Today I tried to do an easy job which turned out to be a near disaster.
Well, thats what I thought. I think that way when it is getting late, the
baby needs to be put to bed and the "bride" is giving me the look. No....
not that look. And to top it off I will be doing an Autocross on Sunday
morning with my racing club. Time is running out.
All I wanted to do was change the pinion gear and sleeve. I was able to
aquire a 67.5 160 speedo for $100 bucks and I needed to match the gear to the
gauge. Easy enough... right? I gotta late start as I was working all Friday
night at the firehouse and I needed some rest this morning/afternoon. No
problem. Simple job to do. One hour max! ;>)
Well I jacked up the car and removed the 10mm bolt. The sleeve took alittle
tugging but it came out without much problem.
Oooops number 1: I forgot to place a catch basin under the tranny and now I
have a major downpour of tranny fluid on my garage floor. I remained calm
and replaced the sleeve. Got out my emergency rags and placed it on top of
the spill.
Oooops number 2: I dont have enough fluid to refill the tranny. Okay... it
is 7:45 and Kragen Auto closes at 8 or is it 9pm. Mary is calling me up to
dinner. What do I do.
"Mary I gotta go to Kragens... be right back" and I bolt out the door before
she can verbalize her expression. I buy gallon of fluid and a bag of rags.
Btw.... the shop closed at 8pm.
I am back home and I feed the kid and myself and then do the dishes like a
good husband trying to gain extra points. But of course I dont earn any
points because those are my "relationship" maintenance duties. I am soon
back in the garage and I tug the gear sleeve out this time and the tranny
drains in about six different directions. The "hole" in the case is above
the frame and inside a few inches so it spills all of the the top of the
frame and flows out which ever way it sees fit. I had tranny flow almost
three feet away from the basin. What a mess! I now try in insert the new
sleeve and pinion gear and it just doesnt want to go in. I put a plastic
hammer to it. It goes in only so much and then stops. Okay... forget the
plastic and lets get the big hammer. I know... I know.... and I knew that
was wrong to do. But I am desperate now. Bang bang bang! Nothing. %&$%@#
! Okay.... lets call my buddies at Classic Datsun Motorsport for advise. No
one available so I leave a message. I call Mike Young and he advises
hammering it with a wooden dowel and hammer. I tried for awhile and it
doesnt work. 10:30pm... I am thinking of calling my friends to cancel my
presence at the Auto-X.
Ding! I have an idea. I go to my rachet set and pull out a large socket.
Back under the car I place it over the pinion sleeve and it clears the speedo
cable threads. Perfect! I start hammering away and the sleeve seats into
the tranny case. I replace all of the parts and dump all of my filthy tools
into a bucket.
Refill the tranny and test out the speedo with a drive down the block. Well,
it works but if it is accurate I have no idea. At this point I dont care. I
scrub down the garage floor and spray it out. 11:30 I am finished and
everyone is asleep. And Mary wasn't even mad at me.
So tomorrow I race! (Actually today) First time to auto-x my 2000. It
should be fun.
Michael "Calspeed" Carion
SRL311-000248 Solex
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