Not another shift shaft thread ..

There are several threads on the subject but I guess another angle of view might help others trying to change the seals. This is not a quick fix or do it in the most time efficient way. It is part of the fun to explore.

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Yes, this is only the beginning of the work. The first problem was how to lift the car higher and secure it. I had recently purchased new axle stands with heights that my car jack could not reach, but with a block of wood as spacer it worked well to lift a few cm higher.

 

Where is the dipstick then? I read that it was hard to reach but I could not see it ...

Behind the alternator was a good guess, and I removed the bracket and cleaned it. Actually, to get the alternator bolt out, the bracket had to come off. The alternator can stay in the car.

 

The dipstick assembly was easy to remove. Question is what torque to use to. I guess 30Nm might be good, as is used for some sensors in the block.

 

And here is the dipstick when fully inserted.

 

Thanks for the great suggestions! I have actually removed the oil pan already. The temp sensor had to come off and I noticed the tapered design and thread sealant so I guess it does not need to be torqued down much.

Anyway, the pan had two tight areas where I am not sure exactly what is the tight spot in the upper part. The lower spot was the pickup tube which was easy to see and move the pan around.

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I think the dipstick should be easier to read on most vehicles. Agree to that

Well, here is a photo when the pan got a hit by the rubber hammer. It was easier than most cars I have worked on ..

I left three nuts to catch the pan ...

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Yesterday I scraped off the old gasket and revealed what seems to be factory deburring of edges, but I am not sure ... anyone knows?

 

The gearbox pan was a little harder to break loose but with a careful pry operation it is now off. I noticed they helicoil the sump plug. Good thing since there are not many threads and too many mechanics tightening too much.

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Yesterday when cleaning the gearbox pan, I noticed what seems to be a crack which had been covered by some gasket sealer. See the brown blob in the photo. Even more worrysome was a hairline crack on the other side too. But before I got into too much thinking how to fix it, there were several other hairline cracks ...

Strange. So I used a stereo microscope too have a closer look. It was evident that there is indeed an irregularly formed crack which looks like casting imperfections. On the pan outside, those hairlines were in fact ridges and not cracks. Coincidence maybe ..

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A picture is much better than words so here are two close up photos. I don't see an issue with it, but good to know.

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I had a look at the gear internal controls since 1st and reverse were off in relation to the shift gate and the other gears.

I losened both the gear selector fork and the shift selector fork to let the shaft adjust properly to the ball with spring. Torqued down to 22Nm since this was what I got using the open and tighten to the same angle technique.

Then tried engage and release both gears to hear the release clicks at the exact positions relative to the shift gate. Also verified the fork was still positioned correctly in relation to the gears.

The nuts for the selector rockers assembly are torqued to 9Nm.

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I did some more disassembly work yesterday where I found out that it is probably impossible to get the shaft out from the gearbox without moving the shaft into the cabin. Maybe the engine mounts could be moved, but I did this the other way, to remove the seats, center console and remove the shaft. Very easy, actually.

 

Maybe the 328 is different? The main issue I had was that the shaft from the cabin goes through a metal ring welded to the frame. The ring diameter is not large enough to let the shaft out of the way.

The other issue was the gearbox portion of the shaft would catch the engine sump casting if tilted too much from the normal.

 

Removed the seals and found the one for the gearbox was toasted. It was tearing apart with very small effort. The outer seal seems to be ok, but I change both anyway.

The hook slips into the seal and pulls it out easily.

 

Things are coming together after Christmas, which is a priority, and the 328 comes 2nd, actually.

I read about the X seals, cup seals and lots of other seals too. So I decided to go with the Superformance cup seals ... mostly due to that I might pull the engine later and do some gearbox work and I am not too concerned about seals failing in a year or two.

To be honest, I think the cup seal inside the engine between trans and sump should be a quad seal or rather a kind of dual cup seal with sealing lips in both directions. The outer seal is just fine since the lip is positioned correctly.

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Removing the center console revealed some labels which I assume comes from the switches but the yellow sticker with Ferrari on it, what is this? Center console assembly test?

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