Got my new mini running, clutch appears to work, I can select 1st and 3rd fine, the top engine steady had a rooted rubber bit, so i swapped it for another I had, which must have been shorter, cause it took quite a bit of me holding the engine back towards the firewall and get a bolt through the bush.

Are there different lenght steadies? Also, there is a good 1" gap between the radiator and the radiator shroud on the body. Is this normal?

yes - clubman v's roundie on the passenger side

no - you might be trying to use a round nose top radiator bracket on a clubman

put up some more pics so we can see what's you're referring to.

It's not unusual to need some pressure to get the bolt through the engine steady bushes

2nd / 4th / rev selection would be down to the remote/rod mechanism not set up properly, once again, need to see it to diagnose it. Just get under and make sure everything is tight...

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Ment to mention its magic wand if that makes a diff.

850's do that when the engine is mis aligned...
like your engine steady problem

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So are the engine steady's different lengths? Because I was able to get it into reverse before 'fixing' the engine steady, but now all I can get is a very light grinding

They car is stored at work atm, so I can't check and forgot to measure them today.


When you say 'when the engine is mis-aligned', what exactly are you referring to? That the engine mounts are broken/crooked/not in the right spot, or something else?

yes there are different lengths.
check your original against the new one.
because your new one is shorter it is pushing the engine backwards... and the gearlever is fouling the body

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Update:

Just went back to work to have a good look. Changed the bushes over and put the old steady back on, still can't get the bottom gears. There was probably 10mm difference in length. Does anyone know what length the steady should be? Are there only 2 different lengths?

As I can't quite get right into where the gearchange mech is, what should I be looking for when trying to change gears, there looks to be a pin which goes in and out, but I can't see its moved (I was on my own, so couldn't operate lever and watch).

Undo the top engine steady mount.leave the engine loose.
then try change gears... if you can get gears there is your problem.
one of our 850's had a broken passenger side engine mount.
the engine would move around til you wouldn't be able to get some gears.
big crow bar and push the engine back into place until it did it again.

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I'll give it a go in the morning, hopefully that sorts the gears out.

don't drive like that though... otherwise it will break your exhaust off

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nah, tis all good, this ones not registered.

OK, so I removed (well disconnected 1 half and shifted it from interfering) and tried the gears. I was able to select all the bottom gears, it still felt like it had a tiny bit more before it was fully engaged, but it worked.

So what does this mean, the engine steady is wrong? Or something to do with the engine mounts?

that's the bit you need to work out... maybe(carefully with a block of wood) jack up the engine and have a good look at the engine mounts.
secondly measure the engine steady and compare with other 850 owners

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A long time since I owned an 850 but I remember the steady bar was straight, no wiggle in the middle like later cars. Was it a different length? I can't remember, it was 40 years ago...

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and it had that bigger front bush?

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