Ja1lb8 Posted September 7, 2021 Share Posted September 7, 2021 16 years ago I had one of these. Went well. Had head gasket done.i believe they had plastic locating dowels for the head that would get brittle and break and the head would shift . Lots of torque steer Replaced cvs a couple times. Rear engine mount and once the rear sway bar pulled out of the chassis All in all hell of a lot of fun for the price 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunbeam Posted September 7, 2021 Share Posted September 7, 2021 Mean. Old mate in north Taranaki bought two of these in the last couple of months. One is destined at this stage to be a Nazcar/lemons racer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 7 hours ago, Sunbeam said: Mean. Old mate in north Taranaki bought two of these in the last couple of months. One is destined at this stage to be a Nazcar/lemons racer. If its a coupe, is he selling any bits from it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunbeam Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 Both 220 turbo coupes. He hasn’t decided the fate of the other one yet, but it looks far too tidy to wreck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 1 hour ago, Sunbeam said: Both 220 turbo coupes. He hasn’t decided the fate of the other one yet, but it looks far too tidy to wreck Send him my way if he is going to wreck either of them (or stripping the race car out for lightening etc), Its a Rover, Im always going to need to hoard parts 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunbeam Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 Will do 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 It was obvious from the moment the car was delivered that I had purchased yet another car with a deferred maintenance problem. There were leaks everywhere, and the coolant was anything but. Of course, this set me into the usual course of action. A full service. The first on the list was the coolant. When I first backed the car off the truck, before starting it, I checked to see if there was anything in the expansion tank. There was, but it was a mixture of clean water and brown sediment. Yay. Draining the cooling system is fairly simple, albeit a pain due to a lack of a drain tap, so you have to pull the lower radiator hose off and try not to make a huge mess. Thankfully I got a cheap fish bin a while back, and that was perfect for catching a large amount of liquid from various places. There was no coolant in the system, just brown murky water. I drained it all out, removed the expansion tank for a quick clean (it's very stained, but holds pressure, so it will stay for now) and then flushed the radiator and engine through with fresh water until it ran clean. With the expansion tank out it was the perfect time to remove the ugly AC pipe that was just hanging out in the engine bay. The AC system is a write-off since the previous owner left the inlet/outlet on the pump open to the elements for who knows how long, so the pump is probably stuffed. I'll just make do with popping the tops on a hot day (or using a different car). To flush the engine I removed the top hose. This hose should house a thermostat (it's held in the top hose with a hose clamp, not in a housing). I suspected the thermostat was missing, and sure enough, nothing. Filling and bleeding the T series system is also quite easy. Fill the expansion tank up whilst squeezing the top hose until coolant starts to flow from the top hose bleed screw (which was plugged solid with gunk, so I had to clear the bleed screw first. It should have a little hole in the side near the top so you don't have to remove the screw completely), and then run the car up to temp with the cap off the tank. I used my big coolant funnel to raise the head even higher which makes bleeding a bit easier, but not necessary. This is about how far the bleed screw needs to be opened if the internal channel in the screw is clear The coolant bottle ain't great, but at least I can see the coolant level now. I removed some coolant once I was sure the cooling system was bled, and now it sits just on the Max line. Next up, since the engine was warm now, was to drop and replace the engine oil and filter. This was really easy. 19mm bolt on the back of the sump to drain the oil, and the filter is just right there off to the side. The smell of Bullshite was starting to get pretty strong now. In the listing for the car when I bought it, it clearly states "Full Service" as having recently been done. Well, clearly not the coolant, or as it turns out, the engine oil. The oil was black and smelt a bit fuelly. Not fresh, that's for sure. I poured in the required 4.5L of HPR10 10W50 full synthetic, started the car up, the oil light went straight out and the engine sounded happy. The gearbox was next. I know these PG1 gearboxes are VERY sensitive to being run with low fluid due to their plastic cage bearings, which will overheat and grenade themselves. There is some bearing noise at idle in this car, and I could see the gearbox was wet on