Steve4012

A company called Supaspin were making these and selling on Ebay a few years ago. Might be worth trying to find and contact them.

Lubricating inside the rubber boots on the steering rack made my steering lighter and recentred the steering wheel after corners when it wouldn't before.

I had this issue also on my Dry Sump Andy. My input shaft splines were worn (from circlip/ pilot bearing failure) so I bought another input shaft, expecting it to slide into the primary shaft without issue but it simply wouldn't go in as the primary shaft splines were damaged also! I had to have the gearbox rebuilt at the same time of the engine due to needing a replacement primary shaft. I hope you are luckier than I was and your primary shaft splines are OK.

The new dust cover I got from SJ looks a fair bit larger than that one with probably an 8 to 10mm overhang on all sides of the gearbox opening. Great job with the spring, looks very neat.

Andy, isn't the rubber cover on the clutch fork supposed to be on the outside of the bell housing?

Not sure about the noise problem Andy, but I always take the 'box and engine out separately as I don't trust my hoist to lift both. It's not a difficult job. I remove discs, gearbox mounts and although I've read people twisting the gearbox slightly to manoeuvre it past the turbo I've never been able to do that and have always removed the turbo as well and turbo drain pipe to sump. The most difficult bit is actually sliding the gearbox backwards under the rear boot lip of the body and through the chassis hoop. A lot of pushing and heaving. You'll need to remove the gearbox mounts from the chassis also as the bolts that stick upwards stops the gearbox sliding back. Hope you get it sorted. Steve.

Mine opened whilst driving as well but is now fixed. On the right hand latch, when the strikers on the tailgate push down when closing, it engages a small latch to keep the tailgate shut. There is a spring about 1 inch in length that keeps the latch in place and functioning. This spring had become slack on mine with the end of the spring stretched and allowed the latch to disengage with the vibration of driving. There is a black metal vertical support the spring attaches to by the right hand latch which you'll have to bend right over the tailgate to see. If the spring is slack, remove, tweak with pliers and refit and should be fine.

Nice work. Hope it all comes together well 👍

Yes that's what I was told by Mike. Oil presuure came up really quickly but also would surely have had some assembly lube on the bearings from the rebuild. Has yours been sitting idle for a while? If so I'd defer to the engine experts on the forum. I'm just passing on what I was told in my situation. Hope it helps.

Phil, I've recently had my dry sump engine and gearbox rebuild by Mike at Lotusbits and I asked him the same restart question of removing spark and fuel and turn engine over until pressure built up. He said no, just start it, oil pressure will come up in a few seconds with the increased engine speed and will be fine. I did this and within about 2-3 seconds I had good oil pressure. Just passing on what he told me. Good luck.

Yes, I get oil pressure showing on the gauge on my dry sump by just cranking. It will take more than a few seconds though especially if not been used for a while.

To confirm the 8 sided chrome nut in Paul's post above from SJ is correct for an '81 turbo. I may have taken a chance with one off Ebay but decided to freshen up the whole area with new screen tape and wiper blade from SJ and with a repainted wiper arm it all looks nice and refreshed now. Thanks for the input gents.

Andy/ Paul That's really helpful, many thanks both and I'll post back the solution.

I already have the splined cap released. It's the nut as described above that's the problem. I found an old thread by @Paul Coleman who had the same issue. Paul, any chance you still have the replacement nut details?

Hi all, I'm looking to repaint the black section of the front scuttle at the bottom of the windscreen on my '81 turbo. Trying to remove the wiper the securing nut is sized solid. It's the large 21mm (ish) nut. Anyone know the dimensions of this please before I grind it off as the parts diagram is non specific and struggling to find on SJ Sportscars site. Many thanks, Steve.