Logbook

December 2014

December 10, 2014

Stopped by ACS today and great progress has been made while I’ve been away. The chassis has been modified to accept the larger tranny housing and a new mounting plate has been fabricated and installed. This replaces the original mounting plate and allows room for the wider tranny housing. The new engine back plate and clutch are in. A custom engine plate was require as the original GT6 plate will not bolt up to the HVDA bell housing. We knew, going in, that the HVDA bell housing is designed to bolt to a TR6 engine plate. We could not find a used TR6 plate so we bought an after-market, aluminum plate and the fit is perfect.

The chassis was painted and still drying so the tranny was waiting for final install. It has been trial fitted and all is well. Scott is taking some measurements for shims to ensure that the new hydraulic throw-out bearing will be clear during normal driving, when the clutch isn’t being used. He is figuring for a clearance of a few millimeters only – no big deal but a nice confidence builder for me knowing that once this modification is complete the tranny should never need to be pulled (at least in my lifetime!!!).

While everything was out Scott dressed up all the new wiring under the dash – a nice, neat improvement!

The plan now is to get the tranny fitted up, cut and balance the drive shaft and install a new yoke with u-joint at the tranny end of the drive shaft.

December 15, 2014

Stopped by ACS and spoke with the guys about a concern regarding the hydraulic throw-out bearing travel. The shaft collar on the Celica tranny is a little shorter than Scott would like when considering the 1 inch travel built into the bearing. Scott thinks that there may end up being a little wobble when the bearing is extended full length on the shaft collar. The solution is for Al to machine a new, longer, shaft collar and replace the factory collar with this. This will be a straight forward improvement but it needs to be a precision thickness as clearance with the fly wheel and the starter motor engagement have to be considered.

We got the new slip yoke and just need to cut and balance the drive shaft then (if the weather holds) put a few miles on the car and put it through the paces before reinstalling the interior.

December 30, 2014

I’m going to close out 2014 here. I stopped by ACS today and the drive shaft has been cut & balanced. They put in 2 new U-Joints (with grease fittings) and they are going to install the tranny and drive shaft next week. I’m off to Florida tomorrow to see the Kids & Grandkids! Happy new year!