The only car work I got done this week was the continuing work on my Passat. It needed its 80K maintenance last week, which went fine except for a great coupon book I had in the back seat that turned up missing. Within a week, I had lost a hubcap, and had the check engine light come on again. The dealership was pretty nice about everything. They comped the hubcap which turned out to be a set of 4 new ones, since they could not match the missing one. They also offered to cover the labor on the second service for the check engine light with me paying for the part.
The only thing Cobra-related this week was that my back-ordered transmission shifter arrived. It looks really great. And I like the Lokar instructions for a change. The only possible problems I see is that the tunnel may not be quite big enough for the linkage, and the shifter itself sits pretty far forward, most likely farther than the existing cutout in the tunnel currently sits.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Checking off another couple of items
This past week, I got another couple of small things done, but mostly did research.
First, I installed the dipstick for the transmission. When I bought the used transmission, the guy included several things that I might want to re-use, and the fill-tube and dipstick were included. It looks pretty crappy, but new ones are fairly expensive, so I thought we'd give this one a shot.
Not much to the install. One end sort of clicked into the tranny housing, and the bracket to mount it to the bellhousing bolt was where it needed to be, just at the wrong angle. Nothing a little beating with a BFH (big hammer) wouldn't fix. A little silicone around the bottom of the tube and now it seems good to go. Since it was originally in a pickup truck, it looks a little funny because it is so long, but it seems to fit well enough. Here are a few pics...
The next task was to install the speedometer cable. This I did buy new from Lokar. I did get the little gear that was on the old speedo cable inside the transmission, so I hope it will be okay for my setup. It was a light gray one, but there are several others that may be used depending on things like tire size, and differential gear ratios. Worst case, the speedometer will be off a bit or I will have to buy one later for $10 or so to get the right one.
Here is a good pic of the parts...
On the right is the new cable, and on the left is the old cable end, the old gray driven gear and a little retainer clip that holds the gear on the end of the cable. Surprisingly, the new cable did not come with an O-ring, so I used one I had left over from a previous toilet repair kit. Seemed to be the same size.
That end gets inserted into a hole in the rear of the transmission and the driven gear mates with a gear on the output shaft inside the tranny. I re-used a small bolt to hold it in place.
Inside the cable housing there is an inner cable that actually does all the work. This needed to be lubricated with some gooey yellow stuff. I pulled the cable out and lubed it up, but was not very careful and just let the cable droop down to the ground as I went along. It ended up picking up all kinds of dirt from the ground underneath the car where I was working. I am sure it did more harm than good. So I had to clean off the worst of it reapply more lube. I suppose it is fine--it seems to turn okay. I have heard that some of the Lokar cables have a tendency to bind and break, so we will just have to see. It was only a $17 part, so I am not awfully worried. Here is a pic with it finished, in place, but coiled up until I am ready to put in the cockpit and dash. The end that goes into the gauge is visible near the bright green duct tape.
First, I installed the dipstick for the transmission. When I bought the used transmission, the guy included several things that I might want to re-use, and the fill-tube and dipstick were included. It looks pretty crappy, but new ones are fairly expensive, so I thought we'd give this one a shot.
Not much to the install. One end sort of clicked into the tranny housing, and the bracket to mount it to the bellhousing bolt was where it needed to be, just at the wrong angle. Nothing a little beating with a BFH (big hammer) wouldn't fix. A little silicone around the bottom of the tube and now it seems good to go. Since it was originally in a pickup truck, it looks a little funny because it is so long, but it seems to fit well enough. Here are a few pics...
The next task was to install the speedometer cable. This I did buy new from Lokar. I did get the little gear that was on the old speedo cable inside the transmission, so I hope it will be okay for my setup. It was a light gray one, but there are several others that may be used depending on things like tire size, and differential gear ratios. Worst case, the speedometer will be off a bit or I will have to buy one later for $10 or so to get the right one.
Here is a good pic of the parts...
On the right is the new cable, and on the left is the old cable end, the old gray driven gear and a little retainer clip that holds the gear on the end of the cable. Surprisingly, the new cable did not come with an O-ring, so I used one I had left over from a previous toilet repair kit. Seemed to be the same size.
That end gets inserted into a hole in the rear of the transmission and the driven gear mates with a gear on the output shaft inside the tranny. I re-used a small bolt to hold it in place.
Inside the cable housing there is an inner cable that actually does all the work. This needed to be lubricated with some gooey yellow stuff. I pulled the cable out and lubed it up, but was not very careful and just let the cable droop down to the ground as I went along. It ended up picking up all kinds of dirt from the ground underneath the car where I was working. I am sure it did more harm than good. So I had to clean off the worst of it reapply more lube. I suppose it is fine--it seems to turn okay. I have heard that some of the Lokar cables have a tendency to bind and break, so we will just have to see. It was only a $17 part, so I am not awfully worried. Here is a pic with it finished, in place, but coiled up until I am ready to put in the cockpit and dash. The end that goes into the gauge is visible near the bright green duct tape.
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