Capri - Ring Gear Replacement 2

I finished my previous blog by saying that I was concerned that I had ordered the wrong size ring gear replacement. Very prompt service from Mike at Yesterford in Melbourne had the part arrive on Monday. I partially undid it and my suspicions were nearly confirmed. To really compare the old & the new, I decided to remove the broken ring gear from the flywheel. The first method I tried involved heating the ring gear with a propane torch that I had. After a few minutes & a few hits, nothing seemed to be moving so an alternative method was necessary. I didn't want to hack saw the gear as I wanted to keep it intact if possible.
However, with the flywheel held in the vice, the hacksaw came out. After very close examination of the ring gear, I also found a very small crack in it so that is where I commenced the cutting. That only took a few minutes as you cannot saw down too far otherwise you start chopping into the flywheel. A few hard hits with a cold chisel & the ring gear cracked open.
Putting the replacement ring gear on top of the old one provided me with very clear evidence that it was the wrong size with the larger diameter being too big. In fact when tried on the flywheel, it fell off. So back to Mike in Melbourne & could he send the smaller size. He was very accommodating of my mistake, so I have returned the other one & I have had to pick up the postage costs. It should arrive tomorrow.


In terms of the starter motor, I think I have had a win here also. Looking through the Gumtree ads, I saw that a retired auto electrician from the Gold Coast was selling off all his old stock. I rang him & he did have one reconditioned Escort/Capri 3 bolt starter motor left & wanted $50 for it. Today I drove down there (about 40 mins away) & picked it up, together with some odd bits & pieces that he did not want. The Bendix drive looks a lot better than the one I had in the car. So I was pleased about that.

 

So far so good & it looks like I have all the parts necessary to put the car back together. It somewhat surprises me that if you research the websites or belong to a club, you can still locate parts fairly easily for these 45 year old cars.