Clive

Gutter sealant (usually!) cleans up with white spirit, but always messy. Not a good idea for a gearbox tunnel! You want something that actually sets, possibly cheap silicone, or even something like a butyl strip (which is rather like blu tack)

The std studs are far too short to allow them to be used as guides. Don't get me wrong, you can jiggle the gearbox around, but getting the input shaft at the exact correct position is hard work, the guides I mentined make it 25x easier as they come ito play before the input shaft needs to ne aligned (poorly explained by me!) as to clutch cover bolts, sounds like threadlock was used. Ask yourself, do you want those bolts to be easy to undo? I am not averse to the odd dab of threadlock in places where the issues caused by a bolt coming undone are unpleasant.

This is a good solution, I have done it on engines in the past. I used std m10 bolts, and filed the hex heads down to fit a 1/2 spanner, cap/allen head bolts a much better idea! Or indeed, helicoil is ideal. But I didn't have a helicoil kit at the time. Yes, it will leak, it needs fixing. Helicoil kits are not expensive via fleabay. Do all the bolts into ali while you are there.

To aid refitting the box, get a couple of 2 1/2" (or longer) 5/16 bolts, cut the heads off and cut a screwdriver slot in the end. Screw them into 2 of the top tapped holes on the block that usually have short studs. Use these as guides to slide the gearbox into place, it gets the front alignment perfect, all you have to do is wiggle the tail of the box to get it straight. Slide right up, NEVER use a bolt to pull the box right up tight, if it doesn't slide into place something isn't right. Once in place use a few bolts then unscrew the guides. Refit all bolts/studs etc.

Yes, a new UJ type was worse than the old one. Sadly I had it on teh shelf, in a sealed packet, for several years and can't remember the source. Witor sells a very good cast UJ, for a t2000 that works, but may require a little jiggling to fit without hitting anything. Mine worked on my spitfire. However, I am currently using a rebuilt stad type with poly bushes. Some original type couplings are wired-tied, some repros have a "crimp" on the end of the thread, while my one was a repro with neither. When I reassembled, I used threadlock, then a nice dot punch on the end of the thread. It won't come undone easily....

Any play in that coupling and it is knackered. Not easy to see, but get somebody to slowly move the wheel back and forth, and watch carefully. Also check teh pinch bolts are all good and tight, I have seen one where a bolt with a too-long unthreaded section was used, and it bottomed out before clamping adequately. Solved with a washer. New ones fail in months, so don't bother. If you are lucky, you can take yours apart and spend £20 with Mr Witor and get a set of poly bushes to rebuild it. Or fit a quality solid UJ type, but again, I had a new one that was terrible out the packaging.

The biggest cause of heat is usually air leaks, either redundant holes in the bulkhead or the tunnel not sealing. That would be the first place to check. I use a glamous assistant with a bright light shing at teh bulkhead while I am inserted upside down in teh footwell, carpets out, looking for the light. Tunnel sealing requires the car to be driven. and feeling for the hot air. Try gaffa taping the joints too, may make a difference If that is all sorted and it is still hot, there is no secret to heat insulation. I have used 10mm closed cell foam stuck inside my tunnel (I used tigerseal to stick it) and just carpet in the cabin., though any underfelt would help. I am sure there are some expensive options, but the key is trapped air, so foams etc are ideal.

for the diff, yes. For the gearbox, you need to check it is ok for synchomesh gearboxes. Simple solution is to use GL4 which works perfectly well. I could muddy the waters by saying GL4 is no guarantee taht an oil is yellow metal safe...... but I expect all are now. Maybe avoid the cheap/unknown brands, but that applies to all oils.

Simple. GL5 does not automatically mean it will attack yellow metals. Many (most?? all??) are yellow metal safe. The gearbox thing is down to synchromesh rather. I keep things simple. Triumphs I use 80/90 GL4 for box and diff. Have done for 30 years. T9 box I use semi synthetic 75-90 GL4 (as per the company who builds the best T9 boxes recommends) Subaru diff I am using a Redline Heavy GL5 oil. Seems to like it!

I supplied one with the frame. I don't know if it is mk3 or IV, they look the same, but.....

I stack the wheels from the car underneath. Decent place to store them while working. Just choose your spot with care!

You can by buy "car ramp extensions" However, I have not used ramps for many many years. A decent trolley jack and axle stands for me. Required for taking wheels off.

Usual story then. People moan about quality, but equally (almost) nobody wants to pay the extra for a quality part. It must make you tear your hair out.

Unless things have changed, whole rear wings are (were) an issue as te top edge was straight, rather than curved as per original. Unless you find NOS stuff, but I haven't seen any for years. I would use repair panels. Great care needed to avoid distortion, but that applies to a whole panel too.

Putting some oil on with it also helps it last. But I have seen too many cases of water getting under wax oil and rusting merrily away to ever use it. Dinitrol or dynax for me.

I very rarely buy new bolts, the old ones 95% of the time are fine to reuse, and are better quality than the new ones. Especially when ssome have pointed ends etc, which none of th enew ones are. Buying bags of new nylocs are not expensive. If you really want new stuff, most of the usual suspects will sell kits. GT6 in a box, sounds good, but not broken down into areas so it is probably a good selection, but I suspect it is all the common sizes. It does claim to cover 90%, so you can bet all the unusual ones are missing. But you won't know until you have spent ages rummaging through the box, and end up having to order it.

your car will be doing 25mph/100rpm. So 40mph will be 1600rpm or so. Well off the torque, possibly making the engine labour harder than it would like. Probably detrimental to fuel economy too. The gearboxes will last well if not driven hard, 100K easily.

no idea. I have sold a couple of cars in the past few years (both my Dads) and always used the classifieds.

Yes, but I wouldn't use waxoil when there are much better alternatives. Use a copressor and an underseal type gun, and it will blast teh protector stuff in a vapur which will coat the whole inside of the chassis, and soak into any surface rust (which waxoil doesn't) There are a few holes already in the chassis so use those where possible. A good hot day helps too.

Cars are different. a listing fee £15 or less) plus max final fees of £45. Classifieds are flat rate £20, which is good value, and I like the clarity of what a seller is after.

No, if the buyer put in 12K, it would automatically raise the bit to the 10K reserve. But 10K is a nice round figure, so I can see somebody making that exact bid.

Exactly! very confusing.

In tests Dynax S50 came out top for cavity protection, thin so it creeps in seams everywhere. I had bought some Dinitrol already, again super thin and in the tests was not far behind the S50. Used with a compressor, at about 100psi, I was blowing it into the chassis with an underseal type gun with felxi lance, and the vapour was coming out at the far end. I blew it in from all angles, and was happy that the chassis will not rot out in my lifetime. I don't think any of the rust protectors actually dry out completely. I have used another Dinitrol product, a hard wax, in teh wheel arches and other areas subjected to abrasion from stone and rain on the road. That gives a hard finish, not as hard as say a candle, but much harder than waxoil. 32K on my car, and the arches still don't require a recoat.

However GL5 is not recommended/wise as it is can be slippery for brass synchro rings to "bite" well enough.

No reason it won't be fine. Pressure may(will) drop slightly over 20/50, but people are too hung up on pressure. My only slight concern is if the sump is full of old sludge, a more modern oil may start to break it up. However, if there is reason to believe the engine has been rebuilt in the past 15 years or so, that shouldn't be a concern. When you drain the old oil a poke about via the sump plug would be a easy check.