I should have mentioned that this is a rolling chassis, so there's no pedals to operate anything. I removed the slave cyl from the bellhousing to make sure that the release bearing wasn't adding resistance. I'll check the dowel sizes... there was a bit of swarf in the inner lip of the dowel holes.

I've checked the obviously stuff with the dowels - holes are clean, line up, etc. There's only 2 dowels, and they're both in the engine side. This is a totally new setup. It's originally a 3.9v8 from a disco, and a rebuilt r380 with a v8 bellhousing and input shaft. There were some mentioneds...

Hi all, This sodding gearbox is testing my patience now... After weeks of delay for missing parts and supplier delays, I finally came to fit it last night. After working out a method using the engine crane, I managed to get the box lined up, dowels engaged, but can never get closer than a 5mm...

No debris I can see. I asked on face-ache too and one chap reckons my donor 3.9 engine might have been from an auto... Both John and Ashcrofts knew what they were aiming for though. Agree that splines etc will be engaged... Need to have a fresh look in the morning as how far the grease was...

Tried to fit the gearbox tonight... Failed. If goes up nicely till about a 5mm gap. No amount of wiggling will make it mate. I out some grease in the spigot bearing, and it deffo gets pushed back some way, so I think the input shaft is going in. What a pain in the arse...

Helicoils in, and slave cylinder fitted... Again. Ready to attempt gearbox fitting again tomorrow. Call me paranoid, but I helicoils both holes.

Mount it on the bonnet? I think that's what I'm going to do to my rebuild.

looking good chap! Thanks for showing that brake line routing... that's my next job after the poxy gearbox is in, so I'm glad to see another for comparison. I guess I've got the same pain ahead too regarding drilling the holes!

ahhh, nice. I like those. Could like quite flash with a little polishing of the design, but I dare say they'd sell if he produced them... I doubt my welding skills are up to it at the moment, and learning to spray paint is testing enough for me just now.

ha yes - thanks both. To tell you the truth, when I'm assessing these things, I have my mother in mind. I know that she'd find something in the proper rock-slider position to be a little too high. I was hoping to find something in the normal step position that was strong enough to be protective...

Thanks for this - I really like the look of those. not too much metal, so not too imposing. I think I'll go with that plan! As for the bumper, I found that frog island 4x4 sell a terrafirmer HD tapered front bumper with no holes and no crap hanging off it. It's £154 on the bay, so at least £100...

Well thanks for those nice words, and for taking the time to read it all! I feel like progress has really slowed recently. I've got 2 weeks leave at easter so I'm planning on having a fair few full days in the garage to move things along a bit faster. There's only so much you can do on dark...

a new damper, with bushes, made by bilstien, is £60....

yeah I think mine were BZP8 M12 nylock

yep - lrdirect if you really want to know what you're buying - or paddocks but make sure the code ends in G for genuine. I use famousfour a lot too, they tend to stock the best/best-cheapest option for most things, so you'll generally find it's either OEM or bearmach... their wheel bearing kits...

again, GKN.... stick with OEM for anything that has a bearing surface. in other cases, I've been assuming that bearmach is better than britpart & allmakes, but sometimes only slightly.

haha! I was thinking more about the gearbox plate question, but I'll make sure I pass this on to my other half ;)

go with lemforder - it's oem - it'll last for ages. I notice that changing the UJ on the propshaft was in your "maybe" pile... I'm almost certain that there's a busters guide for this. It's pretty simple, you just have to take care when it comes to the needle bearings wanting to fall out. If...

We had 3 adults and 4 children coming to stay with us as of about 3pm on saturday afternoon, so not much was achieved on the landy front this weekend... we don't have any kids of our own yet, so it's always an eye opener when they come to stay! I had ambitious plans to fit the gearbox (finally)...

Quick question on gearbox fitting (which I'm prepping for at the moment), is the following correct? 1) bottom plate bit is fitted after gearbox is joined to engine? 2) sealant is applied to mating faces? Thanks Adam