Barnaby the Vusky

[John A. Ross]

Loving this stuff Dave

A few of the door keepers still around but none of the van stuff.

My NOS ones are already showing signs of wear/marks and the door closes easy enough (not as good as your though)

Our MK1 has a loose door but its the wear on the star lock and there is no adjustment left on the pillar. A new keeper wont fix it but I reckon if I can get the teeth a little bit closer (or away) from the body it will work better

Top work though Dave

[Dave Lane]

So what would you expect from a " rebuilt " transaxle .
Well first off would you expect it to be dismantled , cleaned and any worn bits replaced , tolerances checked plus a full overhaul making sure its as best it can possibly be .
Or would you expect someone to just wipe an oily rag over it , change the diff and input seals as these are visible and pass it back as done .
Well I got the latter - twice - or was it three time - its stressed me out so much i cant bloody remember
Oh and Im fairly certain after paying a fair chunk of money to have all this done youd like it to actually FUCKIN WORK !!!!!!
Well the box ive just fitted that had previously been " rebuilt " had this mess still in it - no wonder it was shit ,
Anyhoo Its just been redone again only this time by someone who doesnt offer this service but did it anyway out of kindness ( and probably feeling sorry for me ) and for this my gratitude knows no limits - THANK YOU SIR .
Finally I have a box that doesnt jump out of second , where first is actually available without trying to snap the lever off and thus far doesnt leak a drop .
THANKS AGAIN ,you know who you are - YOUR A STAR

[Dave Lane]

This lot was changed - all knackered and all within one supposed rebuilt box

[Dave Lane]

At national Pete Fitzgerald sold me this genuine arm rest , never seen one before - just pictures .
However I can see why as the mounting set up is utter crap .
Anyhoo a bit of cutting and bending and it fits 100 times better , its held on with a wing but and will fit any drivers or passenger door .|
Bit ugly but its history all the same

[Dave Lane]

heres what it looks like

[John A. Ross]

Love the arm rest Dave, it actualy looks like it should be there, I might see if SHaron can make me a couple of padded bits like that if I make here the metal parts

First time I ever seen one of these !

[John A. Ross]

The usual saying is go cheap pay twice but with gearbox refubs by the professionals it seems it is not cheap pay twice

I mean honestly Dave, no sensible person would have put thiose back in even if it was building a box for the first time. and I tiotally shudder to think what mine are like !

[Dave Lane]

Love the arm rest Dave, it actualy looks like it should be there, I might see if SHaron can make me a couple of padded bits like that if I make here the metal parts

First time I ever seen one of these !

Never seen one either , had to have it :)

[Dave Lane]

Just to finish off the transaxle job I fitted a NOS clutch pedal I bought at national .
No more excess play or clunking when pressing the pedal - the clevis pin hole wears oval causing lots of free play in this case 10mm in total .
Can you do it in situ = YES
Would I recommend doing it like this = HELL NO

[John A. Ross]

Nice work Dave, I am surprised you never did the oil lite bush mod at least you got it working in the end.

[Dave Lane]

Nice work Dave, I am surprised you never did the oil lite bush mod at least you got it working in the end.

No need , no wear on the shaft or pedal pivots , only the holes for the clevis pins were knacked

[Dave Lane]

Found the running issue ( idling on 3 , running on 4 ) , twas this so made a banana shaped one to compensate for Franks zorst fannymould

Not lining up too well



Ma de a banana shaped one to compensate


Much more gooder

[Dave Lane]

So ive dived head on into Barnabys engine issue and decided to change the head anyhoo seeing as its been on 15 years .
No sure where i got the will but there you go .
Anyhoo way back at the national at Swanage I managed to get two L4 NOS bare heads 71981533 - AM4 .
Not seen AM4 ones or ones with the AE trade mark but i guess they are very late . I built one up and stuck it on my spare engine where it still sits .
Tother one was eventually built up in 2017 after id managed to get NOS valves / double springs , collets etc etc eventually building a complete NOS head .
Its been in the loft ever since --- until now that is whereby I ve stuck it on Barnabys block. Also had a couple genuine Reitz gaskets here so used one of these up .
Engine now runs great and strangely is much quieter
Not sure what that head was worth but more than it cost me i bet

[Dave Lane]

Moar piccies

[Dave Lane]

So back to Barnabys newly headed motor .
Done about 40 miles thus far however even with the instant starting and running OK I thought it might be a tad oot of tune , after all the decades ive had it you get a feel for this type of thing.
Checked the carb balance and sure enough it was way out , rear carb had way more suckage than the front one , Im certain this is due to the different flow of the head , they never go oot of balance normally .
Anyhoo ive sorted this out , checked the plug colour which is a tad rich however il leave this until its bedded in a bit more ,
Ive mulled on a head retorque but seeing as its a new head and its got a genuine head gasket i think il leave it alone ( thoughts please )
Not driven it since the carb balance so tomorrow will be the tell on it all.
Gotta new fuel filter to fit at some point too .
So far all the bits ive fitted are still attached