Desparation, please help

[Mark Ferguson]

Hi everyone.

 

Just putting my new DVA'd 1.9k back into car & seems as though gearbox is not going in as i / we would have expected. John, the guy helping me says the spigot shaft is to long as there is about 5-6mm of air between bellhousing & engine. Quick call to DVA ( Thanks Dave & he confirms that some of the 1.8 cranks dont have a hole as deep in the end as the 1.6's & also that some g'boxs have longer shafts than others so i am now " up s**t creek without a paddle" or whatever saying is.

 

Really dont want to take gearbox apart to get the shaft machined down & re-chamfered, John says maybe a machine shop could fix it into lathe somehow & turn it down.

 

What options do i have plse. ???

 

Car has been off the road since Oct & just want to get it back together & drive it

[davef]

Do a search on here - I believe many have just angle ground the excess off

 

Dave

[Beelzebub]

I think the angle grinder is your only option. Protect the part of the shaft that's staying & remove the rest. Cover everything up that you dont want covered by abrasive dust from the grinding process. Spritz the shaft with water whilst cutting to keep it cool & then chamfer the end once you're finished. Probably best take a couple of beta blockers before you start 😬

 

Remember the ancient Chinese proverb. "Measure twice, cut once"

 

Good luck. It's easy to be blase when it's not your gearbox

[Mick Day]

Mark: YHM

[old captain slow]

Just had the same problem on a 1400 to 1600 conversion. Needed to cut about 12 mm off the end of the gearbox input shaft using an angle grinder.

 

Need to measure up carefully as the shaft needs to be short enough to fit but long enough to completley penetrate the needle bearing in the flywheel. Also need to make a smooth chamfer round the cut end. Note a hacksaw will not touch it as it's glass hard.

 

C7 CDW

[Englishmaninwales]

Remember the ancient Chinese proverb. "Measure twice, cut once"

More like measure 10 times......cut once, in my case!

 

Mark, This is actually very straight forward as indicated above

 

Malcolm

[tiddy1]

Mark, its really not that hard, wrap theshaft in some masking tape which should alow you you grind it off straight. You can get a pretty good chamfer by holding the grinder still and rotating the shaft.

 

remember that this shaft does not move in and out so the chamfer is only to help you assemble it into the spigot bearing so it really does not have to be perfect.

 

Simon

[John Howe]

No big deal, but it does scare the s..t out of you at the time!

 

Just climb into the engine bay, get the angle grinder and take an 1" off - it is actually that simple. The only problem is that length of the stepped end of the shaft is too long, every thing else is fine.

 

If you need an angle grinder - just shout!

 

JH

Deliveries by Saffron, the yellow 230bhp Sausage delivery machine

[Bozz]

IMHO You should use a cutting disc for this and a grinding disc for chamferring afterwards.

 

Bozz

 

My Chocolate Orange here

[Mark Ferguson]

Thanks for that guys, Blatchat to the rescue as always.

Mick, thanks for mail.

ps. Flywheel is fine, hows the new motor

[SLR No.77]

Have also done it I think the comment by Bozz is very important - make sure you get a steel-cutting disc. Cutting through the shaft with a steel-grinding is just plain awkward BTW, a cutting disc is around half the thickness of a grinding disc.

 

Stu.