The starter is a load of fun.
Do you see a way to get at it besides motor out ?
I'm not going to say its impossible because that wasn't on my agenda...but it's pretty dang difficult even with the engine (hanging from a sling) to where you can push it over to gain clearance on the starter side.
Did the shake-down run once the engine was completely sorted with only the Centa upgrade. Dramatic improvement...not 100% cure but night and day difference from the old mechanical compensator. It's now where with using the "M3W techniques", I can keep it quite without too much effort. It will now comfortably loaf in 5th gear below 2,000 rpms without sounding like its coming apart. I wasn't expecting perfection but I am stoked about the results.
Now with the major improvement in the front, time to swap out the bevel box. Out with the old and in with the new. The backlash in the old box was medium to not bad...but with the new box, backlash was barely detectable. When removing the old bevel-box, one of the front mounting bolts was loose. It has "nylok" nuts on the bolts so it didn't vibrate loose but certainly didn't provide any clamping force...either the hammering on the drive-line by the old compensator "found" some slack in it or it wasn't tight from the factory which probably added to some of the "going down the road" noises. The back mount for the BB is on the flimsy side so the box wasn't fully supported in my eyes.
With the new box in, took it on a second run for about 40-45 miles. It seems to be a slight improvement in the lugging/knocking department with the new box and quieter when I purposely induced the lugging thing. About the same noise level as the previous box (which was never an issue...that and mine is a solid mounted box) when up and going down the road with the engine loaded (65-75 mph). Once back home and using an infrared thermometer, the highest reading I found on the box was 171 degrees F. My old box would get into the 230 degree range on a shorter loop than todays run. As a side note, I did this with the sheet metal section that covers the drive-shaft from below off the car (more air hitting the BB). In the morning when everything is cold, I'm going to double check the gear lube level (using Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 90w140), re-install the sheet metal over the driveshaft, repeat the run and take another temp reading.
All in all, I feel 110% better about the M3W-KC (KC = Kit Car) now that I know what I have and what I'm dealing with. If all checks out good tomorrow, I'm going to give it a much deserved bath and polishing. If not, I'm going to look at ways to route more air onto or around the bevel box...possibly build a heat sink of sorts.
Z
