got the 205 sat in today...question though

[simmo6490]

sat my 205 pinto in today.  happy with the engine.  what is the best method for the height of the box? for prop alignment Thanks

 

 

[iandq]

hi mate, what you are looking for in an ideal world is a straight driveline. it is normal practice to set the diff pinion flange a couple of degrees or so 'nose down' so that when the springs wind up under acceleration the pinion rises to the straight position. this angle will already be built in to the spring pads and won't normally change unless the car is radically lowered or the springs are shot. the method I use is this; with the car on stands ( under the axle, not the body ) measure from the pinion shaft centre to the floor and note this distance, then stretch a bricklayers line or similar from a point on the floor directly beneath that centre to a point directly below the crank pulley bolt centre, below the bolt centre by the same distance that you noted earlier. you need to set some packing up so the line can be left, or get someone to hold it for you. you then want to set the height of the centre of your gearbox tailshaft the same distance above the line to get a straight driveline, but bear in mind as you lift the box the crank pulley will fall ( and vice versa ) so you need to check again and adjust the line if needs be. when you have the diff pinion, the gearbox tailshaft and the crank pulley all the same height above your line you have a straight driveline, the uj at the gearbox will be straight and the one at the diff end should be a couple of degrees bent but you won't see that by eye and will straighten under acceleration, you can measure this angle with a cheap angle finder, just compare the flange angle with the propshaft angle and take 90 degrees out of the calculation ( you're measuring the flange vertically and the propshaft horizontally ).

hope this makes sense!

good luck, ian.

[simmo6490]

Hi Ian. That's great. I didn't actually measure that before I did the front engine mounts oops. But I have not mounted the gearbox mount yet. I'll see how close I am when I do this. thanks