Today was a good day...

[LukeC]

I have absolutely no idea where the post you made somewhere about a an angry bull that broke lots of bits, tried to kill you and shat everywhere fits into all of this (still makes me chuckle) fits in this story, but: Awesome dude!!!! Talk about keeping the faith. 

[festy]

I have absolutely no idea where the post you made somewhere about a an angry bull that broke lots of bits, tried to kill you and shat everywhere fits into all of this (still makes me chuckle) fits in this story, but: Awesome dude!!!! Talk about keeping the faith. 

That feels like a lifetime ago   I think that was on the old gtv6 forum?
As for where it fits in here - it doesn't, that was my other GTV. It's been sitting behind my house for the last 5 or so years since I finished the EFI/turbo conversion, waiting for me to take it out to the track

[festy]

Progress has been a bit haphazard over the month or so since passing the roadworthy, but I've had a couple of good wins.

The most pressing issue was how badly it was running. I'd managed to get it going just well enough to ascend small hills, but it was no fun to drive.
The throttle response was about 70% flat spot, but with lots of babying and encouragement I could usually nurse the revs up a little - then open up the throttle at just the right time while holding my tongue at the correct angle and the engine would rev happily until I had to lift off.
I was suspecting the accelerator pumps, so I pulled the carbs and set up a jig to measure the pump delivery. I wasn't sure how accurately I would be able to measure, but I quickly worked out that accuracy wasn't that critical - the first carb's accelerator pump didn't work at all.
The diaphragm and jet appeared to be fine but I couldn't get the blanking plugs out to inspect the springs and weights, they were really stuck firm.

It was about this point when I noticed the other issue with the carbs - they were missing the chokes 
Both carbs were choke-less, which would certainly explain the flat spot all the way to WOT I guess.
While digging through my parts cache I not only found the 4 chokes I needed, but also a spare carb body so I transferred everything over from the faulty carb, reinstalled them and went for a drive.
The improvement is about what you'd expect when swapping from a pair of carbs with no chokes and one faulty accelerator pump to a pair that are not only complete but functional as well 

Next-most-urgent issue was the rear wheel bearings. The driver's side was the worst, so started there.
The first obstacle was the driveshaft bolts - a couple of them really didn't want to budge. I eventually managed to get them all out without resorting to cutting any heads off though.


Next step was to make up a hub puller, which did a great job of extracting the hub. And half the bearing, as it turned out...


And that's where things started to get a little more complicated than expected.
The bearing had collapsed, the inner race was firmly stuck on the hub, and I never found any trace of the bearing cage




I tried to separate the inner race from the hub using a bearing puller - but nope, not budging.


I tried my press, but chickened out when 1/2" steel plates holding the bearing were bending

I ended up grinding most of the way through the bearing race with a combination of a small abrasive cut off disc and a bit of die grinding, then after a very short hit with an air chisel I heard a satisfying "ping" as the race cracked.


It then came off the hub without any further misadventure


Next, I needed a tool to remove the lock ring. I found a suitable chunk of round bar stock, and turned it down to size.
My daughter helped me with the maths required to calculate the arc degrees required per tooth, then moved over to the mill.
This was my original setup, by the time I realised I had a rigidity issue I'd already destroyed two endmills 


Mounting the work piece directly to the rotary table was much better


Locking ring socket, ready to use


and it even worked


It took me two days to change the driver's side bearing.
The other side was finished in a bit over an hour - no stuck driveshaft bolts, no collapsed bearings, and no tools to fabricate this time.
The difference the new bearings made was surprising, I knew they were bad but it now feels (and sounds) like a whole new car. Noises and vibrations have disappeared that I hadn't even attributed to the bad bearings!