Vitesse overdrive gearbox removal

[MikeSz]

Can the OD gearbox in my Vitesse be removed from the inside?  Space is very tight, and I have seen comments about releasing the engine mounts to allow the engine to be moved forward. etc. Removal  of the gearbox is required to replace the clutch. 

I would appreciate any advice or tips as to the process.

[NonMember]

Yes, the gearbox comes out inside the car. No, you don't need to meddle with engine mounts.

Remove the front seats (at least the passenger one but it helps if both are out) and runners. Remove the carpet and gearbox cover. Remove the small plate over the front of the transmission tunnel (which hides the front of the propshaft). Jack the rear of the car so that you can rotate the propshaft to undo the four bolts fixing it to the gearbox flange. Support the back of the engine on a jack (a suitable plank of wood under the sump works well, anything involving the back plate will cause problems with the clutch housing). Undo all the bolts attaching the clutch housing to the engine backplate, including the starter motor fixings. Undo the rear gearbox mounting. Jack up the engine while lifting the gearbox to clear the tunnel, then pull it out into the car. Don't jack the engine too high or the clutch housing will foul on the bulkhead. You only want to clear the tunnel, not any higher.

[Pete Lewis]

to aid clearance its simple and worthwhile two nuts and a cable clamp to remove the vitesse heater air distribution box from under the dash

 

 

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

If you can find a good heavy cardboard box open it out so that it lies flat over your floors; this will prevent the heavy box and bellhousing taking paint off your floorpans or sills as you drag it out. Be very careful of your fingers against the sharp edges of floorpan and centre tunnel, this is a heavy item and if you get your hands under it you can lose skin if not worse.

[Clive]

16 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

to aid clearance its simple and worthwhile two nuts and a cable clamp to remove the vitesse heater air distribution box from under the dash

 

 

Pete

Amen to that! I had mine fitted with wing nuts, and didn't disconnect the cable. Just pulled to one side and tied out of the way.

Sounds like I regularly took the box out. In reality I did a few times when I first built the car, but then I think once in the dozen or so years I owned it, when teh overdrive started slipping The advantages of using a saloon box!

[Pete Lewis]

and  let us know when youre ready to refit for some useful tips that help 

Pete

[Clive]

Oh, me first. 2 long bolts (about 3") and cut the heads off, then slot the end for a screwdriver.

Put them in teh top 2 holes on teh engine block. You can then "hang" teh gearbox on them, and wiggle the tail around while sliding the box forward. Makes getting it aligned SO easy. (and NEVER use bolts to pull te gearbox into place, it needs to go right up to the backplate easily, if not it is wrong and will cause damage of the expensive kind)

[Pete Lewis]

i always use a bit of timber to gauge how parallel the gearbox gap to back plate is sitting  

by eye alone you can think youre aligned  when its    -- ]\---miles out 

dont forget to add the ...OIL

Pete

 

[MikeSz]

Very encouraging comments, sounds like I know what I'll be doing over Xmas

[MikeSz]

The above comments highlighted an issue which I did not know--

ie My car was originally a non-overdrive, which I changed to an overdrive version gearbox, and was installed when the body was off the car.

However the difficulty arose more recently when I needed to remove the gearbox again. With the body was back on the car, removal of the gearbox was frustrated by lack of space at the rear of the gearbox. What the comments above highlighted was that the rear floorpan on an overdrive gearbox has an additional cutaway with a access plate, which allows access to the bolts at front of the prop shaft, and more space to lift out the gearbox out.

I also found a Utube video showing the floorpan cutaway.

The gearbox now is now out. Hoping to putting it back in very soon, I wonder if Ill get away with a couple of hours work on Xmas day !!

Lesson learnt- The reason for gearbox removal was a suspected leak at the rear crankcase seal, it looked ok when the clutch was replaced. Owing to the car having been standing for number of years it only started leaking when the engine was all fired up. A time consuming mistake.

Lets hope install has no issues. Thanks again for all the comments.