fog light and they are an easy swap. But when testing it afterwards I found the other one wasn't working.

I went as far as changing the bulb and wiggling the connection in the engine bay but then it was tea time so that will have to wait til tomorrow.

 

In Triumph news, in a follow up to the previous post, I have fitted all new studs to the head, done them up as tight as I could and added some threadlock too. So next time I have to remove the manifolds, which I surely will, the studs should stay in place.

When I stripped the head down I found where the stud had pulled out it had actually damaged the head slightly too 

But I knocked all the loose bits off and there was still plenty of thread to put a new stud in and it's not a part that the manifold mates to so I'm sure everything will be fine.

[Yoss]

Obviously every time I don't use the Triumph for a while it throws up a few electrical gremlins when I go to use it again. The horn is always temperamental, it is a poor earth between the steering column/rack/subframe. It always needs cleaning. It would help if I used the horn more but then I would look a dick.

One of the front sidelights has been dimmer than the other for ages which would also suggest a poor earth but this time it had gone out completely. I took the lens off and with a bit of wiggling got it to relight but not for long. So I took the bulb out to set about cleaning it up. I noticed the little spring loaded bit that the back of the bulb butts up against wasn't moving at all so I thought I'd give it a little tap with a 1/4 inch extension bar and it promptly disappeared inside the car. I only tapped it, admittedly with a big hammer, but still only gently.

Well that's buggered then. The round rubber bit contains the rusty remains of a bulb holder and should be attached to the other rusty remains you can see in the middle of the sidelight unit.

 

So off I go up into the loft to retrieve this box.

These are now getting very scarce, I have one left in stock, but needs must and this is why I have them after all. 

It is normally the white metal, a cheap aluminium alloy, that goes all powdery and dissolves but this time it was the was the bulb holder that rusted. Given the scarcity of these things I will keep the old one as generic bulb holders are available and it may be possible to fit one in to the old unit.

In the meantime I thought I'd give the new unit some extra protection, first with a coat of Bondaprimer, noting that I have also pulled the rubber grommety things back and painted the bulb holders too.

 

Then some smooth Hammerite that I mixed many years ago from Burgundy and dark blue to be quite close to the colour of the car. It's not that close but I use it in underbody areas where it is close enough.

 

The old unit had been in there for 17 years, hopefully this one will last even longer and I shouldn't have to worry about it again.

I've gone for some bling.

 You may have noticed in previous posts my headlights are non standard. Being standard 7" lights there are loads of different lights out there aimed mainly at Barrying Minis and mine are quite subtle compared to some. I like the clear lenses but if I were to buy them again I wouldn't have the angel eye option. Partly because they are a bit Barryish but mostly because they are imperceptible in normal use.

My potatocam has real trouble capturing how it actually looks now but I tried a few manual settings.

 

In reality the angel eyes are too dim to be seen in daylight and completely invisible once the headlights are on so they really serve no purpose except when taking static photos like above.

But to give you some idea of the brightness of the new sidelights this is them against the closed garage doors.

They are like DRLs now. I know all this will make some people's teeth itch but I don't care and I would buy them again just without the angel eyes.

It could be worse, I could get these!

 

Also whilst it was up in the air I took the front wheels off and went and got some new tyres.

I don't like having tyre places do the wheels on this as the Sprint wheel nuts are a bit odd and the studs are quite slim compared to modern stuff and I once had somebody snap a stud so I always just take the wheels along now.

[Yoss]

So I've given the old sidelight unit a clean up and it definitely looks reusable if I have to. The white metal is all fine. There's a bit of a crack in one corner but most of the affected area is covered by the rubber seal.

 

The indicator bulb holder is perfect and moving freely.

 

The rusted away sidelight bulb holder looks like it could be drilled out quite easily.

 

And one of these generic ones quite easily fitted in the hole with a bit of trimming.

Plus one of the studs needs replacing, but again, that's easily knocked out and replaced with a small nut and bolt, there is space for a bolt head under the lens. So I'll definitely be keeping it, like I say they are so rare now and known for dissolving it will get to the point where repair will be the only option. 

[Yoss]

I've never really had to deal with rear disc brakes with my fleet. The only other car I've had with them was the ZT-T and that never needed any work in that department. But I could hear a wheel bearing starting to sing at the back of the green Favorit. The guy I bought it from said they were mk2 Golf GTI discs but much googling suggested they came with discs and drums throughout their life. More googling also suggested the wheel bearings were the same on both. Wasn't sure if this was true but I thought even if it wasn't they could be used on the standard Favorit so I ordered some anyway.

The brake caliper is annoying in that the handbrake cable goes under the stub axle and the hydraulic line goes over the top so one of them has to be removed to get the caliper off and out of the way. I looked on you tube to see how the handbrake cable came out but by the time I got back out to the car it didn't look familiar so after some prodding I decided it would be easier to split the hydraulic line and bleed it again afterwards.

I forgot to take many photos and what with it being such a mucky job I couldn't anyway but once you've figured out how to get the caliper out of the way it is pretty much the same job as with drums. The awkwardest bit being knocking the inner races out of the disc.

The very manky rear side of the disc. Disc isn't perfect but there's life in it yet and it cleaned up okay but no picture because I forgot.

 

Grotty stub axle.

And cleaned up. At this point that caliper carrier is the only difference between disc and drum brakes. The drum brake back plate uses the same three mounting bolts.

 

This is the caliper. It is quite distinctive so I put this picture into Google lens and came back with things like Audi A3, Seat Leon and all sorts of other VAG stuff but not specifically Mk2 Golf.

The only thing is they all have five stud wheels and I have four but I'm sure I can figure this out when the time comes. The front discs are off some sort of Kia so that'll be even more interesting. I think I'll be measuring them.

I can't believe I used all these tools for what appears to be a relatively simple job.

I've just realised it looks like I'm supporting the rear of the car with a plastic bucket! I'm not I can assure you. There is an axle stand just hidden behind the jack handle. The bucket was just the right height to put the caliper on so as not to stretch the brake hose.

And anyway I had an observer looking after me.

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

The wheel bearings are probably the same as were also on the Audi 80 I owned. They were in use on vag products well into the 2000s so very common. And I'm guessing you have a 4x100 bolt pattern on the rims? That should help narrow down which Kia model the brake discs are from.  I'm guessing Rio but could be anything from 2000 to the latest model.

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, Yoss said:

This is the caliper. It is quite distinctive so I put this picture into Google lens and came back with things like Audi A3, Seat Leon and all sorts of other VAG stuff but not specifically Mk2 Golf.

Definitely not a MK2 Golf rear caliper,they are cast iron.

More than likely a Mk4 Golf caliper,a popular upgrade for the Mk2.