the back, so hopes weren't high that the oil level was correct. As always, remember to crack and remove the fill plug first, and then the drain plug. The fill plug (green arrow) is a 17mm hex, whilst the drain plug (orange arrow) can be undone with a 3/8 ratchet with no socket. Because I was curious, I drained the fluid into a clean measuring jug. The colour wasn't good, and it smelt burnt. Well, I'm glad I drained it. Less than 1.5L, which is over 1L down on the 2.5L it should have in it. No chunks thankfully, but those bearings must be a bit toasty. I refilled the box with Honda MTF. I agonised (like usual) over this oil decision for ages, but the recommended oil is Landrover MTF94 (which supersedes engine oil in the box), which according to the interwebs is interchangeable with Honda MTF. Either way, it's got to be better than what was in there. Interestingly though, Honda MTF is very thin, which was a surprise. With the underside fluids done, I moved on to the sparky stuff. The leads didn't inspire confidence, as they were generic off the shelf Repco leads. Probably fine, probably do the job, but were wrong. Wrong is bad. With the leads removed, I could remove the spark plugs. These did actually look quite new, and were the right model (NGK BKR6E), but they hadn't regapped them from the standard 1.1mm gap to the required 0.85mm gap. Sigh. I fit a new set of BKR6E gapped to 0.85mm and then fit the new Lucas LUC7443 leads. I also removed and replaced the cap and rotor. They were in decent shape, but had some minor wear. It's quite interesting that the T series doesn't have a distributor as such, the rotor mounts right onto the end of the camshaft, and the cap screws to the head. The shield under the cap was looking a bit worse for wear, but are expensive to replace. New cap and rotor fitted, and new leads connected. I was interested to note that despite the listing saying "new coils" the coil (tucked behind the battery) was original. Maybe they meant spark plugs? Next, since the intake pipes were out of the way, I wanted to check the wastegate and dump valve were working correctly. I connected my vacuum pump to the dump valve vacuum hose, but it wouldn't hold a vacuum. I could hear a whistling noise. Nuts. Turns out, the vacuum hose had a big gash in it, which had been badly covered with insulation tape. That tape had proceeded to fail in the heat and wasn't sealing anything. The vacuum hose to the wastegate was actually a length of fuel hose and had gone rock hard in the engine bay heat. Unfortunately when trying to remove this pipe from the boost control valve, I broke the nipple off the valve. Ugh. I did a quick fix, hopefully it holds. If it doesn't I will look into a manual boost control to replace it, and set it to standard boost. To try to fix this one I ran a 5mm drill bit down it, and epoxyed a short section of brake tube into the hole. It was a snug fit (had to be tapped into place), and the epoxy is meant to be super strength. I used a length of old hose to test the dump valve and wastegate in the meantime, and thankfully both worked as expected. After a couple of days for the epoxy to cure, I replaced the rubbish vacuum hoses with new black silicone vacuum hose. Since I was already there, I quickly removed the cambelt cover to check the timing and condition of the belt. I had been told the belt was replaced recently when the headgasket was done. Since the head is pouring oil from everywhere, I didn't have much faith in the cambelt having been done/done properly either. Thankfully, the belt looks very good, if it's not new new, it's not long been replaced. Even better, the timing marks all line up as they should. It appears the roll pins are in the correct locations too. I buttoned the engine back up The engine bay looks exactly the same, except for the missing AC pipe, and the green coolant in the tank. The main benefit was that the engine starts on the button every time, doesn't overheat when idling, runs quietly and idles smoothly. Annoyingly the brake light switch has failed (brake lights stuck on again), so since I'm waiting on a replacement to show up I haven't been able to take the car for a drive since I did all this work. Hopefully it isn't too far away, I'm dying to see if it boosts better now. Since the car was stuck in the garage I did a couple of other things. The boot latch was no good. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had to slam the boot lid hard to get it to catch. This was due to the catch having a missing plastic section inside it. I managed to source a replacement catch, with the correct plastic piece intact. This is the old catch And this is the new catch, with the required black plastic bit The plastic part alters how far the striker needs to go into the catch before it shuts the latch. Interestingly the new catch was date stamped 97 (my original 94) and seems to have some running updates and is a higher quality. The improvement is vast. Not only does the internal release work correctly now, but I don't have to slam the boot lid. I can close it like a normal person, gently letting it close, and it latches first time every time. Great success. Now to get some new gas struts so I don't have to worry as much about the 2 tons of boot lid taking my head off when I use the boot. