Several weeks ago I sent a note asking for help on installing a new ring
gear on my '72 TR6. It turned out to be a piece of cake. I heated the ring
gear to 350 in the oven while the flywheel sat outside in 25-degree weather.
The two mated quickly and easily.
The rest of the job's been an awful nightmare, though. It all started about
a year ago when I got a short somewhere in the rat's nest of wires dangling
below the dashboard. My headlights came on and would not go off until I
disconnected the battery. I hate wiring, so I let the car sit for about 6
months before doing anything. It turned out to be insulation pulled away
from a new wire spliced into the the old headlight wiring by the PO (I now
have a push-pull headlight switch on the dash instead of the column switch).
It took 10 minutes to fix (I didn't say "correct") the problem.
Elated, I started the car and went to back out of the garage. Crunch. My
clutch was frozen to the flywheel. After 2 days of trying to get it
unstuck, I gave up and pulled the transmission. I wanted to have the
transmission inspected anyway, because it hasn't shifted well since the last
rebuild. It turns out the last rebuilder put in used syncro hubs which
were quite worn. I had it all rebuilt again, fixed the ring gear, and put
in all new Borg & Beck clutch parts.
That brings us to two weekends ago. I drove the car, and it ran awful.
After warming it up, I found a small puddle of transmission oil under the
car. Coming off the highway later that day, I downshifted to 3rd gear at
about 50 mph, and it popped out of gear. Driving home that evening at dusk,
the headlight fuse quietly burned out. But the new clutch is really nice,
and every time I started the car, the starter engaged the ring gear
smoothely and quietly.
Kevin Riggs
rkriggs@ingr.com
Huntsville, AL.
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