Re: The Gnome Project - A little wheeler on the road on the cheap

[Terry]

What's everyone's opinion of this sort of kit for a start?

http://www.minisport.com.au/prod749.htm

Could be okay if you need all the parts but I doubt that you do. If your shocker are okay then you don't need them. If the ball and cup in the rear is okay then you don't need them and unless you are planning to do some heavy loads in the back then adjustable rear end is not required.

Donuts, Hi-los and ball/cup for the front is definitely a good idea but the rest is very much negotiable.

Terry

[Newie]

Thanks Terry,

Some good news 

Don't know about rear end, but front front shocks definitely stuffed. Apart from the fact that they dont even match each other, neither one has any resistance whatsoever.

Guess I should wait until I've pulled it all down and go from there.

Newie

[Casper]

can you tell me if I'll still need one of these if I change mine while the subframes are off the vehicle?

I removed mine while the sub was out, using a 1/2" UNF bolt. My problem is trying to do it In the vehicle without a compression tool!

Casper

[Newie]

Thanks Casper, that's what I wanted to hear 

Dare I ask why you are doing it again already?

Newie

[Casper]

I made the mistake of thinking my dohnuts were ok and not changing them (while I had the front sub out), changed everything else but..... ...paying for it now.....

Casper the deflated

[Maddog]

Believe it or not I have one single leading shoe brake and one double on the other side

Wow! That would have been fun under hard braking! Should be easy to fix, you just need the backing plate, cylinders, springs, shoes and connecting pipe. The backing plates are handed, so make sure you get the right (correct) side.

Does anyone have a good cloe-up shot of a dohnut compression tool?

It's not a cloe-up Casper, but you'll get the idea.

It's not flash either, but you will probably only use it once. It's just a bit of threaded rod with the appropriate size bolt welded on the end, a thick washer and a bit of 3/4 pipe. I had to neck the rod down a bit, as it wouldn't fit through the hole in the subframe. The two threads are for the old and new donuts.

can you tell me if I'll still need one of these if I change mine while the subframes are off the vehicle?

I can tell you that you won't need one for the back! But taking the subframe out makes no difference to the donut, it's just a lot easier to get at all the bolts.

Cheers, Maddog.

[Casper]

Thanks Dawg, that's what I had in mind to make for myself. You just put a photo to my mind-picture 
Going down to the metal suppliers tomorrow.

Casper

[Maddog]

No problem Casper! Just try to get the bolt and rod as straight as you can, otherwise they are a pain to screw in.

MD

[Casper]

No problem Casper! Just try to get the bolt and rod as straight as you can, otherwise they are a pain to screw in.

MD

Thanks for the tip!

[Newie]

It's not flash either, but you will probably only use it once. It's just a bit of threaded rod with the appropriate size bolt welded on the end, a thick washer and a bit of 3/4 pipe. I had to neck the rod down a bit, as it wouldn't fit through the hole in the subframe. The two threads are for the old and new donuts.

Dammit Maddog, where are your welds? Your work makes me very reluctant to post pics of my stuff  

When you say you had to neck the rod down a bit, do you mean you had to take a bit off the thickness of the threaded rod above the bolt? Would that mean that those of us without lathes could just weld a longer bolt on the end? How long does the unthreaded bolt shank have to be to fit in the necessary hole?

Newie the Rough

[Newie]

I can tell you that you won't need one for the back! But taking the subframe out makes no difference to the donut, it's just a lot easier to get at all the bolts.

Cheers, Maddog.
[/quote]

NOT what I wanted to hear. Never mind, guess that just means I'll have to copy another one of your designs  .

Newie

[Maddog]

Newie,

Just use a bolt as Casper suggested. If your donuts are really stuffed, they will come out without any compressing and the new ones will go in if you get Hi-lo's. Give it a go first!

MD.

[Newie]

Well, engine assembly is in bits with the only major drama being removal of the flywheel (see seperate "Flywheel Removal" thread).

Gearbox looks pretty good to me and works nice and smootly by hand, as far as I can tell with my very limited knowledge and without pulling anything apart. No obvious signs of rust damage, wrecked bearings etc anyway. I'll take it down to Smoken and let him deliver the final verdict. Only sign of wear I can detect is on the edge of the gears that mesh together for 1st gear. I presume this is to be excpected anyway.

One clear sign of related damage however is a destroyed bronze bush in the Primary Gear as shown in photo below



Presumably this would be easily fixed by pressing in another bush, but does anyone have any suggestions as to what may have caused it?

I don't think I'll have time to remove pistons etc Smoken, so I might give you the block intact if that's OK. I still think 3 pistons may be OK and I'm guessing only the really rusty one has locked solid in the bore and locked the engine up. We'll see I guess.

Will post up some other pics once I get things cleaned up a bit.

Newie

[Maddog]

Newie,

What are your plans for that gearbox? It may be only a three syncro one, which would be the cause of the wear on the first gear.

MD.

[Newie]

Was hoping to use it if possible Doggie. As previously stated, my gearbox knowledge is minimal, but three syncro makes sense as to shift into first is a simple meshing of two gears together, 2nd unmeshes them, third and fourth is achieved via shifting synchro rings. Does that make sense?

Smoken has got a gear box I can use in need, but I wanted to use what I can off this one where possible.

Newie