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 This car has some cosmetic challenges. I managed to knock a couple off and make things just a little nicer. Most of the cosmetic issues with this car stem from it being outside under the sun. There are some things that are hard to get (or hard to replace) but thankfully some parts are easy to replace, and since there is an R8 Rover 200 liftback at the local Pick A Part I went on a raid to get some bits. The major one was the dash wood. Mine was in really bad condition and was an eyesore to look at. Although the wood seemed good, the lacquer was falling off in chunks. The wood on the dash of the car at PAP was perfect. Not a mark on it. Removing the trim can be a bit nerve-wracking. There are a series of spring clips along it. To release the clips, start with a pry tool on the far LH side, levering it outwards. Using another tool, work slightly further along. Eventually, with some force, the end clips will give in, and then you can just pull it free with your hands. The other benefit of replacing the trim was that I could look into why the backlight on the clock was dead. The LCD was working as you could just make out the faint digits. It turns out that both the bulb was blown, and the clock needed to be disassembled and the solder joints reflowed. The replacement clock suffered the same issue. The replacement wood just pushes into place, starting at the RH end. And the clock works too. Such a classic orange glow. When I was at Pick A Part I decided to grab a couple of door switches, as I know they are known failure points. Turns out this was fortuitous as both of mine were broken, and the interior light didn't work. The slider lever had broken off both. One screw holds it on, so remove that Disconnect the cable, plug it into the replacement and screw it back in. Done. Rinse and repeat for the other side. Now the light works on the door setting. I changed it to an LED for more brightness and less consumption. The LED doesn't fade quite as nice as a bulb (yes, the light fades out, how flash) but it's not really noticeable unless you're watching the light. Moving right along, the next part I scored was a good condition front grille. Mine was rusty and I was at risk of getting tetanus every time I lifted the bonnet (which is a lot). 5 nuts hold the grille on. I found this mess behind the grille. A quick clean And the replacement grille fitted. I had to swap my badge over because someone had screwdrivered the badge when it was at PAP. This is why I replaced it The replacement had some surface rust on it, but I wire brushed it and then used some rust converter to hopefully stop it getting too crispy. The grille is riveted together, So it wouldn't be a bad idea to split it and properly coat that steel backing inside and out. Still plenty more parts to tidy up on this car, but it looks nice from afar. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kws Posted September 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 19, 2021 The last lot of work was to service the braking system as it wasn't quite right. In the test drives I have taken the car on the brakes have felt a bit off. The pedal is soft, with lots of travel and not much in the way of stopping. There is also quite a shudder when braking and the hand brake appears to only be working on one side. The plan was to replace the front pads and rotors and the rear pads, figuring the shudder is likely to be from the front, and the pads on the rear were looking old. The front rotors had some grooves in them, but no lip. I suspect the shudder was probably pad deposits from sitting, and may have gotten better with more use. The rotors were quite rusty through. Two 12mm bolts hold the caliper to the slider pins. Removing these allows the caliper to swing up and over. I was really worried about these rotor retaining screws as they all look quite chewed up, but they came out with no issue. I used a screwdriver bit in my impact wrench to undo them. A quick clean of the hub face and on went the new rotor. The old pads did look quite recent and had little wear. It's peace of mind to replace them though. The slider pins were well greased and sliding freely. I cleaned and regreased them anyway. These little plates that the pads ride on weren't in good shape though. Both were gunged up with old grease and brake dust. I've cleaned one half of this one with a wire brush. After cleaning all the plates up, giving them a coating of copper grease and refitting them to the bracket it was time to fit the pads. I would have liked some Mintex pads, but they aren't easy to get here and are really expensive. The piston in the caliper was pressed back with a clamp, and the caliper refitted. The bracket to hub bolts get torqued to 100NM, and the caliper slider bolts are 