Does anyone know of a way to 'clean' a gearbox without disassembling it? It's been sitting around, covered up, for a while now and before I put the block onto it would like to 'give it a bath'! Can this be done, how and what to use? Any advice appreciated.

Carefully!! with all those caged roller bearings I wouldn't like to go sloshing Kero or degreaser around in there. I think maybe a really carefull approach with a devarnisher on the surfaces you can see using long pointy things to dab a cloth in the effected area.

I am also interested in the answer to this one - I think it might be dissassemble and fit new bearings where required while you have it apart anyway...

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"Show me the Mini!"

There's a few ways to do it without taking ALL the gears out.

Some people just slosh kero or degreaser in there then tip it upside down...

I find the best is take the big speedo drive cover off the LH side, remove the mainshaft bearing retainer, slide out the layshaft then roll the cluster gear up on top of the mainshaft. Easiest if you pull the oil feed pipe & strainer too, then you can remove the cluster..

Then tip the box forward a bit, slosh some degreaser/diesel/kero/etc in there- get your hands and a brush in and clean it out pretty good without pulling the mainshaft apart.
If the layshaft is toast (as is common) replace it and the cluster's needle bearings.

OTOH, if you don't know it's good, strip it completely... you never know what you will find.
I found an S box had been assembled by the PO without the mainshaft nose's needle bearing... after the cluster had lost 4 teeth and 2nd gear, 3 teeth, and we stripped it...

BTW have a squiz down into the diff while you rock the couplings. If the planet (spider) gears rock around on the diff pin, replece them and the pin.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I appreciate the help guys. Hopefully, all will be well when I use this advice. I want this to be right - it's the 'S' box out of my inresto 71 Clubman GT. The block is, as Maddonna once said, shiny and new - like a virgin, so this will also get the treatment.

Thanx

I noticed my temp gauge maxing out on a front wheel drive car of mine which shant be named(I'll never admit I drove a Camira).

The drama occurred, when I noticed the temp gauge drop dramatically about a minute later. Knowing something serious had gone wrong, I pulled over and found that the coolant tank was bone dry. But pulling the dipstick out, gave me a fantastic looking chocolate milkshake appearance.

Blown head gasket, you say. Thats what I thought, and had my old man bring me a new head gasket. Pulling the head off had me damn near kicking the entire side of the car in. The head gasket was cactus, but what had me spewing was that the head had eroded from the water jacket to one of the pots, and dumped all the coolant into the sump.

After about two hours of decking the head with a sanding block and paper, we had removed a fair amount of damage. We filled the remainder with reinforced bog, and put the engine back together, using the wheel brace to torque the head bolts.

Dumped the choccie milkshake outta the engine, and filled it with 5L of diesel. Ran that for about two minutes, and dumped that. Filled it with clean oil, and coolant, and proceeded to drive home real careful. Changed the oil again about two weeks later finding just light traces of emulsification. Another month down the track, and I was able to chuck a new head on the car, and traded it in pretty soon afterwards hehehehe.

Who says ya cant do repairs on the side of the road?????? (Amazingly enough, only one bolt was about 5 ft.lb from the recommended torque, when we checked it later)

Anyway as to your query, if you're certain the gearbox is in pretty good nick, flush the entire thing with diesel, or white spirits, dry it with compressed air, and change the oil regularly until everything looks hunky dory.

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"He's always been a dickhead, He always is a dickhead, He will always be a dickhead. So stop complaining when he acts like one."