Some more progress on the SX/4. We decided to install the transmission this weekend. The original trans in this car was bad so we removed the transmission from the first Eagle I bought which had been sitting in a field since '97. Ward figures it might have gone bad from sitting so long, but we decided to take a chance and put it in anyway. After we slid the trans out from its storage place Ward noticed something on it we hadn't seen before:
Looks pretty scary, makes you wonder how it got cracked like that, but I did drive the car with that trans for 6-8000 miles and it worked fine so, here's hoping for the best.
The first struggle was getting the transmission on the trans jack. We tried with me at the bellhousing and Ward at the back but after we lifted it off the ground it started to slip out of my left hand and we had to put it down in a hurry. Then we switched places and I got my end of the transmission to about stomach level which was a few inches too low to go on the trans jack and that was all I could do. We set it back down and I said to Ward "I don't think I can do it.". He suggested puting down a couple of layers of 2X4's and trying again and after catching my breath he convinced me to try one last time. We lifted it off the ground, I stepped onto the 2X4's and just managed to get my end on the trans jack. I then spent the next 5 minutes gasping trying to catch my breath - I'm in terrible shape!
Here's Ward ready to lift the trans in place, I never noticed the pose until after I uploaded these pictures:
Ward lifting the trans and showing one of his better angles:
Ward bolting the trans in place:
And finally the trans in place and the jack coming down:
The next day it was time to put the front differential in place:
Took some wiggling but we got it in place:
Then it was time for the shiny new constant velocity joints:
They were surprisingly reluctant to go in, but after much swearing and exertion Ward got them in place:
I had wanted to get the carpet and front seats installed before the trans, but we're replacing the poor condition Eagle seats with some I had in a 79 Monza I owned and the installation is turning out to be a good deal more difficult than I first thought it was goint to be. The plan was to remove the tracks from the Monza seats:
And then to take the lower seat frame and tracks from the Eagle seat:
And weld some tabs from the Eagle seat frame to the track mounts on the Monza seat. I calculated the Monza seat would sit 2 inches higher than the stock eagle seat but we did a test fitting first, put the Eagle lower seat frame and tracks in the car and then sat the Monza seat on top. It was waaaay higher than I expected and even with the tilt steering all the way in the up position there wasn't enough room for me to slide my leg between the seat cushion and the steering wheel. Ward's plan now is to make a jig that mirrors the SX/4 floor panel, remove the Eagle tracks from the Eagle seat frame, move them 1 inch or so closer together and then bolt them to the side of the Monza track mounts which are narrower than the Eagle's track mounts. Then we make new holes in the floorboards and hopefully the thing then bolts in without being overly high. I'm disappointed it didn't work the way I first envisioned as I could have done that myself, but now I have to rely on Ward to do the modifications so I'm filling up yet more of his weekends with stuff I wish I could do myself.
Topic: Priya's SX/4 project (Read 372735 times)