32NM. Rinse and repeat for the other side. The rears are a little more of a pain due to the handbrake cable. Mmm webs. This isn't even the worst, the other side was grosser. Lots of fly spray and vacuuming made it safe to work. The pads had plenty of meat but were old Lucas pads, maybe original to the car? I removed the handbrake cable pins because they are known for rusting up, and sure enough, mine was very stiff and rusty. I cleaned it with a wire brush and refitted it with plenty of copper grease. The slider pins on each side were stiff and covered in dry old grease. They weren't seized but didn't move freely. These were thoroughly cleaned and greased before refitting. The other side was much of the same. One of the boots on the slider pins hadn't been fitted correctly but thankfully still kept dirt out. The grease was still hard as a rock though. The boot should go right to the head of the pin Everything was cleaned and greased, and the piston in the caliper freed up and wound back in. The rear rotors aren't looking good. They have no lip but seem to be quite pitted. I might revisit these and if a few good hard stops don't clear them up, replace them. The handbrake mech on each caliper moves freely, so they should be working OK. I gave them a good coating on WD40 to help them move nicely. I bled the brakes next. I flushed the system, but I don't think I needed to. The fluid was quite clear and looked like it had been done somewhat recently (despite one of the bleed nipples being blocked and needing removal to clear it, and the two rear ones being rusty and taking a bit of force to shift). Bit of a mystery that. The bleed sequence with the Bosch ABS unit is LH FR, RH FR, LH RR, RH RR. The pedal still has a bit of travel but does feel firmer now. I still can't drive the car because the brake light switch is faulty but once I can I will do the bed-in procedure. I tried to adjust the hand brake after pumping the brakes 20 odd times as recommended, and the adjuster had been wound all the way out. I got it from bout 10 clicks down to 5-6 but I'm still not sure if it's working evenly. I really need to bed the brakes in first, and then adjust it again and see what happens. One other thing I noticed was that the rear muffler was hanging on by one hanger. Some WD40 and a bit of wiggling and I had it back in place. Hopefully this helps the placement of the muffler as it's a bit on the piss and doesn't match the cutout in the rear splitter. The whole exhaust is a bit woeful. I might need to take it in somewhere and have it fixed properly. It's been "modified" and has no mufflers except the back box. Since the car has all the wheels off anyway, now is a good time to replace the tyres. I find tyres can tell a lot about a previous owner. A high powered sports car like this, running on ditch finders on the front and mismatched old and cracking tyres on the rear.... the previous owner was an idiot. Yes, that is date coded 2008. All the tyres are the wrong size, being 185/55R15, not the turbo size of 195/55R15. I got the new rubber the other day, and I just need to book it in and have it fitted. Yokohama AD08R. Pretty serious street rubber. I'm hoping they are as good as the Hankook I had on the Corolla (which aren't available in this size). I'm looking forward to putting them through their paces. I will hopefully have the brake light switch this week, and tyres fitted next weekend. I might even try for a WOF when I get the tyres done and see what happens. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted September 25, 2021 Author Share Posted September 25, 2021 Well, it all ground to a halt today. Was out bedding in the new brakes, car running and driving the best it has. Took off from a stop with a little vigor, comes on boost and pop, suddenly it feels like its come out of gear and free revs. I try selecting a gear again, so change. Turns out I've lost all gears, including reverse. I have also lost all the fresh new gearbox oil all over the flat bed tow trucks deck. The car can be pushed forward when in reverse and backwards when in a forward gear, so the wheels feel detached from the gearbox. No grinding, no rattling, nothing. Just no gears. At least it looked really good sitting waiting for the tow I'll need to jack the car up tomorrow and see what's given way. No result is good, as it all basically comes down to gearbox out and a rebuild. Maybe its time to get a Type B or Quaife, if that's whats gone. 6 1 2 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajg193 Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 Poor bastard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kws Posted September 26, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 26, 2021 Well, that didn't take long. I knew I was on borrowed time with the gearbox but didn't expect it would come around this quickly. So, I had the new tyres fitted yesterday (Yoko AD08r in the correct Turbo size), fiddled with the old brake light switch (since the replacement is AWOL) to stop the brake lights from being on all