Bell housing Blues

[Mjbeanie]

Hello again guys,

Well I just picked up my new "old tranny" from ebay. Stamped 1967 so it should work pretty well as my old one is stamped 1966. I have encountered a few problems and have a few questions.

The car is up and the bell housing bolts have been removed. The tranny is supported as is the engine sump. I have been following along with the Haynes manual. Here are the issues and discrepancies:

1) The bell housing bolts are off. The top and bottom flange is 90% separated.
It appears I may be hung up on a guide pin by the starter. The pin looks like a press fit and does not move. Is this correct, how do I work around. The gearbox moves around freely for removal except for this area by the starter.
I cannot separate the flange completely and don't want to break anything.
I have highlighted where the pin is in a representative photo below. Thanks for any hints on extracting bell housing/gearbox assy.

2) The book recommends you "tilt the engine" to slide gearbox back for extraction. How do you tilt engine with exhaust system completely connected?
There is no mention of exhaust system disassembly.

3) reverse lights: what years had reverse and switches on gearbox, I see none. Mine is a '66 gearbox for the 67 production year.

4) There is a recommendation to remove the centre track rod of steering gear. I assume this is not necessary on the alpine.

5) Please advise recommended gear oil for stock gearbox.
6) Other tricks and tips are welcome, this was a bigger job than anticipated-THANK YOU!

CHeers
Mike

 

[mikephillips]

One of the things to keep in mind with a shop manual is they tend to have been written for guys who are doing this work all the time for a dealer or garage. So they outline steps but don't necessarily explain exactly how to accomplish something unless unique to the car they're working on. They assume a mechanic will know looking how to accomplish a step.

So, you do need to tilt the engine back to remove the transmission. Depending on the flexibility of the connections you may very well need to remove the exhaust connection to do this, as well as loosen the front engine mounts to prevent possibly damaging them. The center link doesn't nee to come off for this either.

As for reverse lights, there should be a terminal on the front l/h side of the transmission remote for the shifter. The switch is a push button inside the remote that the linkage pushes in when the lever moves right and down for reverse. If there isn't something with two spade terminals there, then someone has removed it.

Oil, do a search on the forum, there has been a number of discussions dealing with oil over the years, you'll probably en up knowing more reviewing those than starting a new discussion on that subject.

 

[pruyter]

The oil that should be used in the transmission, either with or without overdrive, is the same oil that should be used in the engine now being 20W50 preferably Classic oil like for instance from Castrol.

Regards,

Peter

 

[Tom H]

Regarding the Guide pin, see this discussion :

http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24041.

The dowel pin near the starter should be a short pin that is a press fit into the block but not too tight into the bellhousing. As noted in the linked thread there is also a snug fit bolt on the opposite side of the block to accomplish the proper alignment.

The pin by the starter is a short pin that only goes into the hole in the bell housing and does not even protrude out the other side. If it is longer than that it may be a substitute and may require a good bit of care to pry and lube and maybe even use some heat to expand the hole in the aluminum bellhousing.


Tom

 

[hartmandm]

Some info about removing the gearbox is in the article I wrote up regarding swapping to an overdrive transmission.

http://mhartman.net/files/sunbeam/OD gearbox installation.pdf

Mike

 

[RootesRooter]

Yes, the exhaust must be disconnected to tilt the engine back far enough. You also may want to remove the oil filler neck from the valve cover.

 

[Alpine 1789]

Don't forget to also remove the carburetor linkage. You probably don't have ask how I learned this.

 

[Tom H]

I found it handy to leave the valve cover on - snuggly- and put a wooden block between the valve cover rear and the firewall. Not to hold the rear of the engine up, but to protect the firewall.

Tom

 

[oLD lIMEY]

I found it handy to leave the valve cover on - snuggly- and put a wooden block between the valve cover rear and the firewall. Not to hold the rear of the engine up, but to protect the firewall.

Tom

I put a 9" (about)square of 1/2"ply on my jack and place it under the rear of the sump so I can lower the engine to where I want. I leave the motor mounts bolted and remove the oil filler and carb linkage. Done it twice and worked well.

 

[oLD lIMEY]

PS. If you have an extra 4 chyncro box gear shifter I would be very interested in it.

 

[Mjbeanie]

Thanks to you all.

Just wanted to express my sincere thanks to the forum for all your helpful comments and suggestions. Thanks very much to hartmandm for that exceptional detailed writeup on dropping the gearbox. Extremely well done!

I am getting closer to dropping the tranny now. I am all set up just need to work the alignment pin loose. I got the tranny jack setup now, so I am more comfortable with the work. Need to try to loosen exhaust tubes next, and maybe I should do loosen mount bolts as suggested.

Thanks again, I will report back my progress, which is a bit slow but steady...
I am going around the whole car, dash, electrical, doors/ seals. and I am looking forward to upgrading the dash and steering wheel to Original (Tiger) OEM wood components. Alpine such a fun car! -Who needs a V8 anyway??

( a small thanks to the group is in the attachment for your enjoyment)

 

[RootesRooter]

One poster mentioned leaving the motor mounts connected. Yes, but loosen the bolts for greater flexibility.