Vintage Minor Register

Good morning all, on behalf of Barry (Bazza) Gilbert, Sunshine Coast Australia - we are having gear selection issues since the build up of the gear selector lever, 1st & 2nd daggy, 3rd & 4th VERY difficult! Wondering whether it would be selector lever or the shaft that the gear selector slides on (lay? shaft?). I have spaced the gear selector housing up by 2mm which may have improved it? Feels more like something inside the box rather than the selector itself? Any thoughts welcome!

Hi Mike, and welcome to the Forum.

I'm going to let Peter Hills know about your post and ask him to respond. He has carried out a great deal of work on his gearbox recently, particularly in the area of the selectors. I'm sure he will be able to offer good insight. I'll ask him to respond here.

And please pass on my best wishes to Bazza!

Hi Barry, happy to help but I am a 'world expert' on 1929 Morris Minor Three Speed Gearbox. Seems yours is a 4 speed. Mine used to jump out of gear if cruising in top and when taking foot off the accelerator it would jump to neutral. I did several things so cannot state which one or many solved the problem. Earlier I had fitted a spring under the plate that secure the gearstick to the housing (those three bolts) to take up movement, this may have exacerbated the problem so I removed it making sure there is minimal vertical movement of the gearshift lever. Next, I replaced the springs in the selectors, I found one longer than the other. There is a technical article on VMR that I authored. If you place the tip of the gear lever into the selector are and evaluate the slack and wear. Mine was considerable so I had the gear lever tip TIG welded then shaped it to a smooth neat fit. Since I had the lever out so decided to have it nickel plated rather than painted as the paint would come off and it would rust. Doing this took up some minor clearances. When fitted the gears were stiff like a new car but after a couple of days were nice and sure. I also ensure that the spacer ferrels on the selector rods were identical to original position. Since I had the gear box in pieces, using a Dremmel I carefully smoothed the gear 'Dogs' that appear parallel but were to an angle so I slightly ground them in the opposite slope to offer a better purchase of the 'Dog Gears'. Delicate work but seems to work. I replaced layshafts and fitted new bushes in 1st and 2snd gear clusters and now my gearbox sounds great, the wining and whirring solved and gone. I plan to write a revised Gearbox Overhaul for VMR to improve an earlier technical article.

Barry, I discovered that the system limits me to 5 pictures so here are the next two of my 29 Minor 3 speed gearbox lever after TIG welding and nickel plating. Looks pretty and now will not rust either.

Thank you Peter and Ian. That gear lever looks a million dollars with the nickel coating! The photos are valuable and have given me an idea where to start. As I said, I'm pretty sure this is not a gear lever issue but more likely internal. Regards, Michael on behalf of Barry.