I've been trying to take care of some nagging issues before I do the Coastal Range Rally in a couple weeks.
Issue number one was drivetrain NVH. I pulled the transmission again and measured the bellhousing runout. It was way out of spec. Almost .015, which is 3 times the Tremec recommended .005. I expected this, since the only thing that locates the DeeWorks adapter is the four bolts that hold it to the bell housing.
I adjusted it by leaving the four bolts slightly loose, then tapping the adapter around with a mallet until it was within spec. I ended up with around .002 runout. Then I pulled the bellhousing, tightened the bolts, and had dowels pressed through the adapter and into the bellhousing.
I also had the machine shop flycut the transmission mounting surface, because it had significant warp and was close to .020 from being coplanar to the block mounting surface.
While it was out, I measured the input shaft endplay and found the bearings had settled. It had about .004 endplay, when it's supposed to be zero. A .005 shim was all I had, so now it's got a bit of preload. I also went back to the stock T5z shifter, in hopes that it would feel a bit less mechanical than the eBay one I was using. Hopefully that, along with the 400g shift knob smooths out the shifts a bit. The crossmember finally got some black paint, a speed sensor went on, and the T5 went back in, filled with Pennzoil Synchromesh.
Driveline vibes are annoying on this car, just like everyone else with a T5. I wanted to do everything I could to address them. I got an Aerostar yoke, and it BARELY fits in the tunnel. I thought I heard it rub once or twice on my 10 minute drive today, but I'm not sure.
Another big problem with the early 140 is the small drive line tunnel and the really soft center bearing bushing. I found a Spicer one, similar to what Gary has used in his wagon, but this one is slightly smaller. Trimmed the corners off and it fits perfectly in the stock tunnel. Ideally, I'd make something adjustable, but that would require an even smaller OD bushing.
So that's where the car is now. I took it for a drive earlier, and it died on me. I think the battery has been run too low too many times. Unfortunately, before it died, I found it had a much worse drive shaft vibration than ever before. At 40 mph, it's un-drivable. Obviously, it has to be either the center bearing or the Aerostar yoke. I marked the two halves of the shaft before pulling it apart, and the u-joints are in phase.
The new yoke seems to have a bit of tail shaft bushing play, possibly because it's shorter. It measured out exactly the same as the last one. Another weird thing is that the slip joint at the center bearing (stock 140 drive shaft) seems to have more play than I noticed before. I'm wondering if the play was always there, but the old center bearing bushing soaked up the vibes from it. I'm going to try to swap the old bearing/bushing in and go from there.