lining up gearbox to engine to refit on Vitesse

[Dave Clasper]

Hi. I think Clive has mentioned this before, to use set screw/bolts with the heads removed, that thread in the top two engine plate holes that correspond to the top bell housing fitting holes.

Would be handy to know the thread size and a suitable length that protrudes from engine plate, after screwing in, please?.

Thanks, Dave 

 

[Clive]

12 hours ago, Dave Clasper said:

Hi. I think Clive has mentioned this before, to use set screw/bolts with the heads removed, that thread in the top two engine plate holes that correspond to the top bell housing fitting holes.

Would be handy to know the thread size and a suitable length that protrudes from engine plate, after screwing in, please?.

Thanks, Dave 

 

5/16 unf and 2 1/2 Inches long or so? I just used long bolts out of my box of bolts.

[Tim Bancroft]

I have never found this necessary, just ensuring that the engine and gearbox are in the same plane has always worked, same for TRs and Saloons.

[Clive]

53 minutes ago, Tim Bancroft said:

I have never found this necessary, just ensuring that the engine and gearbox are in the same plane has always worked, same for TRs and Saloons.

Honestly Tim, it makes lining up SO easy, all you have to do is wiggle/turn the output flange with no worries about the front of the gearbox being slightly out of line. The studs are not used to pull the gearbox on, they are just guides.

I first did it when I was refitting the T9 box in my spit. Before I had used blocks of wood and a bar to line the box up, but now a pair of studs and stright in every time. 

[Hogie]

I've had success on my T GB both free hand and with the pins.

Somehow the pins felt reassuring.

Roger

[Dave Clasper]

Thanks folks, it's an OD box so quite heavy as well.

Info now jotted down in W S manual

[JohnD]

Is this refitting the box to an engine already (or still) in place?

I always take out both together, for the above reasons it's so difficult to realign them in situ.      I have the box on a folding bench and hang the engine from a rafter (RSJ)  so height adjustable.      Then I use this DiY tool to wiggle the input shaft, via the in-gear box to persuade the shaft nose into the flywheel bearing:

 

[Clive]

On 05/03/2022 at 11:19, Dave Clasper said:

Thanks folks, it's an OD box so quite heavy as well.

Info now jotted down in W S manual

Try a spitfire OD box. They have a cast iron bellhousing, so even heavier! My T9 box is no lightweight either...

[Steve P]

When i was wrestling my Saloon o/d box into my 2.5 Vitesse on my own,i used 2 unf studs about 10 inches long,made it much easier.

S

[Tim Bancroft]

I have found putting a gearbox into either a TR6 or a Saloon is alot easier than into a GT6. There is always something in the way, brackets for the gloveboxes, heater ducts, the bulkhead on the starter motor side and the the bodywork flange for the bulkhead, and then of course, one cannot get properly over the gearbox to give it some manual stick! 

 

I always use my spring lifting tool to lever the gearbox upwards to line the bugger up, its brutal but it works!

[yorkshire_spam]

To be honest I've never found refitting the Spitfire gearbox too bad. Maybe that's because I have "experience" of fitting an R380 with LT230 attached to a Land Rover from underneath. 😉 

I found lining up the BW65 onto the 1850 a bit of a pain, but the long studs trick helped.