First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List ......................................................................... Sheen,
Check the photos I sent you again. I had quite a number of links between the engine and the chain loops to the engine. The leveler crank would not hit the cowl panel if you included a similar number of links and similar chain loop as you see in my photo. In any case, I am glad you got the engine installed. Imagine if you had tried to single hand this with the engine dangling from a hook by the intake bolts? I changed a clutch in my dodge P/U a few times, and the precision of an installment tool is nearly irrelevant. Some clutch tools have cone shapes on a rod to get you close. They wobble around. I had a machinist at work turn out a precise alignment peg for me out of solid aluminum rod. It was so close to the dimensions of the parts I provided him, that once I drove the pilot bearing sleeve into the flywheel, the tool didn't fit into the pilot bearing and it had to be reduced again on the lathe. This extra precision didn't help the repair. A friend and I struggled for an afternoon, trying to slip the tip of the transmission into the pilot bearing. It wasn't going to go. Just as someone else suggested earlier, I jumped in and depressed the clutch pedal while my friend guided the transmission home. The transmission was properly supported and guided into the bell housing along two specially fabricated threaded rods that supported the top of the transmission into the housing. A jack below supported the transmission at various elevations and angles. It slipped in immediately after I pressed the clutch pedal. I've followed this procedure during each clutch repair since then on this truck. This is clearly the way to go when the transmission shaft doesn't slip into place. I had a Dodge dealer replace a clutch on my 74 Duster. The mechanic dangled the weight of the transmission on the disc splines while I watched his "repair" . He struggled for an hour at all sorts of different angles, none of them right. When he was finished, the clutch would not engage properly at high rpm, because he warped the disc. The car was "drivable", so I had no recourse. With no Plymouth specification saying that the clutch on a passenger car shouldn't hang disengaged at 3500 rpm, I was stuck with the bad job. The pedal would stick to the floor at higher RPM. Then the pedal would return with an explosive force as the RPM dropped.. Anyway, it sounds like you're in the home stretch. Keep up the good work! Larry --- On Sun, 9/7/08, S Sterchi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: S Sterchi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [FGF] Engine Load Leveler To: "First Generation Firebird-L" <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, September 7, 2008, 1:43 PM First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List ......................................................................... Larry, I took your advice on placing the crank towards the rear of the car. It ended up hitting the top of the firewall when you lower the engine. This almost turned out to be disasterous since I had my nicely painted cowl panel in place. Luckily I was lowering very slowly and checking for interferences. I ended up putting a little bit of a load on the cowl panel but thank God it didn't scratch or bend it up. I seriously got lucky. Mine has a rubber handle. If it was a steel one, I would be repainting! Sheen> Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:16:23 -0700> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [FGF] Engine Load Leveler> To: [email protected]> > First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Submissions to Firebird-L: <[email protected]> Unsubscribe from Firebird-L: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Help: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/firebird/Firebird-L.html> Classifieds: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/ubb/> Owner Pictures: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/show/> Donations: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/store/cart.mv?999999> FGF Merchandise: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/store>
