Maintenance prior to dropping everything back in the car

[WSUTARD]

I'm buttoning up the odds and ends prior to attaching the trans to the engine and the engine to the k member and rolling the whole thing back under the car.

Any suggestions on maintenance prior to putting the bell housing on or the 4 speed?

I haven't even taken a thorough look at the rear of the engine yet.

Maybe something with the clutch? Mine looks fine but I have never looked at a clutch up close before.

Anything else to check out or keep and eye on or grease up?

I can provide pictures of stuff you suggest.

 

[Tadams]

One thing is to check the freeze plugs. It's a great time with the engine out of the car

 

[halifaxhops]

Rear engine seal and front trans seals on the manual? Also get the flywheel resurfaced if you have not done so yet. and a new pilot bearing also.

 

[Backally]

Small things, but it's easier to get at the bulkhead connector and check/clean the connections while there's no engine in there. And since the steering column is out test fit the coupler to the steering box. That always seems to be a pita to reinstall for me.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Don't forget to align the BH to the crank centerline!
Make sure the transmission levers are tight on the shafts, and that they will STAY tight long into the future. I do this by pulling the cover, and applying RED-loctite in the space between the flats on the pin. Then re-install the special nuts just snug and set the cover down nuts on the bench. Come back about every 10 minutes and shift them to make sure the loctite has not wicked up into the pin-bores. After the loctite has set, remove the special nuts and BLUE-loctite those and torque them up. Reinstall the cover and never loosen those special nuts. You know about those special nuts,right? The ones with the load spreader bases that are serrated, and about grade one-zillion? Do not install regular grade 5 nuts here with spring-type loc washers. That's just asking for trouble. They will work loose. Then the constant shifting will crumble the RED loctite. Then it will become increasingly hard to find the neutral gate. Then you may find yourself stuck in one gear ,in traffic, in a foreign city, wearing your Sunday-going-to-meeting best white-shirt suit, with no ramps, no tools, and no loctite, and a whining PMSing B-wife. So get the right nuts.
I like to change the hard-to-get-to freeze plugs on the sides too,unless they are reasonably new, as in you know when they were last changed. You can't go by looks on those.

 

[nm9stheham]

Do you know anything about the age and wear on the clutch? This would be a good time investigate that; if you haven't pulled the pressure plate off, there is no way to know.

If you pull the clutch off then you need to perfectly re-center the clutch when bolting down the pressure plate. If you are real good at this, it can be eyeball centered, but most folks use a clutch alignment tool. (A replica of the trans input shaft.) A super thin coat of grease on the trans input splines is OK, but I am talking just enough to make it shiney; if you can see the grease thickness, it is too thick. Any excess can get into the clutch and ruin it. DItto for a bit of grease in the pilot bushing which is probaly due to be replaced.

But if you don't service the clutch and flywheel and pilot busing now, it is not a disaster; the manual trans and clutch and flywheel can be pulled from underneath later; it is all designed to be serviced that way. It's done all the time. Now things like freeze plugs as noted above ARE a b**** from under the car later!

 

[WSUTARD]

One thing is to check the freeze plugs. It's a great time with the engine out of the car

How would tell if the freeze plugs need to be changed? They are blue now since I painted over them but they were gold prior and looked fine to me.

Rear engine seal and front trans seals on the manual? Also get the flywheel resurfaced if you have not done so yet. and a new pilot bearing also.

I will check out how to replace these seals. Flywheel has not been resurfaced yet.

Small things, but it's easier to get at the bulkhead connector and check/clean the connections while there's no engine in there. And since the steering column is out test fit the coupler to the steering box. That always seems to be a pita to reinstall for me.

I picked up a new coupler from Mancini so I will check it out. Good reminder.

Don't forget to align the BH to the crank centerline!
Make sure the transmission levers are tight on the shafts, and that they will STAY tight long into the future. I do this by pulling the cover, and applying RED-loctite in the space between the flats on the pin. Then re-install the special nuts just snug and set the cover down nuts on the bench. Come back about every 10 minutes and shift them to make sure the loctite has not wicked up into the pin-bores. After the loctite has set, remove the special nuts and BLUE-loctite those and torque them up. Reinstall the cover and never loosen those special nuts. You know about those special nuts,right? The ones with the load spreader bases that are serrated, and about grade one-zillion? Do not install regular grade 5 nuts here with spring-type loc washers. That's just asking for trouble. They will work loose. Then the constant shifting will crumble the RED loctite. Then it will become increasingly hard to find the neutral gate. Then you may find yourself stuck in one gear ,in traffic, in a foreign city, wearing your Sunday-going-to-meeting best white-shirt suit, with no ramps, no tools, and no loctite, and a whining PMSing B-wife. So get the right nuts.
I like to change the hard-to-get-to freeze plugs on the sides too,unless they are reasonably new, as in you know when they were last changed. You can't go by looks on those.

I feel like this is something akin to muffler bearings but way more elaborate and hard to follow.

Do you know anything about the age and wear on the clutch? This would be a good time investigate that; if you haven't pulled the pressure plate off, there is no way to know.

If you pull the clutch off then you need to perfectly re-center the clutch when bolting down the pressure plate. If you are real good at this, it can be eyeball centered, but most folks use a clutch alignment tool. (A replica of the trans input shaft.) A super thin coat of grease on the trans input splines is OK, but I am talking just enough to make it shiney; if you can see the grease thickness, it is too thick. Any excess can get into the clutch and ruin it. DItto for a bit of grease in the pilot bushing which is probaly due to be replaced.

