Zigzagging guibo

['76mintgrün'02]

It might help to have the car sitting flat while assessing the alignment situation.

The way it is 'twisted' now might be distorting things.

My rear subframe can-mounts are soft and allow for distortion when jacking it up.

(I have new ones, fwiw, but the while-I-am-in-there list requires a block of time to complete).

[Touring2002]

4 hours ago, Jimmy said:

EDIT: Due to the distance from the mount, the CSB has to go down more than the transmission has to go up to achieve the same effect.

 

You may be able to make it happen with a few spacer between the transmission mount and the transmission. The longer stud on the E21 tranny mount should point up so you still have a safe amount of thread with your spacers.

 

That is a lot of misalignment. 

 

Does anyone know if its possible to screw up the motor position in these by "upgrading" the motor mounts to E21 or E30 or something as well? That is, are there mounts with the same bolt patterns but are much thicker that mess up the angle? 

 

The other thing I wonder is if the front subframe or mounts are bad or incorrectly installed somehow causing the motor to sit higher than it should relative to the transmission crossmember.

 

 

 

As you suggested I put "some"  (note: loads) of washers between the transmission and the mount, plus a big one between the mount and the frame. After a whopping 6(!) washers the guibo was finally undeformed!!! 

The long bolt of the e21 mount is now flush with the nut that secures the transmission in place. 

 

I guess that this isn't a permanent solution so I'll first replace the top washers with bigger ones that can sit under the mount. 

 

Also I'll go and visit a professional asap so he can take a critical look at the other mounts, as I can't see anything wrong with them. 

 

 

On a positive note, the fan is now finally parallel to the radiator, and the shift lever that couldn't be adjusted high enough priorly can now reach the bottom of the car. So yeah, that transmission was definitely sitting way too low. 

Now I just gotta find the cause of all this, wish me luck

['76mintgrün'02]

when rubber sits in an oily environment, it gets soft and squishes.

I think you are due for a new transmission mount (at least).

[Touring2002]

2 hours ago, 02Les said:

 

I see new hatch struts in your future. The original set on my Touring lasted 25 years, I recently put in the 3rd replacement...…...not made like they used to be!

Haha yep there definitely on the list, but mechanical issues keep popping up and those get the priority. I guess that normal for a car that has been sitting in a barn for 15years! 

[Jimmy]

37 minutes ago, Touring2002 said:

 

As you suggested I put "some"  (note: loads) of washers between the transmission and the mount, plus a big one between the mount and the frame. After a whopping 6(!) washers the guibo was finally undeformed!!! 

The long bolt of the e21 mount is now flush with the nut that secures the transmission in place. 

 

I guess that this isn't a permanent solution so I'll first replace the top washers with bigger ones that can sit under the mount. 

 

Also I'll go and visit a professional asap so he can take a critical look at the other mounts, as I can't see anything wrong with them. 

 

 

On a positive note, the fan is now finally parallel to the radiator, and the shift lever that couldn't be adjusted high enough priorly can now reach the bottom of the car. So yeah, that transmission was definitely sitting way too low. 

Now I just gotta find the cause of all this, wish me luck

 

You may not necessarily need a professional sooner than later. If the existing mount is sufficiently squished (it looks it) allowing the trans to sag, a new mount may get you most of the way there with a few washers to finish it off. As others have said, get it all cleaned up and fix the leaks or you'll be doing this more frequently. The reverse light switch and the shift rod seal are common transmission leaks, don't overlook those. 

 

On my e21 mount there wasn't much additional length available to place the washers under the mount, I put mine above. If you have additional length on the bottom side of the mount then maybe a combination of spacers above and below would be the best balance while leaving the most available thread for the nuts.

 

Once you have it all back together for good, some blue thread locker on those nuts would be advisable as it doesn't seem to have a ton of room for them to back off and I don't think they could get sufficiently through a nylock.

[Danz3]

I just finished the same project. Alignment wasn’t an issue as I followed the “listen the diff” and get gross alignment and front to back correct. I also have the larger transmission mount. Maybe I just got lucky.

On the oil leak front I did replace transmission seals while everything was removed. I did find some issues while in there. The output shaft seal was 40mm not the correct 38mm. The speedometer seal was shot and the o-ring missing. eBay find got me the new speedometer seal components. Finally, at some point the transmission housing at the shift selector seal area was broken and “sealed” with silicone and epoxy. Not able/willing to replace the transmission I attempted to repair the area with JB weld. Seemed to do the trick. A hack I know but overall better than it was.

[Touring2002]

After reading your comments I put the transmission seals replacement on my to-do-list, there is a great parts supplier near my place so getting the part  ibs should be a breeze. 

 

The transmission leaks are pretty serious, so I won't be installing a new mount before those are fixed. (or maybe a urethane mount). 

 

 

Today I noticed the alignment of the trans and driveshaft still wasn't perfect, so I bought a heavy duty hose clamp to rise the transmission a few additional mm. 

 

It's looks redneck af!

 

There's something that worries me though, the exhaust and the bracket the transmission sits on are now very close. There's a little more than a 1mm gap. Is this acceptable? 

 

Edited February 14, 2019 by Touring2002

[PaulTWinterton]

5 hours ago, Touring2002 said:

the exhaust and the bracket the transmission sits on are now very close.

 

It does look extra close. In my picture below you can see the bracket on the left side of the box.  The slots are exposed at the bottom, so that drops the exhaust carrier down a few mm.  maybe yours is adjusted upward, enough to cause grief.

 

Food for thought: maybe that adjustment is causing your box to be higher, distorting quibo?

 

[Jimmy]

6 hours ago, PaulTWinterton said:

 

It does look extra close. In my picture below you can see the bracket on the left side of the box.  The slots are exposed at the bottom, so that drops the exhaust carrier down a few mm.  maybe yours is adjusted upward, enough to cause grief.

 

Food for thought: maybe that adjustment is causing your box to be higher, distorting quibo?

 

 

The exhaust bracket should follow the position of the pipe, it's not meant to determine it. When I did mine I adjusted the clearance at the manifold/downpipe joint. 

 

A little bit of clearance can be gained by shimming the csb down a little rather than moving the tranny up.

[PaulTWinterton]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

downpipe adjustment?  

 

How did you do that?  It's a fixed joint isn't it?

Edited February 15, 2019 by PaulTWinterton

[Jimmy]

10 hours ago, PaulTWinterton said:

 

How did you do that?  It's a fixed joint isn't it?

 

You can rotate the downpipe at the flange within the limits of the bolt holes. If I recall correctly it translated to 5-8mm at the bracket.