Beta Spider 2000 engine rebuild/refurb

[WestonE]

Hi Graham

A sharp triangular file use on the inside of the dowel will cut enough for you to crush it in with water pump pliers. With a little grip and twist it will be gone.

Eric

[mangocrazy]

Thanks Eric. I have a set of small files which includes a triangular one, so if the dowel doesn't come out with Plan A, I'll use your Plan B. I guess the idea is to creat a fault line that will give way under pressure from the pliers?

Graham

[SanRemo78]

A file? I'd try putting a junior hacksaw blade through it, attach the saw frame and off you go. It'll be quicker..

[WestonE]

Whatever cuts a line most easily. I find a sharp file better in a confined space but might actually use a carbide burr in my die grinder which I assume Graham does not own.

[mangocrazy]

Hi Eric,

I do own a die grinder and I have to say it's the tool that scares me the most in use, far more so than (for example) a 9" angle grinder. The Metabo one I have has so much torque it's positively frightening if used in a confined space. I also have a cheapie Aldi die grinder and that gets used far more often, as it's appreciably less powerful/vicious. But for this particular job I will be sticking to hand tools I think.

Graham

[HFStuart]

I find a mains dremel is a good compromise for confined spaces. It's slower but it doesn't have the torque to rip the tool out of your hands.

[mangocrazy]

I find a mains dremel is a good compromise for confined spaces. It's slower but it doesn't have the torque to rip the tool out of your hands.

That certainly sounds like the sensible option... 

[SanRemo78]

Or just get an angle grinder and take off the exposed head of the hollow dowel... I'd almost put money on the rest of it just falling out once heated to that extent!
Guy

[mangocrazy]

Or just get an angle grinder and take off the exposed head of the hollow dowel... I'd almost put money on the rest of it just falling out once heated to that extent!
Guy

Hi Guy,

I think you've just provided me with Plan C...   

Graham

[mangocrazy]

After all the agonising about how to approach it, Plan A worked like a charm. I gave the bell housing a quick blast of heat from my Rothenberger MAPP torch, found the internal lip with the drift, gave it a few taps and out popped the dowel. Very undramatic. I also foloowed Erics advice and checked the throw of the pinion and found that it meshes in the centre of the ring gear at full extension. I also confirmed that the pinion cannot make contact with the bell housing, so all is good. Starter motor is now mounted to the bell housing and another job can be ticked off the list.

Pic below shows the fitted starter motor and the removed dowel .

[WestonE]

Lovely satisfying work. Have you so far resisted taking the plugs out and trying the starter? Note there should be lube on the cams and in the bores before playing with this.

Enjoy

Eric 

[mangocrazy]

Hi Eric,

The thought has certainly occurred to me... When they were building the motor Stanwood used assembly lube, so it should be OK, but I think I will wait until I have filled the engine with running-in oil. Before I can do that I need to finish off work in the oil filter housing area, such as fitting the various oil pressure/temperature senders and torquing up the oil filter extension and oil cooler takeoffs to their final values (they're just hand tight at present). I presume that torque values for these parts are actually quite low, as everything appears to rely on o-rings for sealing, and over-tightening o-rings is a Bad Idea as far as I'm aware?

Graham

[WestonE]

Hi Graham

Yes over tightening is bad if it squeezes and deforms the O Ring. If they will fit the situation I prefer to use Dowty washers. I have no handy torque values just hard won nervous experience.

Bits of oil circuit falling off tend to do engine damage whilst making one hell of a mess. Try to avoid mixing steel and alloy fittings and mixing fixing from different suppliers.

The bits from Torques have held together well. I still have nightmares from the Mocal remote Oil filter housing with a porous casting .

Eric 

[mangocrazy]

Thanks Eric. That confirms my suspicions. I might give Torques UK a ring for guidance, as they supplied the part.

[mangocrazy]

I contacted Torques UK and this was their reply:

They are normally just tightened by feel. They seal on the flaring face so they don't need much torque.

So not much more than a light nip up, I think. I'll be coating the o-rings with silicone grease before assembly.

[mangocrazy]

Some solid (if not particularly earth-shattering) progress has been made. The back water rail has now been pemanently fixed in place - previously one of the water pump flange studs sheared when torquing up. This has now been replaced and no such dramas were encountered this time round. I also got round to making a permanent clamp for the home-brewed dipstick tube. A rubber P clip and some stainless builder's band came to the rescue here.

The Torques oil sandwich plate was fastened in place, and the oil cooler take-offs and blanking plugs were tightened up gently to what I felt comfortable with. The Mahle oil filter was then fitted, as were the three senders/switches that attach to the oil filter housing. So I am now in a position where I can fill the motor with (running in) oil. This feels like a mini-landmark...

The next task will be to re-fit the drive shaft and housing to the back of the engine and gearbox. Before that it will get a deep clean as it's proper manky. Which gives rise to the question - should I renew the bearing in the housing? This one will have done 60,000 miles, so I suspect I know the answer to that one. Are they still available? Is it a simple or a difficult job?

No pictures this time - I forgot my camera. Next time I go back I'll provide some.

<Edit> Mark W has the bearings in stock, so it seemed foolish not to order one and swap it while I can easily. So I appear to have answered my own question... <\Edit>

[mangocrazy]

Having made a start on cleaning the drive shaft and housing up, my thoughts are turning to stripping the unit (which will need a castellated nut removal tool) and subsequent refitting. Can the driveshaft and housing be reattached to the engine/gearbox without disturbing the gearbox, or do I have to go through gearbox removal/reattachment anxiety again?

[SanRemo78]

From my old memories the driveshaft can be removed without disturbing the gearbox. It's just 6 bolts securing the inner CV joint to the drive flanges on the gearbox or intermediate shaft. Obviously one big nut to secure the outer CV in the hub carrier (which I usually resorted to drilling off). The castellated nut only needs to be removed if you plan on replacing bearings or the hub itself. I don't know how many times I serviced the driveshafts in situ on Betas but there's a method I still use on the Stratos rep every 7 o 8 years (it uses the 1978 shafts from my donor car and 3 of the 4 CV joints to this day). I start by undoing the inner CV, drop it out of the flange, remove the circlip on the end and slide the inner joint off, undo the clips on the outer and slide the boot down the shaft. Clean out as much old grease as possible and repack with new and reassemble with new boots.
Guy

[mangocrazy]

Hello Guy,

Thanks for the reply - I really would like to avoid disturbing the gearbox again if possible. The bearing in the housing shown does have noticeable play and it spins very freely indeed, rather too freely for my liking. I wouldn't feel comfortable re-using it, especially after so much else in the build is new or completely refurbished. So I guess that ring nut has got to come off. I've been trying to take some measurements to figure out if the tool I need might somehow be commercially available; yeah, I'm an optimist... 

Graham

[SanRemo78]

Aplogies - I didn't realise you were talking about the intermediate shaft! I don't think I've even replaced the bearing on that before!