The 'E' Type Forum

Just fitting gearbox to engine . We tried the clutch by levering the release arm and the box seems to be locked. This gearbox was supposed to be OK is it possible whilst standing round the selectors at the tail could have moved . I.e .Two gears at once.

Highly possible. Have you put the gearlever back on yet? If so, did you try it in its various positions? in any event, take the box back off the engine , take the lever off , and get a largish screwdriver to slide the selector rods into the neutral position and see whether the first motion shaft can be moved then. If so, put the lever back on and repeat the test in each gear position

Thanks . What should they look like in neutral. Which is the first motion shaft ?. We have tried putting the gear lever in and it seems like it is in neutral but will not select any gear .

Did you take the gearbox cover off prior to your box locking up......if you dont fit the top cover correctly the box can easily lock up.....Steve

No we haven't touched any of the box .

The first motion shaft is the input shaft in the bellhousing . There are 3 selector rods which each have a slot at the rear end.That for 3rd/top gear is on the left, that for 1st/2nd is in the middle, and that for reverse is on the right ( all looking forwards ) . Lever the shafts gently so that all the slots are in line, and neither frowards nor backwards of the central position , and that should be your neutral position when both input and output shafts should be able to rotate independently of each other. If that is achieved, put the lever on and check that all works normally in the usual gear positions

Bryan Wrote:

What should they look like in neutral. Which is the first motion shaft ?. We have tried putting the gear lever in and it seems like it is in neutral but will not select any gear .

The following pictures are the visual of Christopher's written description for the Neutral position of the Gear Selectors.

Bottom View


Top Cover


Regards,

Bill

Thanks very much for your help . This rebuild has been I nightmare . After fitting engine and box then firing up we could not get it to idle below 1200 . Found out low compression on 3 cylinders. The owner had the engine professionaly rebuilt 10 years ago but not turned over during intervening period. Result 2mm rust rings . When you thing your on the home run it's very demoralising .

Wow, that's a bummer

All back together . Box on engine ready for fitting . Many thanks for your knowledge .
I am a classic Mini and Fiat 500 owner this is a great departure for me.

Glad you got a good result, and particular thanks to Bill for the detailed and annotated photographs .

Yes they were very good photos really helpful. Many thanks Bill .