the time, and then went out to bed the new brakes in. The car was running great, it ran smoothly and was responsive. The brakes have good feel, with no shudder and the gearbox was shifting great. A few hard stops and a KM or two later I pulled over to check the wheel nut torque (not going to take the risk of not checking them after a brake job again, after the wheels nearly coming off on the Corolla). Of course, the wheels were fine, so I pull back onto the road, gave it a bit of throttle, the turbo spins up, boost comes in and then suddenly It just free revs. It felt like it popped out of gear, so I clutch in, into neutral, into second, let the clutch out, and nothing, just revs. Oh no. I roll to a stop at the side of the road and try a few more gears, nothing, I can let the clutch out with it in gear and nothing happens, doesn't even stall. I can push the car forward when it's in reverse, which is not good. I fire off a quick text to let my Wife know I might be a while and call AA to arrange a tow. "Yes, I am about 1.6KM away from home" I confirm with the rep on the phone... At least it looks good, sitting there, waiting. Whilst I waited I took a quick walk back to where I stopped to check the wheel torque A quick sniff test confirmed that was a nice trail of my fresh, rather expensive, Honda MTF gear oil. There was also a small amount under the car where it sat. After a fairly short wait, a friendly chap with a truck arrived winched the old girl aboard and dropped me home again. The Tomcat repaid his help by leaving a large amount of gear oil on the truck bed, and on the road where the car was loaded and unloaded. So what went wrong then? I jacked the front of the car up, confirmed it had no drive to the wheels and slid under to find out why. That'll do it. The shiny bit the arrow is pointing to should be inside the gearbox and shouldn't be visible. It also explains why the gearbox weed everywhere as the seal was wide open without the shaft to seal it. I did some careful levering with a prybar and popped it back into place. I'd be very surprised if this is a new issue... I suspect I'm not the first one to lever that back into the gearbox. Whilst under there I had a good look around. Noticed a couple of minor coolant leaks I will need to attend to, but also noticed this rear engine mount completely missing its nut. I found a new pre-loved nyloc nut that fit, and wound that on nice and tight. Who knows, maybe that will fix some of the movement in the engine. The driveshaft has quite a lot of radial (up and down) play when inserted back into the gearbox, which confirms my suspicions, both about the condition of the box, and why it popped out; the gearbox bearings are stuffed. These gearboxes do not tolerate being neglected, and being over a litre of oil down when I got it, I suspect it's not had a good time. When Rover had these boxes built, they chose to use hi-tech ball bearings with plastic to retain the balls. This probably seemed like a good idea at the time, and they worked well for years, as long as the plastic didn't get old and the gear oil could keep them cool Above is an example of the bearings used in the PG1 gearbox; uprated steel cage bearing on the left and stock plastic cage on the top right. Unfortunately, the bearings Rover used seem to wear badly no matter what (they tend to get pitting in the races and go a bit grindy), but when coupled with low oil and high temps, the plastic can fail, causing the bearings to no longer be sufficiently retained, as per this extreme example where the plastic has broken and the balls have all converged on the lowest point. This sort of damage is what can also break the flange off the diff center. So I suspect mine has either started to break down the plastic, or the races have worn to the point there is excessive play. The popping out drive shaft is the usual giveaway of bearing failure. With the driveshaft back in place, I have drive to the wheels again, so once I refill the gearbox with the cheapest oil I can get, the car will be mobile enough to get out of the garage and into the drive, where it will sit in shame waiting for me to rebuild the gearbox. I will be stripping the gearbox, replacing all the bearings, and oil seals. Uprated metal caged bearings will be used everywhere they are available. Whilst I'm there I will also be doing the clutch. I'm hoping to keep the Type A torsen diff, but I will need to check it's in good condition once the gearbox is split; if not, I will need to increase the budget and add a Quaife to the list. After that, the gearbox should be damn near bulletproof. I was really hoping to get more than a couple of KM (literally, I've done sub-10KM since I got it) out of the car before it seriously broke, but that's the British car game I play. Every day is a gamble. