The engine’s out but I didn’t help the process due to the combination of cutting corners and forgetting what had to be removed first. Lifted it halfway out and it got stuck between a chassis tube and the dry sump tank. End result, one scratched up chassis tube. Also left the push-pull cable bracket hanging free, thinking it wouldn’t get in the way… wrong. It of course got wedged between the chassis and the transmission. It’s a very unpleasant situation trying to unstick an expensive 400-lb lump hanging tenuously by a chain…
Finally got it out and safely on the ground, then removed the transmission. Transferred everything over I thought I’d need: the throw-out bearing and lever, plus the push-pull shift lever plate. Immediately loaded it into the truck and delivered it to WaveTrac, who will remove the stuck CV housing and fix the known circlip groove issue which was in an early batch of the units. That way I can both sell it with a clear conscience and advertise it as having a known-good differential.
Got back home, intent on plugging the new transmission onto the engine, then realized the new transmission has the same issue the old one did: a lump of aluminum near the input shaft that’s just high enough to contact the spinning clutch. (I contacted Competition Clutch about this back when it was noticed on the original transmission and was surprised by their seemingly disinterested shrug.) Did a measurement and sure enough, the lump is 2.435″ from the front end of the bellhousing, and the twin-disc clutch extends 2.44″ into the transmission. Well, yup, that’s a problem, cured by a die grinder. Hard to believe that I’m the only one on earth with this interference problem, but it’s likely anyone using a twin-disc clutch is putting it in a noisy race car and never hears it grinding away…
With that done, time to plug the transmission into the engine, only that requires two dowel pins for proper alignment, which of course were stuck in the old transmission… far from home – well nuts, guess I know what I’m buying tomorrow. To not waste time, other odds and ends where completed, removing the old gasket off the exhaust manifold and grinding a recess in the dry sump pump bracket so that it no long contacts a stainless-braided hose.
I just keep reminding myself, “This is all for fun!”
