Marge the Barge gets some surgery

[Steve]

We've had our Rover 75 Tourer for 10 years now, its a great all rounder and would be sad to see it go.
At the start of lockdown-ish its reverse gear died and change from 3rd to 4th got a bit iffy so it had the gearbox oil + filter changed but no difference. For a few weeks... (prob months actually) it was parked while I rang garages/automatic gearbox specialists. None were mad on the idea, some said a flat "No" and the specialists quoted around 2k. After a bit of research online I decided I couldn't break it any worse than it is really and found a way to take it apart without having to remove from the engine bay.



clutch plates and geared stuff



This is under lots of circlips, bearings, liners, clutch packs and pressure plates. Its the reverse piston. When they fail, they usually have a hairline crack (sometimes needs a magnifying glass) on the face of it. This is what it should look like



but I had more than a hairline crack, aha, ordered a new one, a set of circlips/gaskets from a specialist in Czech republic (came to about 120e delivered... not bad) and gearbox oil + gasket maker. Will see how it goes when they arrive.

[Pops]

Great to be able to get stuck in and do the job yourself, looks like it's an outdoor job so hopefully the weather will stay good

[Steve]

received an email this eve saying their carrier had lost our package (I had a tracking number that saw it leave the country but then disappeared). They are reposting tomorrow.

[Pops]

Hopefully when you're parts do arrive they won't be quarantined, looks like another lockdown is on the way

[Steve]

no sign of them yet, am hoping sometime later today, ugh.

[Pops]

https://jpat.co.uk/
Have you seen these guys

[Steve]

Yes thanks pops.
The crew I ordered from resent my package, it got as far as the UK and it was returned to sender!
They resent yet again, but with a different courier company and the parts arrived yesterday (at last).

Reassembly of the pistons and clutch packs went fairly smoothly. Just needed a couple of G clamps to compress the pack so I could get the circlip in



A few more clutch disks and several circlips later its reassembled :



Need to pick up some high temp gasket maker before I try reinstalling it.

[Pops]

Good to get the parts finally , was there any hassle getting them resent

[Steve]

no, they were very apologetic and I'd instant replies/solutions from them, totally not their fault.
Continued today, it took an age to line up the clutch disk spurs and the indents on the large basket at the back of the gearbox, had to resort to using a tool from a lock picking set to get it in.



Then reassembled the rest :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dWWTZbXG9s



I did a few dry run fittings of the gearbox cover. Ran into an issue where the cover wouldn't fit past the body, gearbox and subframe leg. To get around this I disconnected the antiroll bar and an engine mount to lower it a bit more.





gasketed up



and in



Will finish putting the car back together and try get time to fill it/start it.

[Pops]

Great to have the ability to do the work yourself, most would have just swapped the box or sent it away for overhaul

[Steve]

heh thanks! I found a reconditioned box (1!) in the UK but shipping was the issue. I also have an alert on Donedeal for any Auto Rover 75s or MG ZT diesels, none since early March. An overhaul would have been more than the car was worth unfortunately.
Got the gearbox oil in this eve, put in same amount I'd measured coming out, will check the fill level later if all is good, there's a "procedure" involved I think.



Put anti-roll bar back in, airfilter box and put the battery back in. It started no problem and it drives nicely, reverse is working (whoop!) and the changes up the box are smooth. No leaks, so happy enough. Initially when I took it for a test drive it wouldn't go past 45mpg... then I looked in the mirror and saw a James Bond style smoke trail behind me, whoops, had forgotten to reconnect an intercooler hose

Need to put the wheel well liner, undertray, battery box back on (have to get new screws for those) and refit the fuel burning heater. 2 new front tyres, a headlight bulb, wiper blades, maybe a bearing for the front right wheel and a valet and it'll be all good as I'd just serviced it 2000kms previous to parking it.

[Pops]

Between the kyron and the Rover that's a huge amount of work, well worth it when you see good results though