Thread: Stuee's 101 Rebuild

Thanks gents, I took a gamble with the long shaft and now I dont feel so bad. It did fit fit so I turned her over with it on.

First thing is changing gears using the clutch and seeing the hubs move is a motivational booster. I'm going to try and hook the steering bits up over the week.

While running it was lovely and quiet, until I got to 4th gear then I think I experienced the prop shaft rumble for the first time. Bear in mind the prop shaft I had fitted has minimal grease and looks very ratty. Wasnt too bad though I thought.

Next job was to change the angle of the hubs. I've only got the track rod hooked up so I had to get out the cab and manually turn the wheels. Again it ran fine in low gears and then got to 4th gear and poo. The thing made a racket. Clutch down and back to a lower gear, these obviously aren't a car you can go round corners quickly with.

Car got to temperature and that was it for me, I'm still unsure about operating temps with the VDO telling me 82 deg but the series 3 gauge getting to the bottom of the red. I think I might borrow the thermal imaging camera from work one evening.

Anyway when I turned her off I got out the cab and found the following:


Which is coming from here:


Not sure if its from the high vibrations while the steering was on full lock or during normal running. When I fire it up next weekend I'll leave the wheels straight and see what happens. If the seal needs replacing it will have to wait for an expert to do it.

You'd be surprised how well 101's handle on the road, especially on a decent set of radials.

With a GS all the weight is down low, and they're surprisingly chuckable if you want to throw them about on the road.
Ambulances are a different story as the body is rather heavy, but a GS will surprise a lot of people if you have the confidence to drive it hard.

Agree with DLRM here - they handle surprisingly well.

Oh, and your pics are both the same - the second pic doesn't show where the leak is.

Originally Posted by bacicat

Agree with DLRM here - they handle surprisingly well.

Oh, and your pics are both the same - the second pic doesn't show where the leak is.

Woops. Changed the link. The oil is coming from the pinion seal. Could be because the prop shaft was thrashing it around, its shot, or it has dried out and hopefully a bit of oil will make it better again

Originally Posted by stuee

The oil is coming from the pinion seal. Could be because the prop shaft was thrashing it around, its shot, or it has dried out and hopefully a bit of oil will make it better again

Check the axle breather if you haven't already.

If it is the seal, you will need the nyloc nut and the crushable-spacer as well and possibly a speedi-sleeve, if it is the same set-up as the S3 rear axle,

Cheers Charlie

I gather replacing the seal can mess up the pinion adjustment causing problems if you are not careful, and it needs a bloody big breaker bar to compress the spacer?? A job I'd rather leave for a diff specialist.

Ill check the breathers tonight. Its something on my to do list that's not been looked at now for quite some time. Should I expect it to start pushing out fluid so soon with the breathers blocked? It didn't really get much time to get heat into it but it did only happen towards the end of the session and when I gave it some in 4th gear

On the topic of diff breathers does anyone know where they terminate in the 101? I know the gearbox and transfer have breathers that terminate at the intake manifold but haven't been able to see in the parts manual where the diff breathers go. I'm wondering if its worth my money buying one of the ebay kits with filters on the end, but I gather some fuel hose does just a good a job as any and is cheaper to get a hold of.

Changing the seal shouldn't mess up the adjustment, and won't need the new spacer collar etc. Put another way, I've only ever removed the flange, changed the seal and fired it back together, which has never caused major issues.

More likely the seal is perhaps dry, slightly off square, or there's a bit of wear on the pinion flange where the old seal ran which has allowed it to start leaking again.

Started putting the steering together today. Didn't get far as it was too hot and humid for me. The hardest part has been getting the dropman arms back on the steering relay. I had to tidy up some damaged splines and use a cold chisel to pry the arm open so I could get it onto the steering relay. Definitely not coming off in a hurry.

One of the issues with doing the steering this late was that my main harness fouled the top steering arm. Thankfully it was an easy fix to change where it was fixed to the body, I just need to extend one of my earth cables to finish it off.

How it was:



Now fixed:


I've also ordered some new spire nuts and suitable bolts for the drivers and passenger floor from ebay. I'm missing a handful and brand new floor fixings will finish things off nicely.