More work on the car!
Rich and Brian came out to help.
The first thing to do was just to put the Motor, Coupler, and Transmission together to see how things line up.
A big part of why the access hole was cut in the side of the transmission was for exactly this sort of thing – being able to see the shafts to line them up.
After test-fitting, we found that the coupler was too long on the transmission side, but not by a lot.
We trimmed it down using an angle grinder.
We did that two or three times. Trimming, then test-fitting, until it was the right length.
Then, up it goes using the engine hoist. The transmission end had to go in first, because that’s where 2 of the three mounts are, and it has to go down, under, and then up into where they attach.
It was a tight squeeze, but eventually the car ate the whole thing. The front battery boxes took up a little more space that didn’t have to be dealt with the last time I installed the motor.
Rich popped off the drivers side tire lower ball joint faster than I though humanly possible. It’s amazing how much faster guys are who have ACTUALLY WORKED ON CARS than I am!
The drivers side wheel has to be pulled away from the car to get that side’s drive axle into the transmission.
Brian then had to get going, but Rich stuck around to help wire and power the car up.
We had to do some troubleshooting, because nothing was working! It turned out to be a bad ground because of installing the new 12V system battery. Once that was figured out, we were able to spin the motor, with the transmission in neutral. It sounds very different. sort of a futuristic cougar growl.
After Rich left, I re-installed the sway bar, hooked up the transmission shifter, vaccuum pump, forklift throttle, and everything else to get the car to running condition again, including filling the tranny with oil.
Then the hood went back on and I went for a test drive.
Of course, by then, I had been working in the dark for at least an hour.
The car sounds really solid.
It car no longer makes a weird rar-rar-rar-rar sound when I let off the accelerator.
Response to the accelerator is dead on. Nothing is sloppy. It’s all tight and solid.
I don’t have night illumination for my ammeter and volt meter, so watching that while driving will have to be tested during the day.
I might be able to get down to the emmissions test station later this week, then I am officially on the road!
