Hi everyone, PLEASE HELP

Yesterday I pulled up at some lights after knocking my mini out of 4th gear.

The gears felt really dodgy, and it seems that I couldn't get it out of 4th. Needless to say I had a bloody hard time getting home with only 4th.

When I had a chance to look at it today, clutch seems fine because it disengages the gears. On inspection of the Rod-change remote housing, it looks like a few things had fallen out.

There was a nylon bush which looks like it should be on the bottom of the gear lever.
Also there was what i would think is a roll pin in the grease.

Looking at my Hanes manual, I found this information about the dismantling of the rod change type control housing.
"Using a parallel pin punch, drift out the roll pin securing the gearchange extension rod to the rod eye and then withdraw the extension rod.
Drift out the second roll pin that secures the rod eye to the support rod and then withdraw the rod eye and support rod."

I have encluded a pic which i am hoping i have these things properly identified.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50323308@N04/4646558285/

Can you tell me if I seem to be on the right track? and if re-assembling this well would fix it? giving me all my gears back? How hard will it be to tend to these Roll pins if the housing is still in the car? at the moment, its just jacked up.

Brad

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http://www.cardomain.com/id/skimini82

You have correctly IDed the parts in your drawing.

Just a bit more info needed on the problem though.

Was the gearstick floppy or was it like jammed?

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from what I gather, id say they were jammed??

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Bluey-1973 Clubby - 1330, high lift, big cam, 7 port madness in progress..

Gumby-1978 Minivan, British Racing Green - 1310, high lift, mild cam, enlarged porting and chamber shape with big valve head, supercharged build in ever slow progress!

It sounds like 1 or more of the roll pins for the part he's calling the rod eye has come out.

To take the rod change mechanism out of the car it will only be a couple of bolts and 1 roll pin. I'd be taking the whole unit out to take a good look and repair/replace parts as needed.

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The gear stick wasn't stuck in fourth position.

It felt as though it couldn't go across enough to get it into first though.

Any idea about the nylon bush thingy? My guess is that it sits inside the rod eye and allows more movement then just the end of the gear lever.

Are roll pins something I should be able to buy from auto shops? or are they a specialist mini part? also, to remove the roll pin from the gear selector shaft at the Dif, i would need a parralel punch? ( i don't have one )correct?

Thanks for your help so far by the way

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http://www.cardomain.com/id/skimini82

the nylon bush is actually acetal plastic and is pressed onto the bottom of the gear sitck. You will see some raised little ridges on the metal. that's where it fits. The yoke in side the case is just die-cast crap and you will find it is out of round . the bush sits inside the hole .

The roll pins are 3/16" diameter so a 4mm pin punch will do.
I would remove the whole lot and re-build but a quick way is to clean it all up and then re fit the bush [if it has not split] you can use loctite or something similar. It will get you goung until a full re-build is required. this way you can drive the car and make sure the gear box is OK

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

I'm happy to say that my gears are now working better than ever...

I was able to get some roll pins from an auto place, but only one was a tight enough fit to be used.

For the rest of the holes, I used bolts. M6 in size, with a hex head, was a tight screw to get them in place in the rod eye, and used some loctite as well to help keep them in there.

It's pretty amazing the amount of difference the few mm of play has on the feel of the gear lever. Now feels like a H and the gear lever stays in the position where i just put it.

Thanks for the help people.

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http://www.cardomain.com/id/skimini82