A couple of jobs before the next trip

I seemed to spend all of January, February and a lot of March, in the garage. Following the last trip, I did say that I’d sort a couple of issues. One was excessive engine oil ‘consumption’ and the other a drivetrain clunk.

I was perhaps not quite expecting to almost-but-not-quite-strip the engine but that’s what happened.

Very fortunately I have the old CRV with the side-hung rear door. This happily swallowed the block and I took it to Sheffield Engine Services for a cylinder bore hone.

Once back home it was fitted with new piston rings to all cylinders and plenty of care and attention.

Quite a few oil leaks were addressed and I hope that I can run-in the rings and get good ring fit to the bores. Only time will tell.

Then it was onto the clunk. I believe that this is from the rear axle. Unfortunately by prying yet again on the suspension mounts, I discovered that the brackets on the axle tube were crusty. This needed a purchase from YRM of lovely new ones and also a suitable welder to stick them on. They are quite critical items.

Axle tie- bar brackets:

Anti-roll bar brackets:

I found Swift Welding at Harpur Hill and Dan did a careful job of positioning the replacements and welding them in place.

What about the crown wheel, pinion and diff centre though? Well there was a lot of wear between the cross pin and the side gears. I opted to replace the Salisbury centre with a new Ashcroft ATB. That meant learning how to setup a Salisbury final drive.

After much work, including sourcing some precision parts from a local machinist, it was done. It was then a race to get things back together in time for the self-imposed deadline of a night away in York.

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