MoparGuy68
Well-Known Member
Saturday Feb 29 Day 4:
Got the old leaky gearbox out of the car!!! It didn’t want to come out, I’ll tell ya that… It put up a fight. More like the exhaust header didn’t want the box to come out. If you have the stock exhaust manifold you will find it much, much easier to get out. My header made it very challenging.
I was not able to raise the box up and out… It ended up having to come out the bottom, so I not only needed the torsion bar out to remove the starter, but the gearbox as well. I rotated and moved the gearbox around, and moved the header around while adjusting the position of the gearbox for several minutes. I elected not to be under the car when it broke free, making the last adjustment to the header position from above leaning over the driver side fender. Then it finally dropped out under it’s own weight and landed on my Daytona floor jack box, which I had placed underneath to catch it, and break its fall. Better to land on that box than my chest.
It was a tight fit, and just managed to pass between the header pipe and inner fender / frame rail.
I cracked my oil dipstick tube during all this, so I will have to buy a replacement. The flared base of the dipstick handle didn’t fit properly over the dipstick tube anyway. The dipstick looks like a stock stick, but I don’t think the tube is stock. I should have pulled the tube out of the engine, before trying to get the gearbox out. It seems the tube just force fits in the hole in the block. I guess there is an O-ring inside the hole to keep oil from leaking out around the tube?
After getting the box out and examining the shaft that attaches the lower control arm to the K-Frame, I found a torn piece of rubber around this shaft. So now I may have to end up removing the lower control arm to have the bushing replaced that’s inside it. I guess the torn rubber was attached to the bushing and has broken off. Wasn’t counting on rebuilding my front suspension, so I wasn’t happy to find this, as it now prevents me from proceeding with installing the new Borgeson gearbox..
A comment was made a few posts above implying that my headers must be cheap, and that’s why I had so much difficulty getting the box out. I’ve had two people that saw the headers in person, say they are made of good quality steel. Don’t know what the brand is, but I’ve been told they are not cheap junk.
My headers are LONG tube, not standard length, and I think they were probably meant to be used with a manual steering gearbox, so depending upon your header design and pipe routing, you may or may not have as much trouble as I did. I know I was able to remove all 6 flange bolts without breaking any and I can get my spark plug socket on all 8 plugs, without any restriction from any of the header pipes. I’ve heard complaints regarding this about some TTI and Doug’s headers, and from their prices I don’t think they are considered to be “cheap”.
As you can see in the photos, the header gasket I pulled off the head is a Mr Gasket Ultra Seal. Came off in one piece, but has 4 small cracks on one side around the center ports. This gasket was not leaking prior to removal. I got a set of Remflex as replacements, so will see how they work out..
Got the old leaky gearbox out of the car!!! It didn’t want to come out, I’ll tell ya that… It put up a fight. More like the exhaust header didn’t want the box to come out. If you have the stock exhaust manifold you will find it much, much easier to get out. My header made it very challenging.
I was not able to raise the box up and out… It ended up having to come out the bottom, so I not only needed the torsion bar out to remove the starter, but the gearbox as well. I rotated and moved the gearbox around, and moved the header around while adjusting the position of the gearbox for several minutes. I elected not to be under the car when it broke free, making the last adjustment to the header position from above leaning over the driver side fender. Then it finally dropped out under it’s own weight and landed on my Daytona floor jack box, which I had placed underneath to catch it, and break its fall. Better to land on that box than my chest.
It was a tight fit, and just managed to pass between the header pipe and inner fender / frame rail.
I cracked my oil dipstick tube during all this, so I will have to buy a replacement. The flared base of the dipstick handle didn’t fit properly over the dipstick tube anyway. The dipstick looks like a stock stick, but I don’t think the tube is stock. I should have pulled the tube out of the engine, before trying to get the gearbox out. It seems the tube just force fits in the hole in the block. I guess there is an O-ring inside the hole to keep oil from leaking out around the tube?
After getting the box out and examining the shaft that attaches the lower control arm to the K-Frame, I found a torn piece of rubber around this shaft. So now I may have to end up removing the lower control arm to have the bushing replaced that’s inside it. I guess the torn rubber was attached to the bushing and has broken off. Wasn’t counting on rebuilding my front suspension, so I wasn’t happy to find this, as it now prevents me from proceeding with installing the new Borgeson gearbox..
A comment was made a few posts above implying that my headers must be cheap, and that’s why I had so much difficulty getting the box out. I’ve had two people that saw the headers in person, say they are made of good quality steel. Don’t know what the brand is, but I’ve been told they are not cheap junk.
My headers are LONG tube, not standard length, and I think they were probably meant to be used with a manual steering gearbox, so depending upon your header design and pipe routing, you may or may not have as much trouble as I did. I know I was able to remove all 6 flange bolts without breaking any and I can get my spark plug socket on all 8 plugs, without any restriction from any of the header pipes. I’ve heard complaints regarding this about some TTI and Doug’s headers, and from their prices I don’t think they are considered to be “cheap”.
As you can see in the photos, the header gasket I pulled off the head is a Mr Gasket Ultra Seal. Came off in one piece, but has 4 small cracks on one side around the center ports. This gasket was not leaking prior to removal. I got a set of Remflex as replacements, so will see how they work out..
