Work Log - Max The Turk - Manual conversion

[Bennoz]

Did some more work on Sunday,
Drive plate taken off


Flywheel and the metal gasket attached, it only goes one way as the distance between each bolts are different.


Clutch and pressure plate attached, using the clutch alignment tool.


Alignment tool taken off, bearing attached to the gearbox, and all ready to go in. Beer time!

[Bennoz]

Ok, had couple of beers, my friend come to help raising the gearbox.
Using garage jack to raise in stages, supporting with bricks after each stage.
Also had to take out the bottom coolant hose, radiator drained.

After 4+ hours solid work later, we had to call the quit!
It is so close, yet so far.
I had to take off the 2xblack mount holders on gearbox as well to gain some extra space
We come very close, but cant go any further.
G/box raised enough, however, the problem is, the rear of the g/box is hitting the control arm,
Just need to push the g/box towards the engine another 2cms, but there is not enough space.


This doesn’t seem to be a job that can be done with garage jack and bricks.
Lesson learned again, need the correct tools!!!
So, looking for a g/box jack at the moment, not sure where to hire one from.
Also, I will remove the battery holder bracket completely to get some extra space.

[Bennoz]

Should be able to get on of those stands that have wheels. They arew the best for rolling g/boxes around on. Might have to visit a tool shop for that.

Man... once you got the box on, the hard work is all done! Its just fiddly little stuff after that.

Q1 - That gap is normal
Q2 - That should bolt onto the bulkhead just next to where the heater water line runs into the cabin. You may not have the hole, so it might be a drill job.

Thanks Ben
Yeah, not far away at the moment,
Bit sore today, my ribs are killing me, all that bending from top to hold the g/box up Laughing

All that search today, I couldnt find a place to hire a transmission jack,
I think I might buy one and try to sell it later, as I want to put the g/box up this week.
Need to get the trolley looking transmission jack, not the stand which is too high to start with.
Not many places sell them also.

[Bennoz]

Put the man g/box on yesterday, all ready to go, except
- final torque adjustment on all bolts
- fill up the g/box oil,
- connect the drive shaft,
- put on the tyre
- test it on the air to see if it all works.

Have a question though.

Am I able to test it before connecting the driveshaft?
Problem is there wont be any oil in it, and no initial drag on the g/box, due to driveshaft and tyre is not connected.

I just want to see in 1st gear if the clutch and everything else works.

Concerned mainly on the drag part.

[Bennoz]

I wouldnt.... torque it up, put oil in it first. You should be able to feel if the clutch is working + you should be able to see the clutch arm moving in the engine bay.

I dont see any problem with running with no driveshafts thou... unless the stub axles have to be in to create an oil seal.

[Bennoz]

Thanks Ben,
Everything looks good, clutch seems to be working (just by looking), and release fork is moving.
Will finish everything tonight, put the oil in, driveshafts and rims, etc..
And will have a test run on the axle stands.
I don’t want to put the tyres on to the ground.
I am just scared off that if somehow the car starts in gear. This will cause it to jump forward and hit the bench, and there goes the front bumper....

[Bennoz]

Bought torque wrench yesterday, $90
Bought Redline Shockproof Lightweight transmission oil $110

Went home, worked on it till midnight, tightened all the bolts, etc…

I was bit tired at the end.

Started to fill up the g/box slowly, then suddenly it started to spill under the gearbox, around where the driveshaft connection points are.











I though fuckkkkk!!!!!!!!











Then I just realised I didn’t connect the driveshafts at all

What an idiot!!!



Seeing the $110 worth of oil dripping on the garage floor, priceless!!!!



Plugged the holes immediately, cleaned the mess and connected the driveshafts, no leakage

Then went to bed immediately.



Tonight, I will connect the hub, refill the cooler, connect battery, put the tyres, and then see if it all works,

[Bennoz]

I am just scared off that if somehow the car starts in gear. This will cause it to jump forward and hit the bench, and there goes the front bumper....

I had exactly the same fears when I did mine!!! Put the wheels on and push it outside in Neutral. Kicking it over for the first time was

[Bennoz]

Righto Max, the thread is working again, I've combined everything so feel free to update as you see fit

Once you have the thing running & pulling seconds round albert park, i'll move this into DIY.

[khunjeng]

Righto Max, the thread is working again, I've combined everything so feel free to update as you see fit

Once you have the thing running & pulling seconds round albert park, i'll move this into DIY.

I think its going now...awsome job max.

[mxysxy]

Great, its all working again,
I will update with photos tonight, from my new Fujitsu LapTop (Thanks Kev )

[Bennoz]

Great, its all working again,
I will update with photos tonight, from my new Fujitsu LapTop (Thanks Kev )

Oh great LOL... "misappropriation" hey Kev?

(btw I work for the same company as Kev)

[jonowong]

i wanna do this... but i havent the balls

[Bennoz]

i wanna do this... but i havent the balls

You'll end up on my doorstep... i can see it now

[FtoSam]

still waiting on photos???
and what about the rest of the stuff??
anyone know if theres any DIYs on changing your clutch?

[martgpx]

So, are we up and running yet??

[mxysxy]

sorry guys, didnt had a chance to update with photos.
Yeah, its all finished more than 2 weeks ago,
Going well, and man is def different, especially the 1st gear finishes very quick compared to auto.
Need a short shifter though, too much travel between gears.
Did a few test runs during last week, it all went well. Tried some speeding test, no issues (private road, to max of 100kmh )
Especially in 4th gear, the response is a lot better then 4th in auto.

