Removing Transmission

Happy New Year to you all! 

I've resumed working on Jennifer's car and have a plan in mind.  When I started on this project the plan was to just replace the clutch however as I started stripping the engine down it became apparent that 'CD' had a significant issue with coolant leaking from the interface between the head and block of the engine.

The current plan having discussed it with my friends and with Dick Maury of Coventry West (thanks Dick!) is to pull the head, get it skimmed and use a Cometic Head Gasket with the hope that this will seal it up.  I'll also pull all the 'freeze out' plugs and replace them, If we find that the head is warped then this option might be off the table so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Getting back to reason that we started on this process I discovered the reason that I had to adjust all the play out of the clutch slave cylinder,  the throwout bearing was worn all the way off and into the metal (pictures below).  That combined with the heavily worn clutch plate eliminated any ability to adjust it further,  it wasn't long till it would have caused damage.

New clutch kit, took a long time for the supplier to get them back in stock

Clutch plate

New pressure plate

Vacant engine bay 

There it is, been cleaning the accumulated years of crud off the engine

Looking a little better

First look at the throw out bearing which actuates the clutch, below you'll see a picture of new and old side by side

Transmission split off the back of the engine

Hopefully you can see the difference between the old one and the new one at the back.

That's all for today, tomorrow I'll continue the cleaning but hope to check the valve clearances and then pull the head.  Once that's done then I'll have to start interviewing machine shops to get the flywheel turned and the head skimmed.

Cheers,
Lynn

5 Hrs