This is being prepared for sale,With only 103,000 miles it has spent a lot time simply parked . Unfortunately this has not been good for this magnificent car as the engine has already been replaced once with a rebuilt unit. Who ever serviced the original engine changed the oil but never changed the filter… The filter disintegrated sending pieces of filter paper through the engine and destroyed the cam bearings,this in turn caused the cams to seize and thus bending the valves.  The new engine runs beautifully but again someone in the past had made a very simple mistake,leaving off one of the crankshaft spacers . This sat the flex disc a bit too close to the rear of the engine block and fouled the starter motor. Eventually the ring gear was chewed out . It wasn’t until i removed the trans two days ago that i finally found what happened to the starter and noticed the lack of clearance for the flex plate….

in the foreground is my homemade trans jack,basically an adjustable plate fitted to a spare engine crane . I’m not a fan of these Chinese made cranes as the design is too weak and the material is not really suited for the load of most engines.

Here is the trans strapped to the mount ,a very easy way to remove a trans com-ared to what i have done for far too long… lift it out with a trolley jack.  I fitted a new flex disc,as the one in the picture looks to be the original ,full of cracks and as hard as rock.

The lack of clearance for the flex plate is very obvious here . The plate on the hub is also seen here too. But there is supposed to two of them,one on the inside against the crankshaft hub @4.4 mm thick. A set of new bolts and a plate and it’s time to reinstall the trans.

Old ring rear with missing teeth… ouch!!