Carter,
The gear box is supposedly from a Mk2. I have a Mk3. Neither of those
models had first gear synchromeshed. My understanding is that the gearboxes
were the same -- the only difference being that the Mk3's had a back-up
switch in the cover to facilitate the use of the back-up lamps, which the
Mk2 and earlier models did not have. Perhaps that information was faulty.
I guess I'm going to see if I can get the gent who swapped me to send my old
cover back, just to see if it works (if he still has it!). If it does, I
lose the back-up lights for now. If it doesn't, then I've got a more
serious problem that I'll have to address.
Tomorrow, I'll try, try again. I can manually move the gear into first with
the top off. I think that I'll try to drop it into first with the cover
off, put the cover in first, reassemble and see if I can use the gear at
all. At least this way, I can rule out the reverse gear being
simultaneously engaged as being the problem.
Looking on the bright side, the roads around here are mostly flat, so
pulling off a stoplight from 2nd isn't the end of the world. Not great, but
not a disaster. And hey, I'm the only one I know of who can put their
manual transmission in "park"!
Yeeeeeeeikkesssssss!
See ya,
Jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: Carter Shore <clshore@yahoo.com>
To: Jeff McNeal <jmcneal@ohms.com>; Spitfire List <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2000 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: Gearbox woes -- admitting defeat
>
> Hmm,
> Is your 1st gear synchromeshed? Not sure when synchro
> 1st was introduced, but I know Mk I did not have it,
> and you have a Mk I box, right? And the cover is from
> a Mk II (allegedly)? Maybe this accounts for the
> problem ( fork alignment, fork thickness, etc. ).
> With the cover off, if you manually move the selector
> ring for 1st/2nd into position for 1st, and the
> selector ring for 3rd/4th into neutral (middle)
> position, is 1st OK?
>
> --- Jeff McNeal <jmcneal@ohms.com> wrote:
> >
> > Well, thanks to Chris Sharp and Joe Curry for making
> > good suggestions. I
> > tried at least half a dozen times today to remove
> > and re-install the
> > transmission cover so that first gear would work.
> > Chris thought that first
> > and reverse were engaging simultaneously -- so did
> > Joe. With the cover off
> > and the gearshift attached, I ran the linkage
> > through the gear changes and
> > everything worked the way it should. Going into
> > first did NOT move the rail
> > that controls reverse. Then, upon reassembly, I
> > made sure that the forward
> > fork goes where it's supposed to and that the
> > first/second selector fork fit
> > over the top of the large gear in the rear of the
> > gearbox. I made certain
> > that the rear selector peg went into the slot for
> > the reverse rail and
> > tightened everything down again. Same deal. All
> > other gears, including
> > reverse, work beautifully. The shifter will go into
> > first with no trouble,
> > but the gear will simply not turn. Locked tightly.
> > So now, I guess I'm the
> > only person in the world with three forward gears
> > (2,3,4), reverse and a
> > parking gear (formerly 1st). What a drag. I don't
> > relish having to drive
> > on the freeway to my closest Brit mechanic and
> > paying him $65 an hour to
> > solve the problem. The bitter irony of all this
> > that is just driving me
> > nuts is that prior to swapping the top, the gearbox
> > worked exactly as it
> > should, including first.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Jeff in San Diego
> >
> >
>
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