Flywheel, Clutch and Gearbox

Life is always simple when the gearbox and engine come from the same car - in my case they didn't and that's where the fun started. I have a Rover V8 3.9l (and 3.5l) from Land Rover Discovery. There are 4WD cars, with gearboxes unsuitable for the Cobra. So I sourced an LT77 2WD box. Once I had figured out I needed a 2WD bellhousing, I thought I was ready to roll.

I bought a new clutch plate and cover to match the engine - WRONG! The 4WD Clutch cover is too large for the 2WD bellhousing, so off I went in search of a 2WD clutch plate/cover - which fits a Rover SD1. Guess what, it didn't fit onto the 4WD flywheel. At this point I wanted to cry and wonder how far back I was going to have to go to make it all fit. Someone from the cobra forum came to my rescue and sold me a spare SD1 flywheel, clutch plate/cover, and release bearing - Perfect! Rimmer Bros supplied the clutch release arm and it all looks good:

A trial fit of it all showed that the spigot bush was too large for the 2WD bearbox shaft. The spigot bush shown below fits into the centre of the crank shaft exposed through the flywheel (shown above). The one fitted is intended for the 4WD shaft, and is a few mm bigger. Without the correct spigot bush the end of the gearbox shaft would not be correctly supported. Question is how does one remove the old one? Advise from the forums and a YouTube video shows a simple solution. It is counter intuitive to hammer something in to make it come out - I understood the idea behind it, but was sure that I would just end up covered in grease - But it worked ;-)

The new one is simply fitted by putting in the freezer over night to make it as small as possible, covering with grease and tapping into place.

Pilgrim recommend using a clutch cable, but having heard that this gives a stiff clutch pedal and even stories of snapped cables, I have decided to get a forum-buddy to make me a Hydraulic Clutch conversion - watch this space... In the meantime, it's loom time!

Off with the head

While stripping the engine I discovered that the previous owner had snapped an exhaust stud - v.frustrating. In the past I have never had much luck with removing snapped studs using various methods and tools, so I decided to let a professional do it. A machine shop were able to machine the stud out for a few quid. It did mean removing the head though

All now re-built with new gasket, and new head bolts. The Edelbrock inlet manifold, carbs, and rocker covers have been transferred from the 3.5l to the 3.9l.

Radiator Fitted

This is one of the simpler jobs. The hardest part is cutting parts off the brand new out of the box rad. As you can see from the image below, the bottom brackets need to be trimmed, and the plastic side supports cut off.

Once done, the rad is fitted to the front of the chassis with some home made brackets and M8 bobbins (bought from Ebay). The brackets still need to be trimmed once I fit the body depending how far back/forward the rad needs to sit.

 This next picture shows the front fitting:

It all gets removed before the engine is installed to prevent it getting damaged.