Morris Minor Owners Club

To quote Edmund Blackadder "The path of my life is strewn with cowpats from the Devil's own Satanic herd!"

As you may have read, a few weeks back The cranckshaft went on my engine (lots of banging noises) and I had to swap the engine to one I was kindly given by a member on here.

About 15 minutes ago I was out in the car and it started banging again, this time the banging was from a different place. This time it was coming from the gearbox.

It only makes the noise in 1st gear so luckily I was able to get home by pulling off in second (wasn't great since I was stopped on a hill).

Why the #### did I buy a Morris Minor?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

I presume the only answer is a new gearbox???

pah! fret not young sir, it's a crap job changing a gearbox but most certainly not hard. especially if you can rope someone else in to help with supporting it etc.
and you bought a morris minor so that you can learn all the little tricks of motoring on a car that everyone wishes they had!

callyspoy wrote:and you bought a morris minor so that you can learn all the little tricks of motoring on a car that everyone wishes they had!

That is true. I enjoy tinkering under the bonnet as much as I do actually driving the car.

Just would have been nice if it had been a bit longer before another problem reared its ugly head and I could have enjoyed just driving him for a while.

Just show it who is in charge. A well placed kick in the hubcaps works well. Doesn't fix the car but it makes you feel better!!

Well - the broken tooth on 1st gear (for that's what it almost certainly is) is caused by not taking care when selecting 1st gear! So - when you do get the box changed - always make a point of pulling the lever back into 2nd gear (to bring the gear train to rest) - before pushing it forward into 1st. Similarly with reverse - stop the gears turning before slotting the lever back into reverse. There's lots of gearboxes out there - all you need to do is negotiate best deal !

I have changed gearboxes in the ol' morry quite a few times. I can attest to how much it sucks.

Timeline:

2006- pulled stock sidevalve gearbox out
- put 1275 and ribcase 4 speed in
-1 day later, pulled ribcase 4 speed out as it had a bad 2 gear
-1 day later, put another ribcase 4 speed in
2007
- 2nd gear went out so i pulled the 4 speed out again
-1 day later put a smooth case 4 speed in
-3 months later the 1275 blew a head gasket and needed rings so i pulled the whole lot out and started on the 4age conversion

2050
-motor is shot but gearbox still works great!, gotta love Japanese inguneerin'

bmcecosse wrote:Well - the broken tooth on 1st gear (for that's what it almost certainly is) is caused by not taking care when selecting 1st gear! So - when you do get the box changed - always make a point of pulling the lever back into 2nd gear (to bring the gear train to rest) - before pushing it forward into 1st. Similarly with reverse - stop the gears turning before slotting the lever back into reverse. There's lots of gearboxes out there - all you need to do is negotiate best deal !

I'd like to think it was nothing to do with my driving

Weeeeelllll - it may just have 'fatigued'. But I have to say - your earlier broken crankshaft does suggest use of rather high revs ! There is no other way for that to happen. Don't worry - I broke two cranks in my 948 engines on my Rally Minor - until I fitted a crankshaft damper - no more problems after that.

I'm sure that I don't over rev the engine. I've become quite paranoid and asked other drivers that have been in the car with me and they agree that I do not use high revs.

Ah well - I certainly did with my engines ! Don't see otherwise why the crank would break - but again - maybe earlier abuse and then fatigue. So - have you sourced another gearbox yet ?? You could strip that box and fit a new 1st gear - if it's a ribbed case box ? Bullmotif have 1st gears available - but only for the rib box.

I think the crank may have been on it's way for a while but since I don't drive the car everyday I didn't notice it getting worse as I would have if I drove it everyday.

Tried the box again today and there is no drive and lots of banging from both first and reverse gears so I think the box is completely had it

Could possibly get a 1098 box. Will it marry up to the 948 engine okay?

Can my 'magic wand' gearstick be fitted to it?

Oh - magic wand. Well - 'callyspoy' managed to fit magic wand to a ribbed box - but it took some 'shade tree' engineering - I'm sure he will tell you what he did. But simplest will be a 948 'smooth case' box - the wand can certainly be easily fitted to that.
Here's one ! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AUSTIN-A35-SALOON ... 7C294%3A50

I'd like to keep the magic wand. But if it's a case of a working car with no magic wand then thats how it'll have to be.

I'd rather match a 948 box to the engine to be honest but I want my car on the road again asap

Will keep an eye on it. Thanks

Sorry - the other one on close inspection proved to be a 1098 engine + box. I've deleted the post. The 948 box above is the ONLY one I can find on ebay at the moment. But do ask in 'wanted' here - you may even get one 'donated' !

Have put a post in the wanted section. Sidney61 says he has a 1098 box

Just wondering now. Will the 'magic wand' go straight on the 948 box or will I need to get some sort of adaptor kit?

Just swap the remote housings over - straight exchange from memory. So were you running an 803 box with your 948 motor then?

To be perfectly honest I do not know 100% but I think it was an 803 box