2025-11-24 Longer Is Not Always Better OR Size Matters!!

Need to have fun with blog title titles LOL When I got the car, the shifter bushings were screwed, the gearbox mount was screwed.  There was a lot of slop in changing the gears.  When I pulled out the gearbox mount, I needed to pull off the shifter.  Seen on the workbench

NOTE: When you pull the shifter, there is an anti-rattle button (the white thing in the next picture) and a spring at the front of the shifter.  Before releasing the last bolt, wrap a rag around the front to hold the released plunger in place.  Otherwise, a good chance of going ping 😛

And this is what the shifter and knob look like

I had another shifter, and a friend of mine cut it down 2".  I picked a cheap molded knob off Amazon.  I have a similar shifter knob on the TR3a.  

Now, the comparison between the original and the modified one. TADA!

At this point, I didn't comprehend just how short the new shifter was going to be LOL. Time to reinstall in the car.  The centre console assembly is a whackload of screws and parts.  Always fun, take pics as each part comes off.   Don't forget to bag and tag the parts and screws LOL  

With the shifter boot, it was a tight fit.  But I made it work.  Look forward to running with this.  

2025-11-16 Catch up

I just realized that I have not posted since October 23rd.   There have been several updates.  Also included were the Toronto Blue Jays' post-season games.  That was a great reason to not post.  

The areas that were touched

The nose wiring harness

The completion of the fog light connections and installation 

The left engine mount 

The Nose Harness

When I was fixing the front indicators, I noticed some other taped areas on the main harness.  The left headlight pod decided it didn't want to drop.  The high beam on the right side didn't work consistently.  I tested the resistance between the headlights; there should be no resistance, since the lines are being fed from the same source before the fuses.  

Some of the connectors that are in the engine bay for the pod, indicators, and headlights showed corrosion, are dirty, and some are damaged.  It is very tight where these harnesses are located in the engine bay for working on.  So, when doing any work, the harness needed to be freed.  Also, I noticed that the harness grommets were toast.  On the list to replace.  

The right pod on the bench.  This was actually pretty easy to pull out of the car.  The upside was that the brackets left a mark on the bulkhead, which meant that getting the proper alignment was pretty easy when reinstalling 

The connectors from the pod, you can see the corrosion on the pins.  This is not great, since it creates a resistive point

With the pod out, I fished the harness out.   

Some items to notice: the brown/blue wire, which is part of the control of the pod. Has no connector. The ground connector is 'dirty'.  The connectors have overspray and are dirty.   Below is the section of the wiring diagram for reference.  It is easy to see the 'main' beam circuits and the connection before the fuses.

With the harness hanging out of the headlight opening

With the harness spread apart, the issues are easier to see.

One of the connectors 😞

When I was at the U-Pull, I grabbed some connectors and could replace some of the more damaged ones.  Like this one 

Just needed to pull the pins and put it in the sonic cleaner.

After some cleanup, such as 'polishing' the pins when they were pulled out of the connector,  and some heat shrink tubing for additional strength, where some chaffing occurred.  They were put back together.

In preparation for pulling the harness from the nose, the right-hand harness was pulled through the bulkhead.  It didn't look great either.  

On the right side decided to remove the harness tape.  To check the state of the wiring.  

For the most part, this looked fine.   But the ends still need to be fixed.  After cleaning up and re-taping, I thought it was ready for service again 

Moving over the left side harness, it was 'bulging', so I pulled the electrical tape off, and this is what I found 

This is not good.  Need to pull the harness since these repairs are so close to the edge of the nose.   And this 

Taking off the tape, and well, it looks like a mess.  

Here is the leap of faith: I am going to put as much of the harness in the sonic cleaner.   I needed to move the cleaner to the front of the car.   Here is the cleaner ready to go.

 

After a couple of minutes, it was showing what was coming off.

After about 30 minutes and heat the harness came out much cleaner

Having the wires being much cleaner, it is much easier to assess the damage that needs to be repaired.  

Time to go through the wires one by one and do the actual repair.  I have found the best, most reliable connection is to tin the ends of the wires, then use heat-shrink solder connectors.  This provides the electrical connection, but it doesn't provide mechanical strength.  For that, dual-wall heat-shrink tubing is used.  The clue will seal the connection from moisture, and the tubing itself replaces the original insulation.   An example of the chaffed wire

After cutting and tinning, the heat-shrink connector is added.   It may not look perfect, but that is okay 

The dual-wall heat shrink makes sure the connection is good.

