Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello all, I'm a new Minor owner.

I've started the rather daunting task of restoring a 1960 Minor 1000.
It's a hard thing to do in the USA. All my parts have to be shipped in from overseas.

After I got it running, I took it for short ride to check the clutch.
The gearbox bangs loudly in 1st and Reverse. I haven't tried any other gears. Could you Morris experts give me an idea of what the problem could be?

I doubt the gearbox is banging. It could be down to either engine steady bar broken or bushes u/s, gearbox steady cable snapped, engine and or gearbox mounts u/s or clutch badly contaminated with oil.... Good luck and welcome. There are quite a few guys from USA on here so they will probably tell you the best places for parts.

Well, with the cover off the floor, when driving, the gearbox goes "bang bang bang bang" with the rotation of the prop shaft, the noises sound like they are coming from the back half of the gearbox.

That'll be the propsahft hitting the floor due to mounts u/s then. Check also the other bits i mentioned

Great! I just needed someone to point me in the right direction.
Wow that made me feel a lot better. I was pretty discouraged for a minute there.

I'll let you know what I find. Thanks again!

is there any play in the propshaft UJ's

Always work through the cheap options first

Ok, I jacked up the rear end of the car, started it up, and tried all the gears. It absolutely only makes the noise in first and reverse.

The mounts are good and the UJ's seem fine.

Then its the clutch..... Or, if you are really unlucky the gearbox mainshaft bearings.....

If it was the clutch, wouldn't it make noise in all gears?

I had it before in first and reverse only but it was under load - ie, not jacked....

Here's a video of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz9BYyB9YtA

It does sound like internal gearbox issues. You can remove the inspection plates to see the gears inside. I'd drain the oil off and see if any bits of metal come out with the old oil. Refill with fresh engine oil if you intend reusing the box.

Well, I drained the gearbox. I only got out maybe 20 tablespoons worth of gear oil. No metal in the oil.

I took off the cover, and everything was clean, and I couldn't see any obvious damage. I guess I'm going to have to have the gearbox gone through at the local transmission shop. Or replace it, If I can find one.

are you sure it was gear oil? it should be engine oil, at least in 1098's
do not do what one of my friends dad's did... told my friend that it was obviously a mistake in the manual and got him to fill up with gearbox oil, the car did about 20 miles before needing to be replaced.

20 table spoons also does not sound very much at all..

i would be tempted to fill up with oil to just beneath the fill plug and try again before going to the local transmission shop.

It was definitely gear oil that came out. It was very clean. It was an extremely small amount, not even enough to cover the bottom of my drain pan.

Refill with 20/50 engine oil right up to the bottom of the filler plug. The noise may be due to low oil level and you may get lucky if it's not run much with low oil. Trouble with using gear oil as opposed to engine oil is that the bushes are bronze and gear oil eats away at them.

1st and reverse do share a common gear - so if the teeth have been broken off - it will 'bang' ! If it's fine in the other gears - then yes - you need a gerabox rebuild. Try with 20W50 engine oil - but it's a forlorn hope.

I agree. Out comes the gearbox. I'll just fix it myself. It looks like I can get the gear from ESM reasonably.
(I'm a Toyota technician here in the USA, by the way)

If it's been banging for a while - the laygear may have been damaged, so another gearbox may be the way to go. It would be unwise to buy any parts until you see the state of the gears in your box. It is possible to remove the side cover (watch out for 2 small springs) with the box in the car - and with a good light you can then inspect the gears and see how they look! If you do rebuild the box - new syncro rings and bearings all round will be a 'good idea'.