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted September 26, 2021 Share Posted September 26, 2021 Torco do a mtf compatable with honda boxes that's a fair bit cheaper than the genuine fluid. I got some from 1st auto parts(ex segedins) I assume they still stock it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kws Posted September 29, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 29, 2021 Right, the wallet hurts, but everything I need to rebuild the box is on the way (except a replacement diff, fingers crossed I don't need one). New bearings (steel cage where possible), seals, bolts, clutch, everything. Then once the box is done, I can start fixing the other issues with the car... 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted November 27, 2021 Author Share Posted November 27, 2021 Well, everything has arrived now, and the car has been pulled into the garage..... guess the box will be coming out sometime in the near future. 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kws Posted November 28, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 28, 2021 In an effort to fix the reason for its failure to proceed, it was time to drop the gearbox and pull it to bits. I had my suspicions as to why the axle popped out a couple of months back, so opened my wallet and ordered all the seals, bearings and a clutch needed to make the gearbox reliable. The early turbo boxes like mine have an additional Achilles heel, the Type A Torsen differential center. These are known for shearing the flange the bearing is mounted on and ruining the diff. Not knowing if this had happened to mine did play at the back of my mind a lot, but I wouldn't know until the box was out if it was any good or not. The alternative is to find a Type B center from a later turbo car (620ti usually, and almost unobtainium in NZ) or upgrade to a bulletproof Quaife center, at significant cost. I chose to wing it, and not order the diff initially, with the hopes my Type A was still good. I had some reason to hope it was OK, and it wasn't just cost. These cars were well known during their reviews for having really aggressive grip characteristics due to the very agricultural Type A diff center. It was very grabby and pulled hard. A true ditch-finder. I really wanted the car to have this characteristic, as it's part of the charm of the 220 Turbo for me. Other than playing musical cars occasionally, the Tomcat hasn't been driven due to the risk of further damage, and/or becoming stranded again. The other night I swapped the Marina to the other side of the garage and pulled the Tomcat into the garage ready for some surgery. You know this is going to be a serious job when for the first time since I got it, the tool trolley is dusted off and used for tools, not for storing junk. The first job was to remove a bunch of things that would be in the way, such as the battery and its tray, the air filter and pipe, and the cold side boost pipe. Next, the clutch cable gets disconnected. This was a bit of a pain, you need to pull the cable end out/down slightly and slip the wire through the gap in the lever and then the cable pulls free from the bracket. Next was the reverse light wires And then the ground strap needs to be removed, down on the front corner. Around the back, the speedo cable needs to be disconnected. This has a rubber boot covering a spring clip. remove the clip and the cable pulls out of the sender. Unfortunately, my sender is seized in the gearbox and won't pull out, so I'll deal with that later. Whilst there, the starter needs to come out too. There should be a bolt on the top, and a bolt/nut on the bottom. Mine was missing the bottom bolt, clearly, the previous owner thought the top one was good enough. You don't need to remove the wiring, there is enough slack to rest the starter up the front on the battery tray bracket. Next I lifted the car up on Quickjacks and set about draining the oil. A couple of clicks as something metallic hit the bottom of the container made this job very reassuring. Despite doing literally 2-3KM on the oil, it was very dark and had a lot of floating "organic" material (old burnt oil, as I found out later) in it. I drained this through a cloth to see what came out... Well, it wasn't bits of bearing like I expected. Looked much more like bits of teeth.... The shifter assembly was next. This is held in place with a bolt on the front of the steady bar, and a roll pin through the selector UJ. I knocked the roll pin out with a round punch that was slightly smaller than the hole the pin is in To completely remove the assembly (as I am, to also replace the UJ pins and bushes) there are two bolts in the rear mount too. Remember to remove the shift knob first, so the shifter can pull through the rubber boot. The steady bar on the bottom front of the gearbox needs to be removed. There is one bolt through the big bush at the front and then two bolts holding the mount to the gearbox Both axles are next on the list. To remove these I removed the lower arm bolts from the front subframe, disconnected the swaybar from the lower arms and then removed the front tie bars from the lower arms. This allows the lower arm to pivot away on the balljoint and let the hub swing out enough to allow the over CV to be removed from the hub. The