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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

I'm only just setting out on this adventure, I stripped the S box down and once I've picked up the new case, I'll look at reassembling it again. Diff's already done, that was last night's job.

What's your hints, tips or pitfalls ?

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Now you've got to wait till it's back together before you know if you've got 4 forward and 1 reverse gear or the other way around

Well done though , I've never been game to attempt a gearbox build , always just grabbed another from the shed so I take my hat off to you .

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Make sure the needle bearing is on the nose of the 3rd motion shaft BEFORE you install the 1st motion bearing and shaft

I found KCs Mini Expert great for pulling down and the How to to put it back together here http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=9808&hl=gearbox

is excellent. I have put the rebuild How to into a PDF Doc on my Mini CD

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Well done . Bet you're well pleased. Tis a very satisfying job, rebuilding a gearbox.

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Steve

is it a hard job to replace lay shaft?


TUCK3R

I'm still waiting for my gears to turn up from the UK. Its been 5 weeks now and they still don't have them in stock.

Did you take any photos?

Short answer - no

Long answer - why and what do you want do achieve?

you will have to remove the 3rd motion bearing retainer to release the lock tab that holds the layshaft in place. Before you pull it out measure the end float. Book says it should be 2 to 6 thou. KC recommends as close to the bottom end as possible - in my case it was 10 thou. The small spacer washer is (theoretically) available in different thicknesses. But the one I needed is now NLA. Ken at MiniAuto tracked down a NOS one for me and my end float is now between 2-3 thou. You will probably need new bearings in the laygear and put in a heavy duty layshaft on the replacement.

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

No - thought about but that's as far as it got. The pictures in the rebuild how to are very comprehensive.

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

ok no worries im rebuilding my engine and was advised to get it checked out as thats what normally wears in the boxes. and thought if i can do something myself to keep cost down why not but i might leave it to the experts so its done right the first time.thanks for the answer.

Cheers TUCK3R

Did you have fun playing with your balls? I mean the three little buggers in the hub synchronisers?

Non event with the Doc's patented ball and spring inserter

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Sorry if this seems like a bit of a hi-jack of the thread........

There's the layshaft and its washers(various thicknesses as previously mentioned by Wombat), the baulk rings, "dog teeth" on the 4 forward gears, outer synchro hub teeth, all the bearings on the 1st and 3rd motion shafts, as well as checking the teeth out on all the gears for any pitting and excessive wear on the edges of the gear teeth and teeth on the laygear, also need to check for wear in the selector forks. There is also dismantling the diff assembly for inspection, replacing what needs to be replaced and reassembly and then setting it up in the gearbox. Another important thing is to set up the clearance of the idler gear prior to fitting the gearbox to the engine......and yes there are different thickness washers and gaskets that can be used there aswell. There is other stuff im sure ive forgotten to mention but there is just the basics of what needs to be checked and or replaced.

Gearboxes are fun

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMkVq1jRGU

Well I found out the hard way that it pays to replace those little springs.