First gear blues...

[Arthurdaily]

Hi, I'm new to Minors, after coming over from the VW 'dark side', I am the proud owner of a wonderful 67 two door Minor, badly painted, but so far reliable - done 200 miles in four days with no issues EXCEPT for a small amount of grind when going into first gear when stationary, obviously DON'T try when moving... but why would it crunch when stationary? Help needed please before I mess up the gearbox!!!!

[MColes]

Try going into second and then first while stationary. It's such a habit of mine now that I do it when on the rare occasion I drive a modern car

[Arthurdaily]

I'll try that - thanks!

[MarkyB]

You don't have to go all the way into 2nd gear normally, about half way or less will probably do.

[bmcecosse]

The idea is to stop the gears whirling round -so you can easily slip into the 'straight cut' first gear. It is also possible the clutch is dragging - so make sure you have ~ 1" free play at the pedal. And by double-de-clutching, it is perfectly possible to get into 1st gear while moving - very necessary on uphill hairpins........

[Arthurdaily]

I took advice and tried moving slightly into second then into first, and that did the trick! I took it for a spin and noticed, round the corner, a bloke in his drive next to his morris traveller, so I stopped and spoke to him about it too... within five minutes he'd adjusted the clutch and also messed with the carb to make idle better! What a friendly bunch you (now us I suppose!) are!! Handy really as need all the help I can get... I'm going totally morris in a few weeks... with a 16 mile commute everyday. Crumbs!

What IS double clutching??? How do you do it??

Matthew

[Budgie]

right let see if i can get this right,got to do it on my tourer when changeing to and from 3rd gear....when driving dip the clutch pedal blip the rev,s out of gear release clutch blip again depress clutch,engage the required gear,release and power on it,s easier to do than to explain,at least i think it is anyway

[bmcecosse]

You only blip once - in between the gears - with clutch out, and only necessary when changing down, unless you have a full straight cut box with no syncro......... Named because you de-clutch twice -hence double de-clutch........

[Budgie]

i was waiting for that i new i should,ve waited for someone else to explain properly as i said it,s easier to do it than explain it btw any reason why i need to do it through 3rd nearly every time?

[bmcecosse]

Because the syncro on your 3rd gear is knackered...... Strange - because usually 2nd gear fails first.

[Arthurdaily]

Thanks, but what does 'blip' mean? Does it mean push the accelerator slightly to get the engine revs up?

[Budgie]

yep exactly that

[Arthurdaily]

Ah, good - should it slip in then with no crunch?

[Budgie]

as long as it,s not too far gone i.e the syncromesh,then it should thats if were talking about 2nd,3rd and 4th first is as has been explained before,when stationary,clutch in slide gear stick slightly towards 2nd and slide straight up to first,if that doesn,t work slide the gear lever all the way into 2nd and then slip into 1st

[Arthurdaily]

Yes, I mean into first when moving, for example (using the example given by somebody else) when turning up a hair pin?

Matthew

[mike.perry]

Done correctly it is possible to double de clutch through the box without actually using the clutch pedal, useful when the clutch rod breaks which is what happened to me when I was towing a boat through Reading with my Series MM with three passengers on board.I managed to drop two passengers off at the station who gave me a push start to select 1st after which I negotiated several sets of lights and uphill stretches. The technique is to match the engine revs to the gear that you are about to select and with a bit of luck it will drop straight in

[bmcecosse]

It's hardly double de clutching - if you can't use the clutch! But an exciting ride for you I'm sure !!! I once had to do a similar run with a Mini when the slave cylinder seals collapsed - but I wasn't towing a boat at the time!