engine, meet transaxle

its late, so this won't be very long. Justin picked me up from work yesterday, and we got the new rear main seal on. He confirmed my suspicions that the flywheel center-hole was a little small for the crankshaft. Great. So, I'll be taking that to a machine shop in North Portland to get expanded a touch. Good thing I didn't sell the original flywheel yet. Justin pointed out that, since I'm taking it to a machine shop anyway, why not bring the new clutch disk and pressure plate and have the whole thing balanced. It shouldn't cost much more, and it will already be in their hands.... First, I need to get my permanent clutch/pressure plate. Next stop, KEP for their stage 1 pressure plate. Actually, I tried to get some good customer service from them today, and there was very little to be had. That was unexpected. So, CIP1 or eBay will get that business. It doesn't matter. It's still their pressure plate, so they'll get my money regardless.


So, what happened with the mating of the engine and the transaxle? The second half of that last post? Oh, yeah. On the left, here, there's a picture of the transaxle sitting on a ATV/motorcycle jack. I used that to move the transaxle into my garage (though I could have carried it), and I spun it around so the bellhousing was pointing away from the 'jack-up' end. With the adapter plate already on the engine, the next steps should have been put on the flywheel, torque to spec, attach the pressure plate/clutch disk, and align with an old driveshaft or centering tool. Well, I got stopped at the first step, as I aluded to above when the centerhole in the flywheel was just a touch too small. (see picture to the right). What I didn't mention was covering the CV joint openings on the transaxle. I used wax paper - 2 12" squares, held on with a pair of rubber bands. This will keep any dust out.

Instead, I tested the mating of the transaxle to the engine/adapter without the flywheel/clutch/pressure plate. Does this prove that all that stuff fits inside the bellhousing properly? No. But, I did try it with the flywheel on like the pisture above shows, and it fit, so I think the rest will fit fine.

I picked a 15* install, so it looks like the engine when its pictured in the Bentley manual. If you've been reading this blog, you know that my fixing-cars experience was quite limited until I got this bus 4 years ago. Every little bit helps.

To do the 15* install, I varied the height of the transaxle with the ATV jack and tilted it slightly onto one side with a 1" cresent wrench. I was able to slide the transaxle onto the dowels pretty easily. There's a picture here showing them mated together. I have since pulled them apart so we could put the rear seal on, and because I'll have to put the flywheel, etc on. And then there's the starter... maybe I'll work on that post next time.