Sprinting to the Finish

Started today with the replacement of the overdrive solenoid, pictured with a new copper sealing washer and my cut down spanner. The short spanner fits inside the transmission tunnel, but to get enough leverage on it I use large ring spanners fitted to the stubby handle, which gets it all nice and tight.

That done - or so I thought, I took it to get some nice Yoko A539s fitted - 185 60s which are close enough to the rolling radius of the originals, but a little bit more tread and somewhat stickier.

I took it for another test drive, which revealed power on / off steer - so thats the suspension bushes to do with polly then, to fix this issue. Much grippier and the vibration at 70 gone, so far a good result.

When I got it home there was still oil leaking from the gearbox, but not from the solenoid. I've had this before on the Stag, so off with the transmission tunnel, and sure enough it was leaking past one of the top overdrive housing bolts.

Now I know I should remove and strip this, but would you if there is another way ? (bodge) so I removed the nut, degreased everything, applied gasket goo, a copper washer, followed by a steel washer and the nut, and with luck this will be fixed - I'll test again in the morning when the sealant has gone off. Yes, it is missing the strap between the gearbox and the gear change - something else to acquire.

Apart from the gasket which is probably damaged allowing this, it was time to investigate the gearbox breather, which was blocked causing this issue. A piece of welding rod soon cleared the problem

Pulling the transmission tunnel, did enable me to find a bad rattle that the car had, although the picture isn't great, it was loose nuts and bolts on the heater vent causing this, so thats a simple fix.

I then cleaned up the flanges on the gearbox tunnel, so I can apply new dum dum sealant and replace the over tired spire clips that secure the fixing screws, I might not then need the bathroom sealant that had been applied to cure the leaks round the tunnel !

I also need to make up a bulkhead mat that was missing from the driver's side, and with the tunnel and parcel shelf removed I can also put grommets in the remaining holes in the bulkhead.

Assuming the gearbox leak is cured, once I get the tunnel cover back in, I'll start polybushing the suspension tomorrow.

I keep reminding myself that it WILL be a nice car when sorted !