Ronin225's Candy rimmed Black LCR - Project 500-4WD, Cage installed and bigger turbo

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
The box in the car is still the original with the OE open diff (probably very open now)
I do have a wavetrac LSD which is for a Quattro box, however putting the Quattro box in now means my downpipe wont clear transfer box so im going to opt for just another 2wd box for now to get me by
 

grahams81

Active Member
Oct 14, 2010
1,165
6
County Durham
The box in the car is still the original with the OE open diff (probably very open now)
I do have a wavetrac LSD which is for a Quattro box, however putting the Quattro box in now means my downpipe wont clear transfer box so im going to opt for just another 2wd box for now to get me by

Surely it'll be cheaper to get a S3 downpipe and fit the quattro box rather than another FWD gearbox ? That way you might get your arse in gear and start that 4wd conversion :p
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
Surely it'll be cheaper to get a S3 downpipe and fit the quattro box rather than another FWD gearbox ? That way you might get your arse in gear and start that 4wd conversion :p

I know dude, I am the master of slow progress. However I have an FZQ box lying around so will cost me nothing apart from a new slave cylinder (which I purchased today) to swap out
I really to need to get these last few engine bits as I refuse to put any of my nice shiny bits for my build on the existing engine. I still need to sort this SEM too
Driving around in a standard lcr this week has made me realise how sorted mine is as a car

Also tom when are you coming for a trackday? im sure you, myself and rds could sort something maybe with an overnighter so we can have a few drinks too
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
Last night my friend was nice enough to give me the evenings use of his ramps to swap the box
Went quite well to start with, all out in an hour. I ended up swapping the clutch and flywheel for a low usage one for another car. I would have put a new one in but for the amount they cost and how long its going to be in for it wasn't worth it. Flywheel clatter now gone:D
Put the other box in and had a few issues. One of the bolts that holds down my vibratechnics gearbox mount was slightly too long and as a result has never been uber tight at the back of the mount. Easily solved by searching through the bolt box
After the box was all back in I gave it a quick oil change since the trackday did a good job of cooking it
Then the big problem.... the gearbox was taken from a non running car so unable to test and sods law its shagged. I now have no diff whine however in 3rd and 4th decelerating the whine and grumble is louder. It sounds to me like the outer race spinning in the casing
So next week if I can get some time on the ramp again im going to swap out the box again for a spare FML box I also have, however this is also a slightly unknown quantity.
So as a precaution I went back to work with this

plan is to open it up and have a look at its workings and what damage is done. Even if the box is unrepairable im going to use it as a learning experience for when I fit my LSD to the Quattro box as car gearboxes are quite different from the machinery ones I usually work on
Again, car is in limp around mode for a week or so until swapped out. If replacement box whines I think car will go into hibernation and I will fit my LSD and probably get a downpipe made and run the Quattro box
 

Yorkie911

York
May 22, 2014
40
0
Surrey
Great work on your car. Just spent the best part of 5 hours reading this thread from start to finish. I think I know more about your car then I do my own. :lol: Looking forward to seeing the 4wd conversion
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
With the gearbox back at work I made a bit of headway with it, stripped most of it apart and checked the bearings etc
Ordered some parts from the dealer to rebuild, just need to give the diff a real good check over. Would be so easy to chuck an lsd while its in this state
A few pics of the inerds of an 02M box


Hopefully get this finished and refitted next week
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
More progress on the box, fully stripped out now


Had a good check over of all the gears and appear to be in good shape, only one gear looks like its had a mis-shift just clipping the edge of the teeth, just on the left hand edge of the gear


So I moved my attention to the diff itself, it looked in normal working order

did spin but occasionally would feel like it stuck on something, after some closer inspection I noticed this, not sure if that's what makes it catch or just a mark where something has been through the diff

After seeing this I turned my attention to the casing where the rear bearing of the input shaft sits as this was able to move up and down freely, so some quick measuring


