Moss Motors, Ltd

Hello all, 

 

It's been a while since I've posted, I've been working hard on my 67 Sprite and it's almost done! I replaced much of the sheet metal and it came out nice and straight. I painted the engine compartment, and mounted up all my new suspension (Thanks Apple Hydraulics)and this thing is just bolting right up these days. I dug into the transmission last night and to my dismay, it seems that the synchro cones that seat with the baulk rings are warn out, but I'm not sure, I've never done a manual gearbox before. Should the baulk ring seat all the way down over the cone and still be able to turn? I thought it should eventually kind of stop turning, it is a little clutch after all, but I'm not sure. The rest of the gear box build seems really straight forward, and I think I've got it licked. 

 

The other issue is, where can I have these gears serviced. New replacement's if you can find them are really expensive. Does anyone have a second and third gear for a ribbed case they'd be willing to part with?

 

Jim   

jimbot,

Your cones are very shot. Sorry. I have looked into some kind of metal spray welding for this problem, but the folks I've asked want as much to do the experimantal work as a five speed conversion would cost!

Were I in your position, I'd call John Esposito at Quantumechanics to see if he can help. John does gearboxes, gearbox conversions, and overdrives almost exclusively, and is a heck of a smart and nice guy.

Frankly, once you drive one of these with the five speed conversion kit from Rivergate Restorations, you'll wonder why you spent any money on the ribcase...

---

Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

Hey Motor Bill, 

 

When I posted that, I was hoping that you'd be the one to answer. I really do want to do the Rivergate, and intend to one day. But not today, today I picked up a second hand rib case, and will run that for a while. The economics at my place have changed slightly, and while I'm going to finish this project, I need to do it on the cheep.

Now I'm trying to figure out why the back end is up so high. I replaced the floors and sills, but all I did to the rear suspension was take it out, install new bushings, paint it, and re-install it. The guy at the MG shop here told me I probably have the shackles on the wrong side of their pivot. I don't think that's the case, they are pointing straight down, and if I add weight to the rear end, they move towards the back slightly. I'm really hoping that I didn't build this car bent. The floors fit as they should, and the doors mount up and open and close. Any ideas? 

Jimbot-

Could be that you tightened the suspension bolts while the car was still up on the jackstands instead of with it in the down and loaded position? All the bushings bind in the full droop position and keep the car from sitting down properly. I learned about this w/ my Lotus suspension.

Hope this is it!

LCJUTILA 

This makes a lot of sense, but it didn't work in my case. The front is sitting really high as well. I thought it was just because the motor was still out of it, but I put the motor in and it didn't even sink a little. 

 

With the rear, I took the weight off the springs, removed the rear bushings and greased them up. After putting the shackles back in, I lowered the car down so it had it's weight on the springs, then I tightened everything up. It still sits high. I don't want to do the front again as that's a pretty major operation, and it seems that it's sinking slowly day by day. Any other ideas for the rear?  

Jimbot-

From the photo it looks like you still have a lot of  stuff to install on the car. The top, seats, hood, trunk lid, etc could maybe add enough weight to get the result you are looking for. I think the car only weighs something like 1550 lbs fully assembled so these items could make a significant difference.

Keep going w/ the project and if things don't work out you can revisit the spring issue at the end. To change things now may leave you too low to the ground in the end.

Wadaya think?

 

LCJUTILA 

Jimbot-

On further study of your picture I began to wonder if maybe you got hold of some late model springs for a car w/ rubber bumpers and a heavier engine (1500 cc.). Those cars weighed considerably more than the early Sprites and may have had higher spring rates and ride heights to meet federal height requirements. This is just a thought of mine and I do not have any idea if there is truly a difference in springs between models but you could find out.

I hope you just need to finish installing stuff to get that ride height down!

 

LCJUTILA

 

P.S. That car looks as straight as an arrow!