![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.skodarallyblog.fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/oil-seals.jpg\" "\\"oil-seals\\"")
<\/a>Oil seals that need doing....<\/p><\/div>\n
At this point, Peter turned up, from Top Oils, who are my biggest sponsor! \u00a0He had brought down the oil for the engine and gearbox, which is made by Bardahl and provides excellent protection for the components of engine and gearbox – they contain Fullerene, carbon ‘balls’ which have impressive mechanical properties, and should help protect the Skoda’s engine which regular readers will know gives the centre bearing a hard time. \u00a0We chatted a while about the event and so on, but then it was lunchtime and then back to work. \u00a0I decided to attempt the gear shift seal first, and was really surprised that it came out very easily (Thanks Jim for the tip!) – as it had a lip on it outside the gearbox it was straightforward and my nightmares of breaking the seal and not being able to get it out were unfounded – 5 minutes later after draining the oil, it was changed. \u00a0To do the shaft seal, the shaft needed to come out, which was fairly straightforward, and then levering the seal out and tapping a new one in; getting the shaft back in without damaging it was done, albeit twice as the gripper diff’s lack of a chamfer always makes fitting the shafts a bit of a lottery, even with my ‘grease the circlip to keep it in the centre’ trick.<\/p>\n
Then a few bits an pieces, tightening things, replacing missing fasteners and so on, and then some items arrived; \u00a0I have spent some of the sponsorship money I got on new equipment, in this case a pair of Fluorescent “Task Lights”, which are low-energy (38W), but give out LOADS of light – a great bit of advice from British Rally Forum, especially at \u00a335 for two, delivered. \u00a0They are low power enough to be runnable from an inverter from a car or van, but of course I want to run them off my generator, so I got that up and running, and worked a treat.<\/p>\n
Time for an engine and gearbox oil change, with the new Bardahl oil being put into the engine…<\/p>\n
<\/a>Engine Oil from Bardahl.<\/p><\/div>\n
… and gearbox…<\/p>\n
<\/a>Bardahl gearbox oil<\/p><\/div>\n
Ran it up, plenty of pressure, which is good, and a nice quiet gearbox too. \u00a0Lovely. \u00a0Another thing which may help a bit is a total bit of boy racerism, but was a cheap (\u00a37) and easy fit – an oil filter cooler – essentially a slip-on heat sink for the filter:<\/p>\n
<\/a>Max Power Central.<\/p><\/div>\n
Hopefully this will help keep the oil a bit cooler, and it certainly won’t hurt; while there is provision in the regs for me to add an oil cooler, it’s difficult to find somewhere for the cooler radiator to go that is both cool and not vulnerable, and obviously damage to it would mean no oil and game over – this isn’t anywhere near as efficient, but has no reliability issues. \u00a0Image issues, yes!<\/p>\n
Next it was time to change the front brake discs – they weren’t too warn, but they were rusty, so time for a new pair, by which time it was getting dark and the work lights were really useful:<\/p>\n