Only problem at the moment is knocking noise I get from front left suspension. Maybe didnt allign the holes right, which seems to me ok tbh. Or didnt connect something. Get this knocking noise when going over small dips, feels like something loose. No issues with the steering though.
I will get a mech to have a look at it. Cant be bothered to pull it a part again. Using spring compressor is scaring the sh*t out of me with all that pressure.

I recommend to go ahead with conversion if you like man cars. The final result is fantastic. With all the right tools it can be easily done in 2 days.
I reckon I can finish it all in a full day now, with assistance of a friend.

[mxysxy]

Here is what you get from H/Duty Clutch Set, as well as the flywheel on the right that I had to purchase. Bearing in the middle, pressure plate down the bottom and clutch plate on the left.


Below pic shows the firewall drilled. Make sure to get a metal drill head. The drill head I first bought was apparently for woodworks(there wasnt any description on the box, and was very cheap), and went blind in less then a minute. I was silly enough to buy another set of the same thing. Ended up with proper tools at the end after hours of mucking around. The drill head is not cheap, being $40 for the sharp head, and also need to purchase adaptor to go with it, another $40.


This is the clutch master cylinder, I made that black rubber water seat, from the plastic bit taken off from inside the car covering the firewall.


In the process of installing the pedals. When finished, it was all leveled nicely.


Below is the clutch hydrolic pipework. I did pull this into pieces for easy installation. Its pretty simple to put all back together. At the right side end of the pipework is the slave cylinder. This one was faulty and leaking, caused a bit of worry later on. Bought a second hand one from NZ, all good now.


Back to g/box installation; drive plate has been removed. 7 bolts to take off, different distace between them. Get this plate and put on the flywheel before installation, so, you know which way it goes. Otherwise, too much mucking around trying to figure out 7 possibilities, in a small space.


Flywheel installed. Make sure it has been machined prior to installation. Make sure the torque settings for those 7 bolts are correct, refer to workshop and g/boz manuals.


Using clutch alignment tool for installation of clutch and pressure plate. I didnt have those 6 bolts that connects pressure plate to flywheel. Panelhouse supplied them with the flywheel. They are pretty generic. As you tighten these bolts, the flaps on the pressure plate will be starting to move, pointing more of a straight angle rather then pointing outwards. I couldnt find the corrrect torque settings for these bolts. As a guide, when the flaps are at a 90 degree angle, it is pretty accurate. I found out that this is around 35nm-40nm pressure.
Also, clutch plate has 2 sides, one is flat and one has a bit in the middle where all the rings goes. Flat bit needs to face the firewall.


Here is the manual gearbox, ready to go in. I actually had to remove those mount holders on both sides, as well as gear selector part, after so many unsuccessful attempts to raise the g/box back on. You dont need to do any of this, keep reading.


This pic showing where i was getting stuck with unsuccesful attempts to raise the box. It was so close yet so far. The right bottom part, outside of the driveshaft was keep hitting the suspension arm, and there wasnt enough space to go any further. I even take out the collant pipe, still didnt help much.


I have tried my garage jack to raise the gearbox. It was ok during lowering it down, however, real pain during raising. It wasnt stable enough, shaking like hell. Considering i had to raise the g/box myself only, with no help, I had to hire a transmission jack. I found that no body hires transmission jack, but large garage jacks, costs around $25 a day. Plus you can buy the actual transmission adaptor and replace with garage jack head, costs around $150 to buy. I didnt buy the adaptor, due to lack of time. Here is the setup I used to raise the g/box. Large garage jack, supported with thick wooden block between the jack head and g/box. G/box secured to the jack with a ratchet tie. This way I can move the g/box up/downwards angle by using the ratchet tie, raise/lower by using the jack, left/right by turning the wood block. This way I raised the g/box by myself only, in about one hour.


The key to raise the g/box successfuly without getting stuck (by hitting the rear suspension arm, g/box mount holder, cable selector!!!!) is by lowering the engine. You need to lower it fair bit that it wont look right anymore


Make sure engine/gearbox and everything else adequately supported . I dont like leaving things to chance, so, always use 2 support points, making sure they share the weight. Amount of time spend under the car is substential, one mistake and you are dead!


Here we are, very close to finish the raising of the g/box. Everything is alligned, and time to start inserting the bolts.


After this make sure you bolt up everything as you have taken off, apply correct torque pressure.
Just realised I dont have pics of finished product
Will take some more photos and put them up tonight.

Also, the cable connections required to make the reverse light work. Pretty simple couple of connections. All explained in details by Mart.
I have LSD in this g/box, so used the expensive transmission oil, Redline Lightweigh shockproof. This stuff is really thick like milkshake, compared to the oil from auto box, which was more like water.
I have taken off the reverse light switch on the gearbox and filled the g/box oil from there. I wouldnt use this oil for a g/box without LSD.
Also, my driveshafts from tip box with ABS wasnt compatable with the man/gbox, luckly I had the shafts for both. Just in case, I got the cv joints refilled and rubber replaced as well.
The dials are working as normal. Although I have bought a manual dial assembly, I dont see the need to install it.

On top of this, I have replaced all 4 shockers in the car, and changed the droplinks, etc...
Still in the process of installing ICE, but not much time left after all considering my new work at IBM is consuming me fully.

I would like to specially thank Mart for all his help and creating the initial DIY guide.

[mxysxy]

Here are the finished product, missing the CAI.


Also, special thanks to Ben for answering my questions and combining all the posts together.

The effort certainly worth it!

[jonowong]

hey max i was wondering how much it cost in total