Inner CVs popped out from the gearbox with a quick jab of the pry bar. The RH one (the one that popped out previously) was very easy to get out, as if the circlip was not engaged...) Unfortunately with the shaft removed it is clear the end of the splines was damaged when it popped out, as they are worn almost complete smooth. The Circlip is also very worn. In comparison, the LH shaft has very sharp splines. Before going too much further, remember to losen the big plug on the end as it is done up tight AF. I used a large hex socket and the rattle gun, and even then it took a bit to crack free. Do note there will be oil behind this plug and will drain when removed. The rear stabiliser mount needs to be removed next. There is one large bolt through the gearbox side of the mount, and then the bracket has two more bolts to remove. These are easy to access from the front of the car The front mount needs to be unbolted next. Before you can do this you need to support the engine. I used a engine support bar over the top, bolted to a spare hole in the head, but people tend to use a jack with a block of wood under the sump. Now the two bolts through the gearbox can be removed, and the one down through the top of the mount (far left of image). This cover over the mount is a real bastard. I can't see any way to remove it with the coolant pipe and turbo in place. Since I already had the tie bars off, it was only a further 4 bolts and the whole front subframe comes down, front mount and all. It needed a good cleaning anyway. This also makes it a lot easier to remove the gearbox as there is more space. I'd recommend removing it. Before you can remove the final, blue, bolt, there are two more on the back of the gearbox that need to be removed. Be careful, because once they are removed the gearbox will start to move as it's only being held with one bolt at the top. I find it interesting that other than the blue bolt, every other bolt in the bellhousing serves a double function, either holding a bracket for a mount, or the starter. Now, I'm bit of a weirdo so I wouldn't recommend how I got the gearbox out. I'd recommend using a transmission jack and maybe a second person. The gearbox isn't too heavy, but it's weighted really weird (diff is heavy so it tilts backwards). I put the jack under the gearbox, and undid the blue bolt. With one hand I reached through the starter hole and held the top of the bellhousing, and with the other I manipulated the jack. It came free from the engine easily, and then it was a case of lowering the jack and guiding the gearbox down. Once down, I rolled the gearbox onto my creeper so it could be transported to my dedicated gearbox stripping area at the back of the garage (or, a workbench that is strong enough, which I cleared for the occasion). Oh hello clutch. Your days are numbered... A quick lift up onto the bench, and this is what we have. A Rover PG1 gearbox. Quite a small box, considering. The crucial label, showing its a legit 220 Turbo box And the small light as the end of the tunnel, signifying the Type A Torsen center The bellhousing is COVERED in grime. I believe most of this is from oil leaks above the gearbox I also believe this little bastard is the source of the low oil level. One of the lowest points in the box, and covered in oil inside and out. A new selector shaft seal will be fitted (and hopefully a new boot if it arrives in time). Chunks inside the RH side of the diff. I'm not sure if these are from the shredded splines or the diff internals More chunks behind the big plug. Just a sign of things to come First view of the diff bearings. Popped the seal out and had a look. Some more metal chunks behind the seal, but the bearing cage (brown plastic ring) is intact. The other side was more of the same So, no broken bearing cages as I had expected. Now it was time to lift the casing off. Remember to remove the reverse gear idler bolt And then remove the speedo sender (if still fitted) and reverse light switch. After that, gently pry the casing up. It will still be held with the circlip inside the hole the big plug was covering, but we need to put some tension on it. And then using a pair of circlip pliers, spread the circlip apart whilst lifting the case. Some wiggling should have the circlip pop out of the groove and rest on top of the bearing. It'll be obvious when its come free. The case will just lift off now. This was my first glance at the internals of the box. Everything looked more or less as expected, except the magnet... It's been working hard! It's hard to see but the casing is also coated on the inside in brown, burnt, oil residue. This box has been treated badly for a while I stripped the casing by removing the reverse gear assembly, shifter and then finally the main gear clusters. Before I could remove the diff I needed to remove the speedo drive. This is very seized. It took a lot of WD40 and hitting with punches and chisels to first get it to rotate in place and then pry out. I cant seem to completely remove it, but it was enough to clear the