JohnnyB's 'lude

[JohnnyB]

I know it's only a starter motor, but that looks amazing!

It's pretty shiny I know...

You just wait until the rest of the car is equally shiny - That's the goal but it's a helluva long way off..! Next I'll be stripping down the suspension bits currently in the garage ready to blast over another lunch hour, paint and reassemble

[mercutio]

great work

[NafemanNathan]

You just wait until the rest of the car is equally shiny - That's the goal but it's a helluva long way off..! Next I'll be stripping down the suspension bits currently in the garage ready to blast over another lunch hour, paint and reassemble

That's one of my goals to I have no doubt you'll get there much sooner than me though

[Vtecmec]

Very nice Johnny.

I have no doubt you'll get there much sooner than me though

+1 from me too.

[JohnnyB]

A bit more progress this afternoon (after being forced to go to the Zoo this morning!)...

More parts piling up in my garage. I've now got all front suspension and drive shaft components ready to clean up and paint and the CV joints in pieces ready to inspect and rebuild.



Gearbox all ready to drop out, just the last few bolts to undo in this pic...



Great success. I'd forgotten how heavy the bloody thing is. I'm not looking forward to putting it back in at all!



Very greasy inside the bell housing and lots of clutch coloured paint specs, intriguing!



And the clutch itself, still fitted as I forgot I didn't have the right socket to undo the star bolts



Hopefully I can pick a socket set up tomorrow and whip it off if the weather holds, it'll be nice to finally see what is causing me all these headaches! There's no obvious visible damage after a (very) quick look, hopefully I'll know more when I get inside it.

[NafemanNathan]

Can I ask you to take plenty of pictures when you come to doing the CV joint rebuild please? I know you're good at taking pics anyway, but I've got a set of driveshafts I fully intend on refurbing and I think one of the CV joints is on it's way out on the daily

[JohnnyB]

Can I ask you to take plenty of pictures when you come to doing the CV joint rebuild please? I know you're good at taking pics anyway, but I've got a set of driveshafts I fully intend on refurbing and I think one of the CV joints is on it's way out on the daily

I'll see what I can do - to be honest I'll likely just clean them up, check for obvious wear then re-pack them with grease and fit new boots, unless I can get some dimensions from somewhere to check them more thoroughly. Not looked in the bible yet!

Anyway, I got the clutch off today, no damage to it at all which is a bonus! ALL of the pressure plate bolts were loose which was causing the problems. The flywheel will be replaced as the ring gear is loose and I'll get a new set of flywheel and pressure plate stretch bolts. Hopefully that plus a drop of thread lock will stop the problem happening again!

Flywheel looks in good condition other than the ring gear so the clutch should be fine to go straight back in



The clutch was only in 6 weeks before the car came off the road so I'm not surprised that it's basically pristine



I'm thinking of either getting another Fidanza flywheel or going for the ACT XACT Streetlite, really depends on price as I'm pretty skint! If anyone has experience of both I'd be interested to know how the ACT compares to the Fidanza?

[nucleustylzlude]

Good work.

Did you use some thread lock on the pressure plate bolts in the first place, the service manual says to. I'd put them on the flywheel bolts too personally. All looks saved though, could have been alot worse if a bolt got free!

[mercutio]

yeah wouldnt bear thinking about a bolt being thrown around at over 7000rpm

[JohnnyB]

Sooo... 18 months since my last post, and basically nothing has changed. Except I'm now married, and have been told to get the Prelude back on the road by the wife..! Not exactly what I was expecting, but her Fabia is on its last legs and she's now using my Astra every day. Still, I'm not complaining if it means the lude gets a third shot at life

She's been on axle stands for about 2 years now so I'm not expecting miracles, but I'll be ordering a flywheel tomorrow and getting the gearbox back in asap. Once that's done I'll try and fire her up and find out what other lovely surprises are in store after her 2 year hibernation!!

I'm already convinced I'll need a pair of rear calipers, disks and pads as they were already showing signs of seizing - I'm pretty sure there'll be other things needing attention too but I'm thrilled at the prospect of getting her running again

Wish me luck