But if you don't service the clutch and flywheel and pilot busing now, it is not a disaster; the manual trans and clutch and flywheel can be pulled from underneath later; it is all designed to be serviced that way. It's done all the time. Now things like freeze plugs as noted above ARE a b**** from under the car later!

Supposedly the clutch is a Ram High Performance Clutch. I'm not sure what that means but you can see pics below. Would have been updated with the motor around 4 years ago. I don't know how many miles that would be. I haven't had any complaints in the transmission area of the car when I was driving it.

I picked up an alignment tool from Mancini.

I will check out the pilot bearing/bushing and post pics. The engine is still on the stand right now so that might be a few days.

 

[WSUTARD]

Don't forget to align the BH to the crank centerline!
Make sure the transmission levers are tight on the shafts, and that they will STAY tight long into the future. I do this by pulling the cover, and applying RED-loctite in the space between the flats on the pin. Then re-install the special nuts just snug and set the cover down nuts on the bench. Come back about every 10 minutes and shift them to make sure the loctite has not wicked up into the pin-bores. After the loctite has set, remove the special nuts and BLUE-loctite those and torque them up. Reinstall the cover and never loosen those special nuts. You know about those special nuts,right? The ones with the load spreader bases that are serrated, and about grade one-zillion? Do not install regular grade 5 nuts here with spring-type loc washers. That's just asking for trouble. They will work loose. Then the constant shifting will crumble the RED loctite. Then it will become increasingly hard to find the neutral gate. Then you may find yourself stuck in one gear ,in traffic, in a foreign city, wearing your Sunday-going-to-meeting best white-shirt suit, with no ramps, no tools, and no loctite, and a whining PMSing B-wife. So get the right nuts.
I like to change the hard-to-get-to freeze plugs on the sides too,unless they are reasonably new, as in you know when they were last changed. You can't go by looks on those.

Would this be the proper process to ensure the BH is aligned?

 

[AJ/FormS]

17 minutes.
That's all it takes to drop the TTI front pipes, the "propeller shaft",the GVOD, and the tranny, on a drive-on hoist. I have witnesses,lol.

Your clutch and flywheel look really good.

Getting the crank and tranny on the same centerline ensure a smoothly working clutch,a long lasting clutch hub, a quiet front tranny bearing,a long life for the MS nose, and a long lasting pilot bushing.
A smoothly working clutch makes an easy shifting tranny.
And don't forget horsepower. It takes power to wobble all those parts around;power that could have been used to smoke the tires,lol. How much? Oh Gee-Whiz,IDK.

You cannot tell a good freeze plug from a bad one by looking at it, unless of course it has a hole in it; they rot from the backside, seeing as how they are continuously submerged in coolant that is primarily water. Seeing as how cheap they are, and how easy it is to change them when the engine is out, it just makes good sense to replace them now.
Don't tell anybody, but I have, on my stuff, reused some, if they came out ok. I don't suggest you do this, cuz I'm not buying you a new engine if you fail to reinstall them correctly, and you have a total engine failure! I run a 7psi cap. Everything lasts waaaay longer with a 7 psi cap.

 

[WSUTARD]

Regarding the freeze plugs. I'm 99% sure they were changed when the engine was redone about 4-5 years ago. They were a shiny brass prior to me painting the block. With that said, wouldn't I run the risk of getting crap into the engine by taking them out? My engine is complete and I wont be able to clean out anything that falls in there due to removal, such as paint chips.

 

[nm9stheham]

Being gold colored freezeplugs, they are probably brass which means they were replaced 4-5 years back as you say. I'd leave them in. Any crap will only get into the cooling jacket so it is not a disaster, but I would personally bet on them being OK. 30-40 year old core plugs is the real problem.

Your clutch disc looks to have some life left in it for general street use. There are a few slightly 'burned' spots on both the flywheel and pressure plate, so it is not perfect but OK for general street use. I've put similar parts back in for a race or 2. As a minimum cleanup, I'd use some Scotchbrite to take some of the shiny surface off (do the whole surface on PP and flywheel, not the clutch disc) and then clean everything thoroughly with brake cleaner; don't spare it. It'll work as is if you wanted to wait for the time when due for another clutch & PP.

I would also not hesitate to have the flywheel resurfaced; it shows some definite wear. (Actually, I would just put in new clutch and PP, and sell this clutch and PP just to get things fresh but that is just me.)

 

[WSUTARD]

Being gold colored freezeplugs, they are probably brass which means they were replaced 4-5 years back as you say. I'd leave them in. Any crap will only get into the cooling jacket so it is not a disaster, but I would personally bet on them being OK. 30-40 year old core plugs is the real problem.

Your clutch disc looks to have some life left in it for general street use. There are a few slightly 'burned' spots on both the flywheel and pressure plate, so it is not perfect but OK for general street use. I've put similar parts back in for a race or 2. As a minimum cleanup, I'd use some Scotchbrite to take some of the shiny surface off (do the whole surface on PP and flywheel, not the clutch disc) and then clean everything thoroughly with brake cleaner; don't spare it. It'll work as is if you wanted to wait for the time when due for another clutch & PP.

I would also not hesitate to have the flywheel resurfaced; it shows some definite wear. (Actually, I would just put in new clutch and PP, and sell this clutch and PP just to get things fresh but that is just me.)

What would be a good street brand for a clutch and PP? Something economical.