All change! Engine and gearbox oils

Well- surprisingly, although I've done a fair bit to this car I've never done an oil change. I have been too busy repairing and replacing to ever get around to any actual servicing tasks but as I'm running in I do need to do so now. I think the recommendation is 500 miles- I'm going to do it at 250 and 500 to be sure I don't clog anything up with iron filings and as I've now reached 250 from the rebuild the time is right! Also the gearbox oil is still the original. I've not got a gearbox leak so I think the oil is still in there but it must be a good 30 years old and so time to change it. ... I should add that I had tried to do this before getting back on the road, but I was defeated because I couldn't shift the filler plug; I just rounded off its flats in the process! This job had to wait until I could take the car to  a garage who could get the car up on a lift and use a breaker bar with a biting socket. They loosened the plug and fitted a new one for me.

Gearbox oil change

To change the gearbox oil- well access is as always awkward and needs the car raised. I ran it up on ramps. If doing the gearbox bear in mind my problems and always check that you can loosen the filler before draining. You do not want to be stuck with a car that cant be moved as there's no oil in the box!
Anyway I could now remove the filler plug- You need a 17 mm flat ring spanner and it needs to be long as you have to reach up beside the exhaust- and this is of course hot as you need to run the car to get the oil warm!

The new plug came out easily- its an M18 thread 1.5mm pitch. The drain plug comes out easily with a 24mm spanner. A really messy job! I think there must be a surgical way of changing oil but I haven't found it. Its a messy task! I used trays, drain pans and paper and still got oil spills on the drive! I had raised the car on ramps- and coupled with the slope on my drive anyway, the gearbox is not level. This of course means that  the "level" function of the fuller plug probably won't work, and so I refilled with a measured amount of oil. I found using a squeeze bottle or even an oil syringe from beneath the car was impossible owing to the obstruction of the exhaust. I had to feed a tube down from the top and pass it well into the gearbox. I could then fill from above as shown.

The gearbox needs 2.5l of Hypoid 90 gear oil- it took a while but it went in fine. The fill/level plug didn't overflow but I  attribute this to the slope of the car and I know that the box must have at least the right amount of oil in it (2.5l is the dry capacity and this box must have had some left in it anyway).

Change engine oil

Engine oil is also a messy job. The drain plug is 18mm hex plug- easy to get at with the car raised and the  angle should also help drainage.

You have to remove the air cleaner to get at the oil filter though- I found that just removing the box lid and filter gave me enough access to use a filter cap wrench. Probably wouldn't be enough for a strap wrench

Removed one half of airbox- filter visible down there. The smaller starter also gives better access.

 This is my filter cap wrench set- the old filter was now surprisingly tight.

 I'm replacing it with this one- a FRAM PH-2809. Its bigger than the first one which I had expected to block quite quickly.

Surprisingly my cap wrench set didn't have one to fit this FRAM filter, but at this stage that's no problem as you can fit the oil filter using tight hand pressure- not forgetting to smear clean oil on the sealing ring. I do expect a problem in another 250 miles though as these filters tend to become really tight. I ordered a 95 mm 15 flute cap wrench to fit next time.

Filling the motor was straightforward- except that I have fitted my cam housing backwards, with the filler cap towards the motor bulkhead. I did this to give me maximum room under the bonnet to raise a can and pour in fresh oil. This probably wasn't necessary and it does limit the path of new oil to drain down into the motor, so filling was a bit slow. Still the camshaft cover is oil tight so I'm not going to disturb it now.

As usual after any oil change it will take time for the oil system to refill and pressurise. I never like running the motor until there is some semblance of oil pressure so I removed the coil leads and cranked the motor on the starter until the gauge needle was starting to lift. I then reconnected the coil and started- got pressure climbing straightaway and no leaks! Recheck oil level- no topping up needed and so job done I think.