These dimensions should be the same so the outee bearing race is an interference fit in the aluminium housing. With this being 0.2mm bigger it wont hold the race secure allowing the whole bearing assembly to spin and wear the softer ali casing more than it has. So needs a new rear casing and ideally bearing. With these in mind and the cost of parts to repair this box its not worth it.
The only thing I am thinking of salvaging is the ring gear from the diff so I can mate an bolt it up to my lsd for the Quattro box, just need to check part numbers are the same for 2wd and 4wd as this will save time when swapping over
Plan is to put the FML box in next week and make it fully driveable again
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
FML box has been in for a few weeks now and all is good with it, just need to slightly clean out side shifter as its still a bit stiff but will do it at some point
However after changing the box a few with various items of the suspension being undone I knew I needed a wheel alignment but my spherical bearings were squeaking a bit so thought Id clean and grease them before this is done
So removed the wishbones (again) becoming a routine almost and was shocked how crapped up they were

So cleaned off the pile of smeg and stripped them apart to find they weren't really rotating and were virtually stuck solid

These have basically stuck and were flexing the small poly piece inside and virtually ruined it


I need to contact powerflex to see if they do a service kit for them but for know I made do, so cleaned them up and freed off so they rotated again and grease up

Once they were rotating smoothly I reassembled them and put them back on the car

Pleased to say the car now doesn't squeak and actually rides a bit smoother too. All ready for its alignment on Friday. Think im going to need to keep an eye on these and give them an annual/bi-annual service to keep them at there best
Need to sort a few more things out soon though as it might be back on the track at the end of next month
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
Car is booked back on track on the 6th of October for another round of beasting at Bedford, hopefully this gearbox will withstand the abuse
Over the next week or so will have all the front off for some modifications to better increase airflow through the cooler and rads, beef up the crash bar slightly to brace up whats been taken out and make room and locate an oil cooler
Going to drain the oil out of the gearbox and put some fresh stuff in as well to try and give it a fighting chance
Also my rear top mounts are knocking so will do these at the same time
Looking into buying a little camera to film the escapades like a gopro but cheaper, any suggestions?
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
Cheers for that james, its in the watch list now probably to be bought in the morning
Will have to see if it survives this round of abuse, ive said for a while now that I wont replace certain things on this engine if they go Ie turbo, so if it happens the car will sit until engine is built
All the bits were picked up today ready to give it some tlc though
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
Few updates, changed the rear top mounts as they were knocking but unfortunately didn't get any pics as I was rushing so I could go to the pub
Bought one of the SJcam's that james suggested, turns out it works pretty well and is gives pretty good quality video
Mounted it at the back of the car looking through and is surprisingly little vibration or anything mounted there

After checking the weather it looks like its going to bucket down on Monday so perfect opportunity to use the wets. Thought I better actually check they fit properly. They have the same offset but are 8j instead of 7.5j of the standard wheels. This puts them super close to the adjuster ring on the coilovers (about the thickness of a piece of paper) so I may end up stealing the spacers from the back to make sure they clear. I ncase anyone was wondering this is due to supercopas which the wheels are from having different struts, hubs and wishbones with ball joints further out


Also got some new wipers, however there were so many things I havnt had time to do like service the car and change the gearbox oil, sort my ever persistant alarm issue but hopefully will hold up for the day
Will post up some videos once back
 

Ronin225

Active Member
Jan 17, 2008
4,652
22
Worcester
I sold the same wheels that you had that were from the Toledo as only being 17s they wouldn't fit over my brakes/
I found a guy selling a supercopa and asked if hed sell some of the spares package, was a really nice guy and sold me the wheels (which should have had slicks on but had wets on) then gave me the 2nd hand slicks and a baffled sump. He did offer the really expensive stronger driveshafts too but they were very pricey.
 

grahams81

Active Member
Oct 14, 2010
1,165
6
County Durham
Ah i see, thought they looked like 18's....I'm thinking of ditching my 17's as i think they'll look too small and it'll limit my brake size too much.
Any plans to start the conversion yet ?
 
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