Jack
06-07-09, 09:22 AM
Missioned to Land Of Pikey on saturday to swap the whingebox on the saloon with one kindly provided at PVS by burgo (:thumb:). All is plodding along nicely until I think to myself, "hmmm, the expansion tank looks a little dirty".
Off with the lid. Oh noes, 2962cc 210bhp chocolate milkshake machine lol
So off comes the inlet gubbins and out comes the oil cooler. As expected it looks like someone had a vindaloopoo in the cooler bath. Scratchy head as to where to get a replacement one on a saturday morning without remortgaging at Vauxhall, luckily Lee gave Dave Marshall a tinkle who just happened to have a semi-stripped 2.6 engine sat about doing nothing. A bargain price for the cooler and we soon had it back and in situ. Unfortunately one of the threads had stripped, so after some bodgery with liquid gasket and washers we'd sealed it up and left it overnight to set whilst we retired to discuss the finer points of dags and the state of the tarmac industry.
Next morning, after fixing another small leak, everything was put back together and the gearbox replacement completed amidst much lifting and grunting and trying not to drop heavy lumps of metal on Lee's face. Test drive down the road and everything checks out good, albeit third is a little fuzzy and a slight snick into 5th. By this time I suddenly realise I should be somewhere, as there's a SW meet at Weston in an hour. Wagon roll, Bob :cool:
Do the meet thing, with a pretty good turnout too. Go reverse out the car park and can't get reverse gear to engage. Eventually after much pudding stirring the gear finds itself, and out the car park we go. Hmm, seems a little sluggish. Oh wait, I'm in third. Dabble with the gear lever reveals the gate appears to have shifted to the right so I can't get 1st and 2nd. Drag the car home, losing 5th on the way too and praising the fact that the V6 has no problem pulling away in 3rd. Clutch probably doesn't like me though.
Stop by my house only to find there's a donor barge (calibra V6) in the driveway, so grab my axle stands and relocate to my parents. En route to which every single possible traffic light turns red. More hate from the clutch. Dump car on parents drive, jack up and as expected the gear lever rod has wound itself round a bit, pushing the linkage out of alignment. Loosen up, re-align, tighten up and all looks good. All gears present and correct.
So off I trundle to see a friend in chard. Everything is working well until third stards playing up again. Then the gear gate shifts over the other way, meaning I can't get into 5th. AND my speedo drive appears to have fallen out.
So the drive to Billing on Friday will be ....fun.
Off with the lid. Oh noes, 2962cc 210bhp chocolate milkshake machine lol
So off comes the inlet gubbins and out comes the oil cooler. As expected it looks like someone had a vindaloopoo in the cooler bath. Scratchy head as to where to get a replacement one on a saturday morning without remortgaging at Vauxhall, luckily Lee gave Dave Marshall a tinkle who just happened to have a semi-stripped 2.6 engine sat about doing nothing. A bargain price for the cooler and we soon had it back and in situ. Unfortunately one of the threads had stripped, so after some bodgery with liquid gasket and washers we'd sealed it up and left it overnight to set whilst we retired to discuss the finer points of dags and the state of the tarmac industry.
Next morning, after fixing another small leak, everything was put back together and the gearbox replacement completed amidst much lifting and grunting and trying not to drop heavy lumps of metal on Lee's face. Test drive down the road and everything checks out good, albeit third is a little fuzzy and a slight snick into 5th. By this time I suddenly realise I should be somewhere, as there's a SW meet at Weston in an hour. Wagon roll, Bob :cool:
Do the meet thing, with a pretty good turnout too. Go reverse out the car park and can't get reverse gear to engage. Eventually after much pudding stirring the gear finds itself, and out the car park we go. Hmm, seems a little sluggish. Oh wait, I'm in third. Dabble with the gear lever reveals the gate appears to have shifted to the right so I can't get 1st and 2nd. Drag the car home, losing 5th on the way too and praising the fact that the V6 has no problem pulling away in 3rd. Clutch probably doesn't like me though.
Stop by my house only to find there's a donor barge (calibra V6) in the driveway, so grab my axle stands and relocate to my parents. En route to which every single possible traffic light turns red. More hate from the clutch. Dump car on parents drive, jack up and as expected the gear lever rod has wound itself round a bit, pushing the linkage out of alignment. Loosen up, re-align, tighten up and all looks good. All gears present and correct.
So off I trundle to see a friend in chard. Everything is working well until third stards playing up again. Then the gear gate shifts over the other way, meaning I can't get into 5th. AND my speedo drive appears to have fallen out.
So the drive to Billing on Friday will be ....fun.