clubstylus

All very solid this morning , although does look very odd , especially the pink resin glue I scratched all the gold paint off and scored the metal before putting it on.

Might want to paint over the glue
If of course , I'd done it before taking the box down to Brian , then it could have been a metal tube but didn't think about it at the time

Better now

Just ordered a new clutch bearing seeing as it's a lot of work to remove and refit the engine and box . Can't actually see much wrong with it but better safe than sorry I'll give the system a fluid change too while at it.
Also bought some blue gasket seal because although when I last fitted the box/bellhousing together it had new paper gaskets ---- that top rod that extends through the box still allowed a small leak . The area between the rod and bellhousing is really small , to get a nice seal.

Box is back in place bolted down , speedo connected and the breather has 40mm's clearance from under the tunnel . Waiting for bellhousing gasket , otherwise am ready to refit that plus the ally clutch slave cylinder nose and bearing , pipes etc . The bellhousing will go in with blue locktite and norlock double washers , plus 15% higher torque than normal ------ re - the loosening problem last year
I've got one gasket but forgot that I use a 2mm spacer between my box and bellhousing for correct bearing to cover fingers gapping , so need two . This box is from a Caterham so has a longer shaft.

Did a little rust/grime cleaning of chassis members and hamerited those plus the engine mounts before the engine goes back in.

Rob,

Just a thought- is it worth making a quick jig for the engine mounts whilst they are out? I'm sure you could sell some to people converting to zetec. I had a right mare sorting mine as I couldn't fab anything myself at the time

Craig-Chap wrote:Rob,

Just a thought- is it worth making a quick jig for the engine mounts whilst they are out? I'm sure you could sell some to people converting to zetec. I had a right mare sorting mine as I couldn't fab anything myself at the time

It's a thought but am busy sorting engine/box plus other bits and quite committed to things other than sprinting for a few weeks too . Depends how I get on , can't see many orders from it really.

Hi Rob, rossco61 in Sunny South Australia.
Just tried to send a PM to you, re upcoming trip to the UK, but the system will not allow it ??
Can you please contact me via "rossco73@bigpond.com"

rossco61 wrote:Hi Rob, rossco61 in Sunny South Australia.
Just tried to send a PM to you, re upcoming trip to the UK, but the system will not allow it ??
Can you please contact me via "rossco73@bigpond.com"

Yep --- email on it's way

Off out to lunch today so engine won't be going in but did get the gasket I was waiting for yesterday , so the bellhousing/gasket/spacer/gasket are all bolted up/hylomar tight , with techy washers/locktite(85ft.lbs) . Hydraulic clutch nose/spacer also back in with locktite but being into ally was really careful putting just 4ft.lbs extra . If it could be got at once fitted from outside then I'd have stuck to my usual 12ft.lbs BUT last year's fiasco with the b.housing coming adrift from the type 9 has made me extra cautious ----- engine out just to see what's happened doesn't appeal

Rob and rossco, if the weather is good I might drive the stylus up to Manchester from the south coast on Saturday the 8th. I could detour via Aston Clinton. Will you still be around?
Rossco, I' m also an Aussie, been living here 22yrs but heading back to sydney in December. I haven't yet looked into what's required but do you know of any particular issues getting a kitcar road registered? And do the different states still have different laws for registration?
Mike

mikeb wrote:Rob and rossco, if the weather is good I might drive the stylus up to Manchester from the south coast on Saturday the 8th. I could detour via Aston Clinton. Will you still be around?
Rossco, I' m also an Aussie, been living here 22yrs but heading back to sydney in December. I haven't yet looked into what's required but do you know of any particular issues getting a kitcar road registered? And do the different states still have different laws for registration?
Mike

That's a bugger Mike , I'm on the startline marshalling for ABINGDON MOTORSPORT CARNIVAL on the 8th June (Dalton Barracks 5 MINUTES off the A34 Abingdon junction & close to Oxford) and have arranged for Ross to meet me there . If you have the time , you'd love it Mike. PM for my mobile if could make it
Shame it's the 8th because Ross will be coming to me in Aston for tyre kinking and a bite to eat at some point during his long uk visit. Aslo he may get to Goodwood on 15th JUNE for the TWMC Sprint where , hopefully , I'll be competing for the first time this year (gearbox/engine permitting)
PM me for an email to Ross , if that would be useful , re - your December exit ! Sorry you're leaving though Mike

Engine's back in place today , just some electrics to connect and re-fit the exhaust manifold , silencer etc -- fill up with water/water wetter , oil in box then re-fit the flipfront and tidy up the tunnel after removing everything to check the box . Feel better now it's got this far , the rest is easy and there's plenty of time before my first outing in June at Goodwood .
It's been a more expensive excersize than last year's fiasco with the bellhousing parting company with the box , in spite of master cylinder and slave cylinder rebuild kits plus new ring gear , it still only cost me £250 to sort , although still bloody hard work .
This box along with other items needed , with engine out etc totted up to over £600

I competed for years without any reliability problems and now that I only do 3 to 5 events a year , it seems to be costing loads . I suppose the 8000 rpm plus doesn't help the box any , although it has been extensively modified OR maybe I'm using that 8000rpm more of the time than when I first had it available

Finished all electrics and re-fitted the exhaust manifold plus silencer ---- no more today , seeing as I wanted to watch Spanish F1 .

Millers 75w90 Nanotech oil in box (1.6lts including 100mls ZX1) Quite a bit of disagreement over Type 9 oil levels . I've previously put 1.9lts in but asked BGH and they say that early boxes had 1.9 but later boxes (with identical gearsets and case volume) had 1.6 advised by Ford.
The confusion seems to be over the height of the filler plug up the side BUT boxes are identical and ' apparently ' Ford later found that 1.6lts was adequate , after complaints of leaks/pressure --- so made later boxes with the lower filler height to make filling the right amount simple.
Hope it's correct after spending out big bucks on this latest repair --- at least it's got ZX1 plus the all singing , dancing gear oil --- plus my little breather so the oil stays inside the box. Pulling 8,000rpm is probably well beyond the original design spec

Millers 5w40 Nanodrive in the engine plus ZX1. Water back in the system but yet to have water wetter added to be run and bled.
May get the coilovers and strut brace in tomorrow plus fit the new rodends . Then the clutch needs new oil and bled --- getting there

sounds like you're cracking on.
Mine's looking at spending year 3 on ramps
There's a broken VX220 to fix first as well!
Oh and a 3 week old daughter..... may as well give up now