diff. With the diff removed, I could confirm both of the bearing flanges were intact. It was promising, but the relief was short lived. Back to that in a moment, first, the bearings. That's some unhealthy bearings! I suspect all of them have suffered both with low lubrication, but also had metal going through them. This is a good thing though, I have replacement bearings on hand. It also confirms the noises I had been hearing, especially in neutral. Now, the bad news... the diff is buggered. Not in the way I had expected, no, that would be too easy. For some reason there has been an internal failure and there is a significant amount of axial play in one half of the diff (the side the axle popped out of, which is no surprise). So sadly that is the end of the Type A Torsen diff. I don't know what has happened, or how it happened (low lubrication is still high on the list) but something is seriously flogged in that center. I haven't quite worked out if all the metal is from the diff or not. I had a good look around and the only other damage I could find was a small chip out of the pinion gear All other gears have all their teeth, the needle bearings spin smoothly, and the synchros arent burred over. As there was no noise when I drove the car, I think I will knock the sharp edges off the chip and continue using it. I can only suspect, that with only 113,000km on the clock, if the oil had been kept topped up, this gearbox would still be fighting fit. But sadly no, it falls on me to open my wallet and get this thing back on the road. It has been suggested instead of throwing money hand over fist at this thing, that I either sell it for parts or scrap it. I can categorically say that no, neither of these things will be happening. This car, although neglected by a couple of previous owners, is a good solid low mileage car. It will always need more and more work to keep it on the road, but you have to expect that with a Tomcat (or 90s Rover), but it would be a travesty to see this thing scrapped and there aren't enough around to pull another one off the road and part it out. So, for now, everything is at a dead halt. I need to order a Quaife diff, and a new RH drive shaft or inner CV. Until they show up, the car is stuck taking up precious garage space and other than cleaning, there is nothing more I can do on this job. 16 1 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kws Posted November 29, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 29, 2021 Did some more poking about today. All the gears and all the synchros are (thankfully) in good condition. No chips or missing teeth, so it's only the pinion that has suffered. Sadly I found a second chip on the pinion so thats toast, currently looking for replacements now. The 5th(?) gear was hiding a nasty secret too. The needle bearing had worn into the surface it runs on, so I will need to replace that. It should be smooth like the RH side (it has a needle bearing on either side of the flange in the middle) An almost nekked shaft. Everything needs a damn good clean, there is glitter in everything, and your hands come away black when touching anything. Wallet is open, the next step is going to hurt a lot. Now to wait for parts. 11 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjrstar Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Great progress, I don't have much to add but I found installation and removal of the bitch pin (shift linkage roll pin) on my b series honda was easiest with a small g-clamp and a torx bit that would locate down into the pin..I taped a socket to the g clamp foot for the pin to exit in to.. Also don't overtighten the through bolt for the gear lever where it attaches to the shift linkage.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taistorm Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 With the shaft/carrier that the 5th gear needle roller bearings sit on, you can probably get it metal sprayed and spun as an easier/cheaper alternative to replacing. There's an awesome old bloke in onehunga, Auckland called Malcolm at MacLean Metalsprayers who sorts alot of similar work for us. Unsure if there's someone down the line that does similar work but worth looking into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kws Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 2 hours ago, mjrstar said: Great progress, I don't have much to add but I found installation and removal of the bitch pin (shift linkage roll pin) on my b series honda was easiest with a small g-clamp and a torx bit that would locate down into the pin..I taped a socket to the g clamp foot for the pin to exit in to.. Also don't overtighten the through bolt for the gear lever where it attaches to the shift linkage.. I'll probably be replacing the pin with an m8 bolt tightened FT as there was quite a lot of play at that end. Fairly common "upgrade" in Rover circles along with the kit to replace the pins in the UK with bolts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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