Last year friends convinced me to participate in a drag racing event.
I wasn’t really into drag racing
but on the other hand it was quite interesting to try it out. So I tried it
As for results.. On one hand everything is kind of ok, on another - not really
because no matter what I tried
I could not stop one wheel spinning
And the reason for this is, of course, open differential.
Obvious solution would be to put in a limited slip diff
But there’s another problem.
Current gearbox I use is quite loose
While driving first on second gear on idle revs
you can feel that car is being teased back and forth
This is because the gearbox is quite worn out and loose
therefore it needs rebuilding.
It’s practically March already
and soon driving season opens
I haven’t done anything but wash the gearbox before
so instead of taking out the current one and rebuilding it,
I decided to better buy an additional one
I will disassemble it, wash and rebuild. Maybe also paint it.
And of course put LSD in
So I bought the gearbox. Actually two, because the guy selling it
had two so I decided to take them both
If shit happens, I’ll have a spare one
Well, probably everything will be fine here
but as I said - I haven’t done anything with gearboxes before
so decided to be better safe than sorry
There are some minimal differences between the two:
one is from a 2.3 turbo petrol engine,
another is from an volvo S80 naturally aspirated petrol engine
Both are M56 gearboxes,
just the turbo one has a bit longer first and second gears
You can reach up to 110km/h in a second gear with a turbo one
and up to 90km/h with a naturally aspirated engine gearbox
I’ll use a turbo one. I didn’t find any label with code on it
so i’ll have to trust those markings that it’s really M56H,
and on this one I found a label
with M56L markings
means - atmo gearbox with shorter first and second gears.
Those both gearboxes are also a bit loose
but I think less than my current
Recently I’ve changed the clutch
and noticed that it’s much more worn out.
So the plan is as follows:
I’ll take a turbo box
disassemble it, wash it , probably sand-blast it also
ok, maybe not sand but soda-blast, or glass-blast it.
Will hand wash it at first
tear it apart, will prepare for LSD
Will inspect internals -
maybe it needs some repair
will check out synchros, etc
Will see - let’s start.
Well, it’s split up
let’s see what we’ve got here
It’s not fully disassembled yet so hard to see
but I can spot some debris here
tiny metal files
I’ll have to wash it up and see
I’ll take off gear assemblies
you can spot some debris also here
will take the differential out, and wash it
Took it out
synchros are fine
I won’t touch it
so just wash it up
put LSD in, assemble back
and good to go
Gears are fine, ball bearings are fine, all is good
So I will change gaskets with new ones
and that’s basically it
It was assembled using some sealant
’ll clean it up
and will use the gasket as it should be used,
I hope it won’t leak
Will inspect surfaces if it’s smooth, no scratches whatsoever
And that’s it.
Here we go. Just got back shell after glass-blasting
let’s take a look how it looks inside
clean and shine
no oxides, no debris
Now I need to clean glass dust
and then I’ll be able to start assembling it back
I’ve got a bit of a problem:
outer ball bearing rings
are left pressed in
I’d like to take those out and change the bearings
But not sure how to better do that
I don’t have any tools for that
and to measure it for changing ball bearings
I need to take it out
I’ll just try to do that
take those out
take out gaskets
which looks completely intact by glass blast dust
but better not use it - anyway I have bought new ones already
And then as I said
assembling it back together.
Once I get those rings and gaskets out
I’ll try to paint it
Got some paints just for that
will see if it will last long
I’ll make a base, paint and lacquer layer.
Color is as close to natural aluminum as I could get
Let’s do it
Now about sealing it.
Those edges are also glass-blasted
Thought about smoothing it out
bus as long as I changed my mind
and won’t use gasket but sealant instead
because there’s already some spacers aligned
to make everything perfectly tight,
better keep it the same way
And now it’s gonna be even better for sealant to stick to it
If there’s no scratches to fix
I’ll just leave it as is
use sealant and be done with it
Now I’ll start cleaning gear assemblies
maybe disassemble it to inspect synchros
more closely, not sure, I’ll see.
Let's do it
Cleaned it up, marked it
took out ball bearing spacers
to not mix it up
It’s not really possibly
because diameters are different
and spacers go just to one side, but oh well
Cleaned up gasket holes
There were some tiny rusts, maybe after washing
maybe from before - don’t really know
All is clean
now will put it together,
clean grease if there's any - tried not to touch it too much
and then paint it
Let’s do it.
Painting is done
let’s do the assembly
Ball bearings I’ll leave old ones
except for the differential
I couldn’t take those off “nice” way
so decided better just buy now ones and not risk using maybe ruined ones
got those pressed on the new diff,
and now
here they are
and now I’ll try to
clean all last dusts, put diff inside with spacer
with this one - I’ll put in only diff itself
without other internals
and will check if it is stiff or loose
Theoretically ball bearings are literally the same
but if there’s even the smallest gap
nd it does not perfectly fit without being loose at all
all my work is gonna be wasted.
So - clean dust
put spacer, put diff, check tolerances.
If it’s loose - it’s bad news
because I haven’t got any thicker spacer rings
And doing such a thin ring on my own
would be a bit of a challenge
I hope for the best.
So - used just two bolts now.
Even without bolts just tightly putting it together
it does not feel loose like at all
and I cannot feel anything wrong here
there's nothing loose in here
Nothing
And it turns not really free
but as a snug thing
I think all is fine here,
I’ll put big crown gear
gaskets, and start assembling.
And now the interesting part
Seems like this crown gear will have to be heated.
One of the manuals says
it should be heated
up to around 100C
and only then should it be put
So - I’ll go take a pan and will fry it :D
It was exactly the case
cold one I could not get on the diff
but once heated - it completely freely fell in place
Completely freely, no force used
Let’s continue now
To be honest, I already forgot
how to assemble it. But I hope to figure that out somehow.
Well, it’s done.
Of course like always I messed it a bit
with fresh sealant,
but somehow managed to clean it up.
Important thing is
All seems to be fine, gears shifts as before
all fine, it’s not loose
looks all fine
I’ll put it in the car
and test it with LSD
That’s all for the moment
