Following on from our sprint event at RAF Odiham last weekend and only being able to find neutral on the gearbox, a little work was the order of the day……..
Yesterday saw the removal of the engine – I am getting a dab hand at it now and had it all out in around 90 mins. Not bad for a man banned from his own tools by the rest of the team!
Once the boys had arrived, they set to work (after the shock of finding the engine already out) and quickly removed the gearbox as it was obvious there was nothing wrong with the clutch.
Whilst Brian inspected the gearbox, Dan commenced removing the inlet and head on the engine as there appeared to be a slight weep on the head gasket, and now was a good time to change it with the engine out.
It soon became apparent what had caused the gearbox failure – a sheared gear selector post on the gear selector shaft.
This tiny part left me with a bag of neutrals in my gearbox!
Burtons appear to do a billet steel one for the princely sum of £85, but it would take more than some shiny goodness to part me from that much cash for such a small part. Luckily, Dean to the rescue as within his garage he had lurking a nice 4 speed Type 2 gearbox – the perfect repalcement, especially as i had also managed to lose 6 teeth from 4th gear!
It didnt take long to replace the head gasket either, and soon enough the engine was back together with new spark plugs fitted, awaiting arrival of the spare gearbox so it could all be refitted. Hopefully our engine builder, Barry Snow at Calbourne Garage will come good with a replacement part for the bit I broke and we will have a half decent spare gearbox should we have issues in the future.
So, with a successful outcome on the cards, we booked the test day at Pembrey on the 23rd September to make a 3 day weekend of Motorsport. Hopefully some good weather will be on the cards to make it another memorable event with the 750 Motor Club.
