Splitting VD oil tank from LD200

[John Green]

I will be doing this for the first time. Any advice or pitfalls to be aware of before I start?

Thanks!

[Nardi]

I don't remember any pitfalls. It provides the perfect opportunity to fix any leaks and to R&R the entire clutch slave assembly however. Good time to add threaded holes to the slave housing if not already existing. Some other threads have mentioned it.

[JHerscher]

You might need to replace the o-ring seals. A nitrile rubber seal is available from McMaster by the foot and works well. I have used Permatex Super Blue & Super Black sealants and both work well.

If it is a mid 90s vintage VD, it is a good time to press out the clutch release bearing cylinder housing and replace the seals. While it is out, drill and tap the flange for (2) 10-32 screws to use as removal aids. As I recall, you want to do that at 12:00 & 6:00, or 90° to the mounting holes.

Its pretty straightforward.

[Rick Kirchner]

When re-assembling, you may find it advantageous to ditch the 10mm self-locking nuts for some free-spinning 12-point ARP nuts. You have to use a 12-point box wrench to get the things on anyway and the ARP parts are far tougher and go on much easier.

Then you use green wicking loctite. Hit'em with a torch for several seconds to break the loctite when removed.

Other things I've done to that assembly:

sealing washers AND RTV on the bolts that hold in the cleanout plate, along with safety wire since those go in blind holes directly into the oil.

Bond a couple of bent washers to the tank just above the lower frame bolts. I've lost a couple of those over the years and there was no place for safety wire to tie off.

installed a wire across the timing hole to act as a reference.

if you have the tools and patience, breaking the edges on the holes that bring fluid into the clutch slave housing may save your o-rings. I've had o-rings shave chunks off on those holes when assembling and fail on first press. So now I have a bar that bolts across the housing and an old pedal assembly to test for that before I put the rear clip back on...

[billtebbutt]

On my 90 (unlike the two previous VDs of this era that I have had/worked on) some smarty pants drilled 4 holes in the thin plate that goes between the gearbox and the oil tank. Then they tapped 10/32" holes in the tank (not far enough to go through), and fixed the plate to the tank with 4 countersunk allen-headed bolts (there is no doubt a proper name for these, but I don't know it!).

This was a really nice change from my previous cars, as it lets me seal up the tank w/o having to have the gearbox on as well. And when you split the gearbox off the car at a later date, there is no chance that you take the thin plate with it, meaning that you don't have to clean it up and re-seal it, etc....

cheers,
BT

[bassracer]

BT - any pictures? I will be doing this in the next few months

[billtebbutt]

BT - any pictures? I will be doing this in the next few months

Sorry, I didn't take any and its all together now. But its not hard to figure out when you look at the plate.

cheers,
BT

[Rick Kirchner]

That machining has to have some not-quite-obvious subtleties.

4 small screws is not enough to compress the seal properly, although it is enough to hold things together I suppose.

The screw head has to be short enough, and the pocket deep enough, to allow the gearbox when mounted and torqued to compress the seal enough without bottoming on the screw heads.

[Rick Iverson]

See below

[Rick Iverson]

Gents;

Long ago, I sent a badly damaged midyear reservoir to a REAL DEAL competent race shop, with the idea of machining/fabricating an insert to accommodate a Saab slave. Still waiting.

But, thoughts?

[David Clubine]

Gents;

Long ago, I sent a badly damaged midyear reservoir to a REAL DEAL competent race shop, with the idea of machining/fabricating an insert to accommodate a Saab slave. Still waiting.

But, thoughts?

My question is why bother? I have 4 of these cars in the shop and likely owned 10 of them. Never a problem with the slave IF everything is in good shape. Saab piece is also good, until it gets in bad shape too. The key is maintaining it. We do new seals when the car is apart for winter maintenance.

If the slave is not in good shape, replacement parts are available from both Primus and Britain West.

[Rick Kirchner]

The biggest problem with the 90-96 VD slave setup is that a couple of the diameters (don't recall which) were finished in such a way that they are slightly out o spec for standard o-rings.

The taylor replacement kit evidently has oversized rings to solve that.

One of the original Apexspeeders from 2002-ish designed one with the proper dimensions for standard o-rings you can buy for pennies through McMaster. I have one, but unfortunately his drawing does not list the proper sizes and he couldn't remember. I have two of the three and need to measure the dimensions and try to figure out the third.

[tlracer]

The biggest problem with the 90-96 VD slave setup is that a couple of the diameters (don't recall which) were finished in such a way that they are slightly out o spec for standard o-rings.

The taylor replacement kit evidently has oversized rings to solve that.

One of the original Apexspeeders from 2002-ish designed one with the proper dimensions for standard o-rings you can buy for pennies through McMaster. I have one, but unfortunately his drawing does not list the proper sizes and he couldn't remember. I have two of the three and need to measure the dimensions and try to figure out the third.

There are a number of alternative sizes to the standard imperial o-ring measurements (my apologies if this is something you know already!). They go up on section size from BS0** through BS4** but once you get to BS5** sizes and above, the sections start repeating, but with different ID/OD dimensions. The chart in the link below makes what I'm describing clearer...

https://www.allorings.com/British-o-ring-Size-Chart

[Rick Kirchner]

That's handy. I didn't even know there were british sizes.