Thread: Advice on what to look out for

Hi all. I’m pondering a 2A with a 202 engine. What are the pitfalls? I’m thinking gearbox I guess. How can I check if it’s ok? Anything else I should look out for?

The biggest (most expensive) issue issue with Holden installations seems to be that some of the adaptor plates are not accurate enough. This means that in these cases the gearbox input shaft is located at three points (the flywheel pilot bush, the input bearing, and the needle roller bearing at the front of the mainshaft, which are not in the same straight line. This puts excess loads on both the bearings, misaligns the output bearings, gives poor mesh for all gears, and will lead to failures all through the box.

Before this issue was recognised, the Rover gearbox got the blame! I am not aware of any way of being certain this problem does not exist except by splitting the engine gearbox joint and accurately measuring the alignment - check that with the adapter mounted on the engine, the holes for the gearbox are all at the same radius, are at the same height above the flywheel, and are a neat fit on the bolts - I can't remember whether there are locating dowels, but if so, the holes for these must be a push fit and in the right place.