Re: [DML] Transmission questions- Important

[Martin Gutkowski - DMC Ltd <martin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tell you if you ask. wrote:

> A fellow owner posted a picture of a nice hole blown out of the side
> of his 5-speed transmission casing. The nut backed off the secondary
> shaft and bored a hole in the casing...or out of it I should say.
>

Here're before and after photos of my gearbox casing when I bought my 
#1458 in 2001 with 2353 miles on it

http://www.delorean.co.uk/DCP02269.JPG
http://www.delorean.co.uk/DCP02277.JPG

I had a little plug machined up and welded in place, plus all the cracks 
ground out and re-welded. A replacement nut was fitted and my car now 
has over 18000 miles and still gong strong.

> 1. Does this happen often?
>
Regularly, but on a small percentage of UN1 type transmissions. The 
Alpine boys are certainly no strangers to it and our gearbox guy has 
several written-off tranmissions with holes busted in the ends.

> 2. Has it been happening more frequently? (i.e. as our cars age)
>
Probably but average mileage of a DeLorean is considerably lower than 
most of ther UN1 equipped cars, and it still only affects a small 
percentage of cars. I've encountered two actually busted casings, 
including my own, and one that was caught and re-tightened before it got 
that far. I know Dave Swingle has seen more - he original diagnosed the 
problem with my car.

>
> 3. Are there any symptoms that may alert you to this problem?
>
Not being able to shift into 5th, or consistent crunching when doing so.

>
> 4. Are there any preventative measures that you can take that don't
> require splitting the transmission casing?
>
No.

>
>
> How do you overcome the angle of the engine if the car is on a lift?
> Even a transmission jack won't angle the transmission right if the
> engine is at such a severe up-angle.
>
How can your mileage tell you if your clutch is on the way out? Surely 
you should worry about it if/when it starts to judder or slip? Before 
that, don't worry about it. These clutches have been known to last 
beyond 200,000 miles if the car's not driven hard.

To answer your question though, just rock the engine forward and wedge 
it however you see fit. And get yourself four LONG M10 bolts. Thread 
them through the bellhousing and into the engine first, then alignment 
almost happens on its own - just a bit of a wiggle and making sure that 
the gap top and bottom are roughly the same. I'm stuck with using ramps 
and have done this job several times now. The toughest part is simply 
getting the transmission back up into the "hole". Do the same job with 
an auto when on ramps, and suddenly the 5-speed is easy peasy :-)

Martin


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