So, have you decided on a trans yet? :p I want to start taking some stuff apart and then building. :)
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So, have you decided on a trans yet? :p I want to start taking some stuff apart and then building. :)
Don't you EVER talk about 525s like that!!!! BLASPHEMY!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by cordes
Your 525 is to you what Wonder Boy was to Robert Redford in The Natural.Quote:
Originally Posted by minigts
Quote:
Originally Posted by 86Shelby
When do you want to come down? Tear apart the other three trannies and see what all we have to work with, and go from there.
I've assisted Ray with a couple of them, but I'll still rely on his knowledge for this one. Now originally my primary reason for considering keeping the 525 case was that the car would appear that much closer to stock. But that was really only a "see if I can" situation, and since it's looking very likely that I'll be putting in a common block, that's even less of an issue. So my question for you is this: You say to hang on to that diff because "there are some of us who really like the idea of using them", yet I'd have to use the 525 case, which you say you'd rather not. So at what point do the pros of that differential outweigh the cons of that case, in your opinion? Do keep in mind that I don't expect this car to make any real power. So far, everything has been completely stock except for the exhaust and the electronics.Quote:
Originally Posted by cordes
I started taking apart rear brakes last night to see what parts I'll need, and everything looks brand new. I'll need to clean some surface rust off the inside of the drums, and repack the bearings with new grease and new seals, and I think that'll be it. I may swap out the brake cylinders though, depending on how much of a fight the bleeder screws give me. Now in the past, I've always just swapped to rear discs, and haven't dealt with this problem . . . How the heck do I get the hubs apart from the drums?
Step 1, make sure the e-brake isn't on. :) Fought that on a car at the yard one time for about 5 minutes before I realized the brakes were engaged. haha Other than the nut and cotter pin, the drum should just slide right off once those are removed.Quote:
Originally Posted by supercrackerbox
Oh no, I'm way past that point. The drums are off the car, sitting on the floor next to it. But the hubs are press fit into the drums. I need to get them apart so I can put the hubs in the solvent tank and take the drums in to be turned.
set the drum on something that lifts it slightly above the floor but lets the hub fall through the middle. Put a piece of 2x4 over the studs covering as many as possible to distribute the load. Large hammer. Release frustration. ???? Profit.
You don't have to use the 525 case. I believe 4 of the bolt holes on the ring gear line up fairly closely with the non-525 diffs. You then need to have the gear drilled and tapped to match the pattern of the new diff. It's expensive to have that done, but it works. The main shaft drops right in.Quote:
Originally Posted by supercrackerbox
If you don't expect the car to hook and make much more than stock HP, just run the 525.
Ok, moving forward. Rear brakes are done and reassembled. I ended up just cleaning the surface rust off the inside of the drums with emery cloth, cleaning everything and reassembling. The front brake pads and rotors are on order from Rock, and the calipers from the local brake shop. That's not too important though, because none of that can go back on until the front suspension and drivetrain are back in.
Anyway, last night we took the front end off the car. This got interesting. This car has clearly had even more front end damage than I was even aware of, and some pretty shoddy body work to cover it up.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...S/IMG_3373.jpg
Broken front bumper. Turn signal lens has minor damage, but should be useable.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...S/IMG_3374.jpg
There was an obscene amount of Bondo used to re-shape the front fender. I knew it was there because it was starting to crack on the top, but didn't realize how much.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...S/IMG_3377.jpg
There was a little damage to the core support, but I'm pretty sure that can be pulled straight enough to function.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...S/IMG_3375.jpg
Now this is where it gets funny.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...S/IMG_3372.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...S/IMG_3379.jpg
As best as we can guess, they either cut the header panel in half for ease of installation, or more than likely they did it so they only had to replace the half that got damaged. Who knows. But either way, I'm gonna need a new header panel for the car to go back together. The driver's side was pretty cracked up too.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o...S/IMG_3378.jpg
BTW, all the pictures of this project will be viewable here: http://s123.photobucket.com/albums/o...LHS/?start=all Check back regularly.
That header panel mod is genius. Having installed one on a freshly painted nose I would much preferred to have had one like that. It would also make it easier to install the emblem which I forgot to affix before installation too.
I'm suddenly reminded of the nose emblem popping off at the drag strip in Cincinatti . . . Still hilarious. Justin (the guy holding the header pieces) said he'd heard of people doing that with 3rd gen Camaros to make it easier to get everything installed, so that could be the reason behind it. Either way, the driver's side is too damaged to reinstall as is, so I'd like to try and find one if possible.
