| LIFE OF A GT |
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 | |  | July 18, 2010 - Progress!
Although it doesn't look like it. I pulled the engine and transmission out one more time. This will let me finish the sheetmetal work in the engine bay and elsewhere in the transmission tunnel. I'll also finish some welding on the frame and then paint everything.
Meanwhile, the transmission has to come off so I can change the lines to the slave cylinder. The sealed one-piece setup from the Camaro isn't going to work, so I'm going to do something similar to the setup used by Flyin' Miata. The MG master is the right size (lucky!) and so I just need to find the right banjo bolts.
Once the chassis is prepped and ready, I'll stuff the engine back inside for what will hopefully be the final time!
entry 355 - tags: assembly, clutch | | |  | August 29, 2010 - It's almost time to put the engine in.
But first, I need to get at the slave cylinder. See, the Camaro uses a sealed hydraulic system and I need to mate it to the MG (or a different) master cylinder. It's also hard to bleed the system with the transmission mounted in a small car, or at least that's the fear. So I used the same setup that Flyin' Miata uses in their V8 Miatas. It's a new braided line with a banjo fitting on the end and a second long hose with a cap on it, used for bleeding. Easy enough - but I had to split the engine and transmission to do it.
The T56 transmission is a heavy beast, about 140 lbs. So I used a pair of jacks to hold it level as I pulled it free from the engine. And here's the first surprise - a Spec clutch. Normally, the smart thing to do when you've got your engine and transmission cracked apart is to put in a new clutch, but this one felt pretty good in the Camaro. So it's going to stay.
I thought there had been a change in slave cylinder designs, so I had a new one of the latest design ready to pop in. Well, turns out this car had the same design. It may have dated from the installation of the Spec clutch (remember, this engine was rebuilt about 30,000 miles ago) but whatever the reason, I may not have needed that new slave. Oh well, in it goes.
With the two-jack technique, the transmission slipped right on to the engine smooth as silk. It's never that easy. Which means something must have gone wrong.
entry 372 - tags: transmission, clutch, slave, hydraulics | | |  | August 29, 2010 - Of course there was a problem.
After I had the transmission all tightened down, I picked up the old slave cylinder and turned it over - and discovered this spacer hiding underneath. It's laser-cut steel, definitely not stock. It was probably installed with the clutch. Since the Camaro worked, it's also probably required as the old and new slaves are the same part number. So I had to pull the transmission out again. At least I was just working with an engine sitting on the floor!
Naturally, I ran into other problems. I pulled the slave off, installed the spacer and went to bolt it up again. And stripped out a thread on the aluminum transmission casing. With the spacer in place, there was less thread engagement. I ran a tap down the hole and dug through my collection of fasteners until I found a bolt that was long enough to make up the difference of the spacer. That worked fine, so then it was just a matter of reassembly. Sheesh.
Let's hope this all works!
entry 373 - tags: transmission, hydraulics, clutch | | |
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