Morris Minor Owners Club

hi everyone,
i've been looking at my car and have noticed that i don't have an engine steady cable. now i know that this was only installed after a certain time, but mine's a '68 traveller and i think this should have one. i can see this 'hole' in one of the crossbar supports for the gearbox, that looks like it should have something going through it. is the cable missing and how do i fix it? the haynes manual is useless at describing this (and many other things if i may add!)
cheers again guys, sorry to keep moaning, just far too young/impatient for this stuff.
kim

Hello Kim,
Yes you should have a cable there. It just depends how many of the bits are missing. If you look on the rear of the gearbox, in line with the hole in the crossmember you've already found, there should be a plate with a boss on it. One end of the cable screws in there. If the cable has just broken you might see the end of it still there. Once screwed into this hole, the other end of the cable should then poke through the hole in the crossmember and right out the other side ie towards the rear of the car. There should then be a nut on it to tighten it up. The idea is that this cable stops the engine and gearbox shooting forward when you brake but goes slightly slack when you accelerate. Sorry for the long winded description but I havent mastered adding pictures yet. Perhaps someone else can do that?
Good luck, Colin.

Send my the pictures on my email, via the button below, oh well, it's onnevds AT hotmail DOT com, and I'll post them for you!

Slight aside - if the cable has broken put on a pair of thick gloves before extracting it - or going anywhere near it If a bit of the wire punctures the skin (and breaks off underneath it - or does that only hapen to me?) it hurts like...um, something that hurts a lot.

it hurts like...um, something that hurts a lot.

no - it doesn't just happen to you - the cable strands seem just the right thickness to be really painful and go deep (unlike bicycle brake cables which just seem to make surface wounds and lots of blood)

Odd thing to say, but that's good to hear - it sounded like another voice of experience. Yup, just right for leaving a load of 40 year old road muck and oil inside your hand...

maurice wrote:hi everyone,
i've been looking at my car and have noticed that i don't have an engine steady cable.-snip-
cheers again guys, sorry to keep moaning, just far too young/impatient for this stuff.
kim

thats ok! thats what this forum is for!

Order a new cable and when it arrives you'll have more clue, sorry i can't be of more help, but I did this job myself and have now forgotten how to do it exactly- its not hard though, and once you get the replacement cable and get underneath the car it seems obvious how to fit the new one.

Be sure to support the car securley on good axle stands or simmilar, don't go under your car with just the jack as support.

My other piece of advice is "join your local club" and ask folk there, you will get plenty of advice and maybe offers of help.

thanks very much guys for all the swift replies. the car still isn't working but that's a whole other story, someone's coming round to have a look this afternoon.
anyway thanks!!!