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So with the engine cover off, getting ready to remove the transaxle to mate it to the engine, I pulled off my rear spare tire mount/subframe and found my home brewed shifter linkage under that.

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Danny P. advised me like a year ago that the little nubby thing bolted to the crossmember next to the trans was a bad idea, since I had part of the shift linkage attached to the trans and another part attached to the thing the trans is mounted to with rubber (urethane, actually) biscuits, meaning they would not move perfectly together. 

I was gonna try it my way and see how it goes but, looking at it yesterday and realizing no one does it my way, I decided to re-do the left-hand bracket as something attached to the trans itself. 

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CAD first...

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Getting close now; just got to complete the reinforcement tab and weld it on, then clean and paint it.

After that I can take the wheels off, put the back of the car on a dolly, remove the transaxle and see if I can find the right bolts to attach it to the engine.

From there it's a simple matter of assembling the engine crane, chaining the drive train to it, rolling the car back a few feet and hoisting it into place.

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Yup, “Cardboard Aided Design”.   What many of us do when we don’t have access to fancy computers and 3-D printers.  Just get out the cardboard or, if you’re really cool, foam-core (Personally, I am not really cool).

Nice job, Ed.  That looks like it makes more sense and won’t get wonky as the engine/transaxle moves under load.  

Piperato was right.....again!

Finished the bracket this a.m. and hung it up for paint. It fits perfectly and has the stiffness it needs to do what it's supposed to. IMG_2714IMG_2712IMG_2709

Can I just say that having a bucket of scrap steel and a little wire feed welder has changed my life immensely for the better? Just a few years ago—like when I was putting the Suby in Bridget—I could not do half of the things I do these days as a matter of routine before breakfast. 

@ALB right: one more hole. I'd left it out because I wasn't yet sure how/where the reinforcement bit was going to fit.

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David...Thank you for your comments and feel free to make them as you see fit. As I get further into my new build I'm sure I will have a lot of questions. A question I have right now is this. Since the "highpoint of the cooling system' looks like it will be this aluminum tube with the radiator cap on top on it, that will be  the highest point on my cooling system (radiator included). It seems that this would be the place to attach a coolant recovery system tank with a small hose to that overflow tube just under the filler neck. I understand that there may be some high points along the systems plumbing that may need air bleeds as well and those will need to be addressed at some point. Anyone care to tell me I'm on the right track ?........Bruce

aircooled posted:

David...Thank you for your comments and feel free to make them as you see fit. As I get further into my new build I'm sure I will have a lot of questions. A question I have right now is this. Since the "highpoint of the cooling system' looks like it will be this aluminum tube with the radiator cap on top on it, that will be  the highest point on my cooling system (radiator included). It seems that this would be the place to attach a coolant recovery system tank with a small hose to that overflow tube just under the filler neck. I understand that there may be some high points along the systems plumbing that may need air bleeds as well and those will need to be addressed at some point. Anyone care to tell me I'm on the right track ?........Bruce

I am glad you asked, and am also waiting for an answer.

aircooled posted:

David...Thank you for your comments and feel free to make them as you see fit. As I get further into my new build I'm sure I will have a lot of questions. A question I have right now is this. Since the "highpoint of the cooling system' looks like it will be this aluminum tube with the radiator cap on top on it, that will be  the highest point on my cooling system (radiator included). It seems that this would be the place to attach a coolant recovery system tank with a small hose to that overflow tube just under the filler neck. I understand that there may be some high points along the systems plumbing that may need air bleeds as well and those will need to be addressed at some point. Anyone care to tell me I'm on the right track ?........Bruce

Bruce..Amigo....Loud and Clear Now....this is ( we're on ) Ed's thread about his build and we're wasting his space. If you want info ( from me ) about a homebuilt liquid cooling system then YOU start another dedicated thread. Please.  I'll work hard to help you. Comprende ?  Last call

Last edited by David Stroud IM Roadster D

The worst I ever did was while installing a 3 sp manual in a car. I was laying with my head up towards the front of the car and the trans on my chest.  This way I could see when I had the input shaft going into the T/O beg and the clutch disc. At first you have to tilt it lower in the back to slide it in. I had already filled it full of 90wt lube thinking it's easier to put it in now rather than after the trans is in.. Since the drive shaft was out a lot of the 90wt ran out. I was skinny then, my Levi's were loose at the waist band and it was cool not to wear underwear then so all the nice warm 90wt ran down into my pants and all down around my nuts. Since it was warm I didn't feel it until I got the trans in and crawled out from under the car. What a sticky/smelly  mess to clean up !  I never was able to wash that smelly lube out of my pants so I had to throw them out......Bruce

Ah, transmission woes.......

After a few years, my CMC Speedster build was going very slowly and my wife kind-of got tired of waiting (and took some pity on me) so she found a really spiffy looking red Austin Healey 3000 right in our neighborhood.  We bought it.

It was in better than OK shape, but the overdrive was a lost cause, so I drove it home and decided to pull the OD to get it rebuilt.  Everything I read “on the Internet” told me it was way easier to pull the transmission and OD together as a unit, so I pulled the seats, carpets, bellhousing cover and floor panels (they are all easily removed), got a jack under it and removed the mating bolts.  Then, my son came home from college for the weekend and we decided to pull it out together.

We chose to use a pair of chains, slung under the transmission and we stood up on the sills of the car (doors way open) thinking that we could just lift it out enough to sit it on a sill, then remove it.  That was the plan.

No where, on the Internet, does it say, “Caution - This gearbox was originally designed for a tractor and weighs about 125 pounds.  No where.  

We start tugging and pulling, muscles bulging, vertebrates cracking, lots of grunting, veins turning red in our necks and foreheads, but the gearbox barely moved.  It probably took 30 minutes of straining (there may have been a few choice swears used) to finally get it moved back and freed from its’ comfy spot in the chassis and by then we were both wasted.  We finally had it on a sill and moved around to lift it up and moved to the shop floor to remove the OD.  

My son looks at me and says, “let me know when this is ready to go back in so I can find something to do at school instead, ok?”

 

Looking great, Ed.

I'm surprised you're using a Crispix box in the engine compartment, though.

Crispix wasn't introduced by Kellogg's until 1983, and so couldn't have been tossed aside by a mechanic or used for cardboard aided design in the 1950s. The Ralston Purina products that Crispix was developed to compete with, though, were around since the 1930's, so would be much more period correct.

I know, I know, go try to find an original Ralston Purina Rice Chex box today - unobtainium since they were bought out by General Mills 20 years ago, but it's details like that that make all the difference.

 

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