Righto, thanks for the replies GTm, M1100, Carter & AEG. It is very unfortunate the outcome seems bleak

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

Yeah, not looking good at the mo.

What sits on the inside of where the selector sleeve is? Could that be damaged or bent?

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"I'm sorry, but a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!"

If the box was in a prang the selector shaft may be bent, I've seen that before.

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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.

If it's in 2nd, it won't be bent. Maybe if it was in 1st or 3rd it can, but not 2nd.

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You might be able to bring it back into neutral again once you have removed the primary gear cover. The selector rods are exposed at the end and might allow you to push the box out of gear and into neutral. If you undo the detent springs at the lower back corner of the box it might help with moving them a little easier.

But I think if the engine is out, and the primary cover is off, it's only another dozen bolts to open the whole thing up...

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

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

Mick, it's a rodchange...

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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.

Oh...oops.

This wouldn't have been a problem on a remote...

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

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

Edzachary

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

This is the input selector shaft and interlock



and I have had more remote boxes lock in gear than rod. As I have said in the past, I do have (and have worked on) both, I do like them both, but in so many small ways the rod shift does just have it on the remote shift + all parts are still available new.

Usually the remote boxes lock in a gear when the stupid screws that hold the selector forks to the shift rods rattle loose........you have to pull the gearbox down to the last nut & bolt to get to them

In an accident, sometimes (not often) the rod shift input selector might bend, but only if it's in 1st or 3rd. This is when there is enough of the shaft hanging out to be able to be bent, but they are so stout that doesn't happen often.

On a remote shift, even in low speed impacts, the diff housing breaks clean off.......

<EDIT> This may also help;-

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Thanks for that GTm.

I do know that when we tried to remove the last 2" of selector shaft from the sleeve it was slightly bent on the end - that should've rang alarm bells looking back now.

It seemed as though the old selector shaft was cut off with a angle grinder or similar as there was still 2" of rod change shaft hanging out.

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

My thoughts are that the selector shaft may have pushed between the selectors. and that is why the stick appears to be between 2 and 4 while jammed in 2. It is a long shot though.

I've had somthing like this before with an engine/box out of a crashed mini.
The detent sleeve was siezed into the interlock spool / shaft.
I removed the Rh diff cover whith the engine in the car, got the sleeve out (major PITA ), and then things moved properly.
The sleeve was burred, so i replaced it, put it all back together and it worked fine.
Don't know if your problem is this, but thought it might help.

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How can it be rusty when it's covered in so much oil?

Thanks for the advice guys - the box off my other engine worked ok, so if when we split the box and block we find it's in the "too hard" or "too expensive" basket, I'll just clean the old box and put it on. At least I know it works, and we can sort out the other one further down the track.

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"I'm sorry, but a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!"

Did you play with the internals of the box at all?

After installing a central oil pickup on mine last year I could only select reverse and a little bit of neutral. It turned out to be caused by using a slightly long bolt when re-installing the bearing retainer. We undid that bolt and could suddenly select a wide range of gears.



It was an engine out fix but at least we didn't have to split the box.

No, we didn't open the box at all.

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"I'm sorry, but a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!"