Hello all,
My replacement gearbox cover for my Mk3 arrived today. I felt so confident
that it was correct, that I went ahead and put some Permatex #2 on a new
gasket that my friend John sent me (thanks, John!) easily installed the top
and bolted it down.
When I went to install the gearshift extension piece, something didn't seem
quite right -- and I was right. Somewhere along the line before the gent
who sent me this top got ahold of it, some yahoo installed the four mounting
studs upside down, so the coarse threads are on top - not the bottom. I
discovered this the hard way when I stripped one of the nuts that had been
used to keep the extension lever in place. Great.
So okay, I think. I've got some coarse thread 1/2" nuts in my toolbox.
Maybe not the ideal solution, but why make things more difficult then they
need to be? Well, guess what? The same yahoo that installed the studs
upside down also drove them in too far, not leaving enough exposed threads
to lock down the extension sufficiently.
I guess what I need to do now is back those studs out about 1/2", but I'm
loathe to try it. Forgive my novice question, but how do you remove double
threaded studs like this without damaging the threads? Is there some
special tool that's used to install/remove studs like this?
If this proves unwise, I still have another cover that will work, but I
would have to remove and swap out one of the rails in the top. The one with
the reverse actuator. Has anyone ever removed a gearbox cover rail? Is it
difficult to do? If you were in my shoes, what would YOU do?
TIA,
Jeff in San Diego
P.S. The weather's beautiful. I'm chomping at the bit to get out and drive
in it...
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