Need the tools and knowledge to fiddle with the main ‘box, so best left alone! Someone like Bears could likely fix it.
As an alternative, John Walklett seems to know his stuff, he's near Cannock. He did the Bug's box, it took a while, but I 'ummed and 'arred over ratios, then it needed boring and sleeving and, to complicate matters, very little inside that box is what you might call stock. Equally, I wasn't in a rush as I was recovering from a smashed up leg at the time.
Hmmm - that's what I thought too. I sent him a crank/flywheel/clutch to have balanced (he doesn't do that himself). It came back wet and rusty and so out of balance I thought it would explode. Like the gearbox thing he suggested I strip my engine and send him back all the parts to check (yeah right), but his attitude was NO - you must have done something wrong, it is impossible that we made a mistake. I replaced the flywheel with random used and a new clutch and it revved smoothly to 6,500+. It was impossible to fit his bits wrong, it had huge marks to indicate + dowels that would not fit any other way. Total cock up, but his attitude was insulting. I'm sure if I'd sent it back he'd have claimed it was fine not to mention stripping and rebuilding an engine.
Hey Mark. I remember, in fact we proudly have one of your T2 gearshift placcy things stuck on our ashtray. Zeds right. I don't have the jigs yet for the 091 box. They're made, just still down in Surrey at the machinists. I'm also booked up for a couple of months, which is both good and bad haha. It's those very forks that need careful measuring and setting. I do know that one of the issues is wear in the gear carrier that those rods run through which can make them run offset. It's now something that when I do launch into bay boxes that will be sleeved as a matter of course. Try John Walklett or Paul Gillet (Jeb) at Vantopia. Paul's a good buddy, John I only know through reputation. Vantopia is in Ireland, but Paul can arrange shipping and has the facility to fully refurbish gear carriers. We chat nearly daily and trust him implicitly. https://vantopia.ie/
What about drilling a hole and adjusting? Mine was the best changing box I've ever witnessed before "Nobody" got his hands on it so I don't think it was the wear you describe. As you know, I've driven literally hundreds of these things - I loved my gearbox, now it's just... useable.
You'd have to drill a hole about the size of those machined cut outs in that donor gear case. We don't know for sure what Marks issue is, it could be any number of things or a combo. It could be that it just needs a bit of 'help' with adjustment and that because stuff is new it's all a bit sticky. Best thing is always if possible to speak to the builder. He'll love seeing the number come up on the phone... Edit, just seen who built it. Don't know him but he's uncommunicative and blocked me on social media for no apparent reason. Sad, because he has knowledge, apparently.
Nah, big enough to get a socket through. It's a thing - people do it - possibly it's one of those things that you can do to say an old splitty box but a non-starter for a 6-rib, IDK, but in principle it's doable. I will ask Rob, he's rebuilt hundreds of boxes, he even likes rebuilding smelly old gearboxes - blummin weirdo!. The advantage that way is if you get it wrong, you can unscrew the hole plug and have another go. I'm fairly sure he uses stock oil filler plugs to fill the hole. The elephant in the room is knowing exactly where to make the hole. Guessing would end in tears.
But you watched the video above just for fun? Yeah, I won't be going this route, it was ok to have a go at this kind of car crash "engineering" when you could pick up a GB for a tenner. Interesting nevertheless.
Not for me Zedders. Lol. Can't fault the have a go attitude though. I wouldn't sleep at night. Popping out of second 'may' be an adjustment issue, but more likely the dog teeth on the gear don't look like house roofs any more, more like cave houses
Well remembered - indeed those were my stickers To be fair, "nobody" has been as helpful as he can be from a distance and offered a free fix. I'll leave that there. I'm not in a hurry to make my box 4 speed, I can manage with 3 for a couple of months. It'll take me at least that long to persuade myself to drop the engine and box when everything else is actually working. Still holding out a faint hope that the "stickiness" will sort itself out. Will happily wait till you have the jig and need a box to try out on it
The cause was this... 6-rib crammed into pre-6-rib bus. Initially I'd barred it back to avoid the box being rammed into the torsion tube, but the front clamp mount was the only thing holding it back and it slipped without my knowledge. By the time it started jumping out of gear the damage was done. If only I'd bent the chassis out of the way, a one minute job with the molegrips, I'd still have and ace gearbox and £more money in my bank account. Simple things eh? It just didn't occur to me.
