Time to pull the M46 for the final time.
The pressure plate had a bunch of surface rust and the inside of the bellhousing was covered in what I think is grease and clutch material. I guess I must have used too much on the TOB sleeve or clutch splines or something the last time.
The fingers of the pressure plate (which I was planning on reusing for now) were surprisingly worn.
Used the good old bread trick to get the old pilot bearing out. Received a fresh biscuit at the end for my efforts. The flywheel is also more cracked than i'd like but I plan on dropping the trans again sooner rather than later to run a lighter TTV flywheel and concentric hydraulic TOB.
I accidentally bought a GM T5 mount instead of a Ford. I ended up sending new holes thru the tailhousing foot to mount what I had.
I took advantage of the tunnel access to do a little cleaning and I found a bunch of surface rust hiding underneath what looked like perfect factory undercoating.
Installed the t5 10 splined clutch disc on the old flywheel/pressure plate combo.
Now arrives the subject.
Getting the trans up was easy but it was a bear to get the input splines to sink into the clutch disc splines. We got them to initially mesh by turning over the engine with a breaker bar, but they would not go completely home. I recall reading here, someone mentioned to put a board in the cabin across the shifter hole, and use a ratchet strap around the board and the trans tailshaft housing to be able to better maneuver the box. I did that and it helped a ton vs diddling the jack. But still, it took maybe 90 minutes of fidgeting with it and it eventually just plopped home like nothing.
Installed the STS crossmember. This was also a chore as the slotted bolt holes to attach it to the body did not line up width wise. I needed to egg out the holes to be able to get the bolts in to the body. The picture makes it look worse than it is but I think i'll need to shim up the back end of the trans as it points downward more than what I think is optimal.
About to install the driveshaft when I found out the M10 bolts from the stock diff flanges were too large to fit through the 3/8" holes in the spicer 329 flange. I need to either find some 3/8" bolts or (preferably) slightly enlarge the spicer flange bolts from 9.5mm to 10mm.
This is really the only part so far that concerns me. The shifter is not at all centered in the hole. I was actually unable to install the shifter handle on the correct side of the lower shifter assembly, but it had clearance on the other side so what is where it went. I can in all gears nicely but it not being even close to centered bothers me.
The pressure plate had a bunch of surface rust and the inside of the bellhousing was covered in what I think is grease and clutch material. I guess I must have used too much on the TOB sleeve or clutch splines or something the last time.
The fingers of the pressure plate (which I was planning on reusing for now) were surprisingly worn.
Used the good old bread trick to get the old pilot bearing out. Received a fresh biscuit at the end for my efforts. The flywheel is also more cracked than i'd like but I plan on dropping the trans again sooner rather than later to run a lighter TTV flywheel and concentric hydraulic TOB.
I accidentally bought a GM T5 mount instead of a Ford. I ended up sending new holes thru the tailhousing foot to mount what I had.
I took advantage of the tunnel access to do a little cleaning and I found a bunch of surface rust hiding underneath what looked like perfect factory undercoating.
Installed the t5 10 splined clutch disc on the old flywheel/pressure plate combo.
Now arrives the subject.
Getting the trans up was easy but it was a bear to get the input splines to sink into the clutch disc splines. We got them to initially mesh by turning over the engine with a breaker bar, but they would not go completely home. I recall reading here, someone mentioned to put a board in the cabin across the shifter hole, and use a ratchet strap around the board and the trans tailshaft housing to be able to better maneuver the box. I did that and it helped a ton vs diddling the jack. But still, it took maybe 90 minutes of fidgeting with it and it eventually just plopped home like nothing.
Installed the STS crossmember. This was also a chore as the slotted bolt holes to attach it to the body did not line up width wise. I needed to egg out the holes to be able to get the bolts in to the body. The picture makes it look worse than it is but I think i'll need to shim up the back end of the trans as it points downward more than what I think is optimal.
About to install the driveshaft when I found out the M10 bolts from the stock diff flanges were too large to fit through the 3/8" holes in the spicer 329 flange. I need to either find some 3/8" bolts or (preferably) slightly enlarge the spicer flange bolts from 9.5mm to 10mm.
This is really the only part so far that concerns me. The shifter is not at all centered in the hole. I was actually unable to install the shifter handle on the correct side of the lower shifter assembly, but it had clearance on the other side so what is where it went. I can in all gears nicely but it not being even close to centered bothers me.