In the end, the wires got fixed.   Checking the resistance, in most cases, it is now 0.00ohms. A couple of them are 0.01ohms  

My workbench while doing this 

Once all the wires were repaired, they needed to be rewrapped.  

Foglights

One of the tasks was to clean up the OE foglight wiring and add foglights.   The switch was pulled apart and cleaned.  The wiring, red/yellow, was still in place.  The original connector was a BL bullet connector.  Not good enough, it got replaced with a Deutsch connector.

Plug it in

WE HAVE LIGHT!!!  This is the factory harness and switch.   Now, there is a concern about running these lights and the amperage draw.  These are LED, so they will be a lot less than the original lights.  Looks like I need to find a rear fog light as well 

Wiring Routing 

With that test done and other tests, it is time to put the harness back in place.  The best surprise was that the harness is pretty easy to route to the left side.  The nose in front of the radiator can be reached to fish the harness across

Then the harness is fished through new grommets ( absolutely essential ).  Ready to be plugged back together.  The feed comes through one grommet, and the accessories come through another to meet in the engine bay

Lights!

Besides mounting the foglights, I wanted a set of auxiliary driving lights.  I wanted a set of lights that other drivers can see.  It seems all LBCs are too small, and in Canada, all new cars have DRL, Daytime Running Lights.   And people do not see cars coming towards them without lights.  

That is nice, but FIRE IT UP!

DAMN!!!!!!

Moving to the next items

2025-11-23 A Good Weekend

It seems like weeks of continual work, one step forward and two steps back.   The front nose harness was tedious.   But there are still a couple of items to finish.  Plus, I need to drop the headlight pods and then tie back the harness out of the way.   

Engine Mount

The left-hand mount was easy; the right-hand was more fun.  The first thing to do, unbolt the steering rack, which allows it to be moved out of the way.  The engine needed to be jacked up.  Getting the top nut was easy.  With the bolts out, I made sure they got cleaned in the medai blaster.  It really helps using clean bolts.  The problem I ran into was that the mount was out of alignment, as can be seen.

In order to get the mount to twist, I needed to use a 4-foot pry bar between the mount and the oil pan.  I know scary.   But it did end up moving, and the bolt went in.  

To get to the bolts, this becomes the view you need to use.  Through the wheel opening

Gearbox Mount

When trying to figure out the engine mount, I needed to disconnect to help with that effort.  Now, the mount needed to be replaced anyway.  So, it's time to start.  A jack under the gearbox and unbolt the crossmeber to get the mount out.  The one left is the old one, the one on the right is the new one.  

Also, the parts that come off get blasted, sonic cleaned, and painted.  And new hardware 

The shifter came out, and got cleaned, the spring and plunger cleaned up.   The brace straps and the main bolt.

These straps are interesting.   A simple weld to hold the bolt in place.  Unfortunately, all of the bolts the threads are FUBAR threads.  Needed to break the weld and replace the bolts.  I put in longer ones to make it easier.  No real downside.  The next guy can complain :-) 

The mount after the cleaning and painting.  The main brace is still in the car due to the tension cable.  

And the moving of the gearbox end to.  Yes, strapped up.

The mount strap bolts

The other strap

The bolts are snapped off. 

A little cleanup 

And new bolts are locked in place.   When reinstalled, a little bit of Dum-Dum sealant was applied around the openings in the floor.

And once back together, it is done 

Clutch 

One day, I found some black drops on the new tan carpets under the clutch pedal.  Pulled out the clutch master cylinder and found this

This is not good.  If this is bad, then I am not sure I can trust the rest of the hydraulics.  Okay, new clutch system.  New master, new slave cylinders, and since the pipe looked to appear ot be original, that as well.

Finally got to install the parts.   The slave with the braided hose.  Ready for fluid.

And on the firewall, it has the new master, and the line is routed cleanly 

One Brake

Also, got to put the left-side brake caliper in place.  Replaced the flex hose cause the old one was super hard. Also cleaned up the hard line to the caliper.   Need to just insert the pads. 

Overall, I think the results add up to being a good weekend.   Four steps forward.  The next is the left-side brake caliper and lines.