So, for tonight's updates, Ray came over and we tore apart a couple more transmissions. No pics tonight; I forgot the camera at the shop. Now as I mentioned before, Ray had already torn down a thrashed 525 (originally out of my old blue Turbo Z/CS) and an even more thrashed 520 (originally out of my CSX-T . . . and my old blue Turbo Z/CS). Between the two we netted a handful of very serviceable shift pads, forks, and brass, and a massive pile of useless junk to take to the recycling yard. The damage inside is actually kind of impressive, I really need to get some pics posted. I only wish I could have destroyed that 520 by actually making power instead of jumping a curb at 45 mph in the fog. :o
Well tonight, we tore down the 525 out of the GLHS (the 3.05 FD one) and another 555 that I'd had sitting on many different shelves for many years. First, the 525: We actually don't know why this transmission failed. It's possible that the right axle was just spinning in the splines of the intermediate shaft (done that before), but shortly after taking the trans out I shifted through the gears and spun the input shaft by hand while looking inside the axle hole. Just a bunch of grinding noise and the diff was definately not turning. Still when we tore it apart, the only thing we actually found wrong was the spider gears were very loose in the differential. Everything else looks pretty good- especially the end of the cluster shaft that is the undoing of so many 525, 520, and 555 transmissions. It looks amazing.
Next, we took apart the 555. Now this was a transmission that I kept after (regrettably) stripping a very clean, well optioned '87 Shelby Z for parts, clear back when you could still find them in junkards on a regular basis. Well the transmission was installed in my old Turbo Z/CS after the 525 finally let go, only to discover that I couldn't get it into Third gear without adjusting the shifter so far forward that I could no longer use Second and Fourth. But aside from that, the trans worked great, and I actually drove it like that for a couple months until Ray and I found a 568 in a junkyard on the coldest day of 2003. Once that trans went in, the 555 went into storage. Tonight, we opened it up to find that the shift pads are all smoked, and the third gear shift fork is destroyed, and Third gear itself has seen a few too many missed shifts. But everything else is perfect, especially the end of the cluster shaft that is the undoing of so many 525, 520, and 555 transmissions. It looks even more amazing.
So after much debate of performance versus fuel mileage, we've settled on rebuilding the 555 for the GLHS. I've got four transmissions worth of forks, pads, clips and brass to choose the best of, so all I should need is new bearings and a good third gear.
Yeah, that just doesn't sound too fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by cordes
Run the 520 diff in the 555 for a better ratio and option of running an OBX.
Yeah, the differential gear out of that 520 is really trashed, or I'd consider it.
I went down to Adam's shop today and went through the internals of a bunch of transmissions that we took apart a few weeks ago to gather enough good pieces to build one very solid 555. I think there will be parts from 4 maybe 5 transmissions in this sucker once it's finally assembled.
I knew this 520 was going to be interesting once I got the diff cover off.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...120_220523.jpg
Something just isn't right....
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...120_220537.jpg
Uhhhhhh.... I watched this transmission move the car the last 100 feet; granted it was a fight. Now I understand.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...120_225722.jpg
It's not just fubar; it's asymmetrically fubared!
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...120_220502.jpg
So that's why it was such a PITA to get into gear, the cluster shaft had so much movement it modified the shifter rail!
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...120_225802.jpg
The cannibalized leftover remains of 2 525s and one 520. 2 of them were pretty fragged on the cluster shaft bearing race, but suprisingly much of the rest of the stuff is in reasonable shape. A couple of the parts did go into the 555.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...309_212301.jpg
Ahh, plenty of nice clean parts. I cleaned up more brass than I was going to use so that I could give them all a good once over and choose the ones in the best condition. Luckily a few appeared to be nearly new and they came out of the trans that had very little crap clogging up the divot on the backside of the synchro wings.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...309_200448.jpg
The end product before pressing on the bearing. I think this setup will shift real nice once it's in the car.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/d...309_211947.jpg
purdy pile of parts there.
Probably too late to say it but you can get the black fork pads for the 3-4 and 5 forks from the dealer still. Around $2/each
Interesting. Do you have part numbers?
Not too late at all, Only the cluster shaft has been assembled.
4295519 is the black pad. Grey ones are not available. Dont know if you ever saw the thread but I did get the circlip that retains the 5th gear on both the input & countershafts reproduced and available if so interested.
My GLH is running at about 200hp. It has the original 525 with a girdle and moly bearing plate.
So far, So good.
http://www.greatlakeshotrod.com/Grea...omplished.html
http://www.greatlakeshotrod.com/Great_Lakes_Hot_Rods/Rebirth_of_a_1986_GLH-Turbo/Entries/2010/8/31_Mission_Accomplished.html