Tuesday 17 May 2011

Monday 16 May 2011

It seems a long while ago

It seems such a long while ago, what seemed like it was going to be obvious when taking the IRS apart now it comes to reassembly seems rather more complicated. There is much frantic flicking through workshop manuals going on!   I mean, I know that the diff sits in the middle of the cage and it has a wheel each side connected with a drive shaft etc, but the devil is always in the detail.  No only joking of course I remember how it goes back together.......help.

Anyway, with this restoration I decided to break the habit of a lifetime and get myself organised.  So to that end I have purchased a lovely set of shelves from Big Dug and fitted out my last empty stable as an E type shed.  When we bought the house, I had 5 empty stables and 4 cars to restore. Now I have 5 full up stables and no cars left in one piece.  Actually, thats not quite true.  I restored an early Range Rover and used 2 additional vehicles as donors, the remains of which are in my stables, so if anyone wants some RR parts please get in touch.  Anyway I am off topic again,  the gearbox also came back from the rebuilders and looks fabulous.  All the bearings, layshaft , seals and gaskets have been replaced, as well as the rubber bush on the gearstick and one syncro and gear unit.  Having decided I like the whine of the old non syncro Moss box, I hope I dont regret it when its all put back together.  The last E I had with a Moss box was almost impossible to drive, and I mean impossible.  I think it was just a bad example of what we all know was a super fine bit of engineering..ha!




Anyway, photos to follow as the rebuild of the IRS comes along, but in the meanwhile to add a bit of variety and to prove that not everything I pull apart never sees the light of day here are a couple of photos of one I finished earlier. I know its not an E type but I like it!  E Type Gearbox photo to follow.

Sunday 15 May 2011

Some nice glossy paint!

Well, after disappearing for a few weeks, and not making any posts I have made some headway with one or two things.  The diffential is back from the rebuilders, and has now been painted.  I have also got the suspension parts and drive shafts back from the painters.  Just waiting on the cage and a few parts to arrive and I can get the IRS back together.  Its great to see some parts now in paint and very satifying.  The diff is a 3.06 which is pretty high geared but standard for this year of production.  Interestingly the diff also has the chassis number stamped on it, well to be accurate the last 3 digits, 897 preceeded by the number "1" .  Anyway,  I am concentrating on getting the IRS back together before I pull much more apart , oh......I almost forgot, I have got the gearbox back from the rebuilders as well!   I will have to get a photo of that tommorrow.  Anyway, they have replaced the main shaft which had a little wear on it and all the seals , bearings, and gaskets.  They seem to think it was pretty good overall.  Anyway, another major item overhauled and ready to be refitted.