94 512TR 66,000 mile major

I then checked the anti-rollover valve. It is held on by a 10 mm bolt. Air passes freely in the upright position and not at all in the inverted position. The metal ball inside rattles easily. I sprayed a little Brake Kleen but there was no internal residue or grime. Back it went. Anti-evaporative system checked and fully functional.
I wanted to splice a 3/8" inlet fuel filter in the line from the tank to the intake to prevent pieces of carbon from being sucked out of the tank as others have experienced, but as of yet I can see no easy way to do that without cutting into the formed plastic line. It did not seem worth it.
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While fooling with the electric valves under the intake, these little "buffers" broke. The rubber was brittle. There is a stud on each end with rubber in the middle. I imagine they help to buffer vibrations. They are available for $13.08 from ricambi, but I used a #6 metric bolt and some rubber hose to approximate the same thing. On the original, one stud goes into the intake manifold and the valve is held onto the bottom stud by means of a strap and a lock nut/washer. Nobody can see it anyway.
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Next the axle hex head bolts and brackets and washers were cleaned and the axles mated back up to the transmission. I think they are 5 mm hex heads.
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Then the LH front manifold was removed and the backwards exhaust gasket repositioned and all 13 mm nuts re-tightened. Then the two rear manifolds and gaskets were installed. There is minimal room to work and the middle bolts are the least fun to attach. But it is done.
I'm not going to install the rest of the exhaust system until I am confident the engine runs and there are no leaks requiring engine removal (that would really suck).
Looks like tomorrow I will just have to seal the engine and tranny drain holes, add the appropriate 4 fluids (motor oil, transmission oil, coolant and gasoline) and turn the key. I should put a fresh charge on the battery too. Wish me luck.

 

I probably should reconnect the ECUs before trying to start the car...

 

Well, slap me on the ass and call me Sally, I just ran into the first big set back in this major service.
Today was the day to fill up the fluids, so all the drain plugs were removed, cleaned and fitted with new washers (come copper, others bonded seal type). Everything went well until I came to the transmission fill hole. It's a 12mm hex plug that faces the rear of the car on the back of the transmission housing, under the gearbox housing and right behind a frame crossmember. It was way too hard coming out, and sure enough, the aluminum threads in the block were all buggered up. I cleaned it all up, but when I tried to re-insert the plug, it was stripped. Many bad words were said. Luckily I had not yet filled the gearbox, so I should be able to remove the bell housing and starter, re-tap the hole and fix the problem. The stock plug has only 5 mm of thread, and there appears to be substantial virgin thread deeper in the hole. Grainger will have a new M22 x 1.5 hex plug for me Monday afternoon, with about 6 mm extra thread, so I will try this first before I start disassembling the bell housing. Bummer.
I used a little Loctite 518 to make sure nothing leaks. I hate leaks.
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Here is the culprit plug and the tap I hope I don't need
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In retrospect I should have removed and cleaned all the drain and fill plugs while the engine was on the stand. Note to self.
Here is a photo of the vacuum canister for the AC controls under the LH fender, and the cable clamps for the O2 sensors.
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Here is the Red Line Gear Oil draining into the tranny through the culprit fill hole which is behind the bottom of the gear box and in front of the black frame crossmember. Impossible to use a tap without removing bellhousing. I was so close...
I should have just filled both the tranny and gearbox through the upper gearbox fill hole. Another note to self.

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The bellhousing and gears came off easily. First, the 13 mm bolts for the starter, then the 13 mm braided line for the hydraulic clutch, then the 13 mm nuts holding bellhousing to block and the two 10 mm cap nuts holding the perforated plate over the flywheel. There was then plenty of room to slide the whole assembly back and off (watch out for the two O-rings that seal the bellhousing to the block). Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

To get straight access to the transmission fill hole, I needed to raise the back of the engine about 3/4". That meant tasking out the two rear motor mounts and using the lift and the transmission jack stand very cautiously.
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First I cleaned the threads on the plug with an M22 x1.5 dye until it threaded like butter. Then the m22 x 1.5 tap was greased to catch the aluminum shavings and carefully threaded in and out until I could turn it by hand. Then the grease was cleaned off and the process repeated. Due to the space limitations I had to turn the tap with a 15 mm wrench.
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Now the plug threads easily and completely by hand. On Monday I will pick up a new M22 x 1.5 cap head plug from Grainger with more threads to hold tighter, although I'm pretty sure this original plug would work fine.
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I've also had a change of heart about the charcoal vapor canister. I plugged the intakes where vacuum is applied to the two electrovalves, taking them out of the system. I then removed the line from the roll over valve to the vapor canister and connected it to a fuel filter and then vented the line to atmosphere behind the rear wheel and away from the exhaust.
The amount of vacuum generated by that big 12 engine under deceleration is significant and if one of those valves got stuck open it would not be pretty. It should be safe and not affect performance. I had to use a plugged brass "T" because I had no other union in that size.
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Here are the left and right capped intake ports that fed the two electrovalves and the removed tubing that went from the intake port to the valves.
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I am so close now.
I got the new M22 x 1.5 hex head cap plug from Grainger. Note how much deeper the threads go on the new piece. It was installed without complications.
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Then the bellhousing/gearbox was reinstalled. The WSM calls for 53 NM torque. It went in smoothly. The remaining 2 quarts of Redline Gear oil were poured in through the top gearbox plug. It connects to the transmission so that any excess in the gearbox just drains down hill. That plug was replaced and snugged.

I tie wrapped the taped off harness from the thermocouple ECU to the main harness and then decided to remove the thermocouple cables and probes themselves for a neater look. The openings in the pre-cats will be capped off.
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Next the clutch hydraulic throw-out bearing line was bled using my Griots brake bleeder. You hook the tank to compressed air, creating a vacuum, then push the rubber end over your bleed valve, depress the handle so there is constant suction, open valve, wait 10 seconds for fluid to bleed out, then close bleed valve and done. An easy one man job.
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Then the 3 main ECU connections were attached to the ECUs after a small amount of dielectric grease. Pull the square boots through the firewall holes (make sure the open seam faces down.

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The battery was charged last night and the + terminal reconnected. The battery cut off switch was turned to the "on" position.
Final checklist:
Oil - check 3.0 gal or 11.5 liters Liqui Moly 2024 Synthoil Race Tech GT1 10W-60 Motor Oil
Transmission fluid - check 9.5 liters 0r 2.6 gal Red Line 57905 75W90 GL-5 Gear Oil (2 quarts NS (non slip), the rest plain)
Brake/clutch fluid topped off -check.
Clutch pedal high and firm - check
Shifter moves easily through gears - check
Coolant topped off - check 5.3 gallons (more will be added as coolant circulated through block) Evans Zero Pressure Coolant,

I'm missing something,,,but what?...oh yeah, gas. I don't have any premium around, so I'll get that in the morning. I wanted to turn the engine over a few times before start-up (hopefully), so I took this opportunity. Hand on key, turn... dash lights all come on (good sign) and...engine turns over briskly. Whew. No loud piston on valve noises, no rattles, everything spinning freely. No leaks.

Tomorrow, April 14, I will get 5 gallons of gas and let you know what happens. Wish me luck.

 

Good point, Joe, but it's in now and I don't intend to ever take it out again. In the future if I need to change the transmission oil I will fill only from the plug in the top of the gear housing.