Josef

I’d probably take it off the accessory / radio position on the ignition switch myself. If nothing else it’s a bit closer to where you’ll need it!

Well gearbox number two is in pieces. I’d say this is another one that was “rebuilt” not too many miles ago. The mainshaft tip is worn out, but it’s got pretty new looking synchro rings, new looking lay shaft, bearings feel smooth and so on. So I guess a rebuild kit was fitted without necessarily a good check for wear and tolerances on the rest of it. Anyway, the shift hubs feel more like I was expecting and definitely don’t wobble about all over the place! I’ll take some comparison photos when I’ve cleaned up the parts of gearbox two.

The bits only you will ever see are good practice for the rest though! So spending time making hidden bits look good is definitely not time wasted in my book Are you at least only having to remove old welded on patches? Cutting out brazing was one of my least favourite jobs… Though the brass dust everywhere looked quite pretty

There was a s/h adaptor plate on eBay recently for about £15, might still be there!

I think it might be the few years back that makes all the difference. However. The mainshaft, oil pump drive, inhibitor switch mount, cam to switch the inhibitor switch (I think?) and adaptor plate are all available from Canleys at least. So for just a gearbox nobody should pay over the odds as the parts are there to fit to a non-overdrive box. I’ve not seen a separate used overdrive unit for sale for a while though so that might be a sticking point (not sure if the places that offer them on an exchange basis would be super happy to just sell outright?). My used 3 rail D type that I’m in the midst of rebuilding was £500 from Chic Doig. And the mainshaft is knackered!

I’ve just dug back into my e-mail as on reflection it didn’t seem quite right to me either... It was actually £1600 for the parts, plus fitting on top of that. Going to edit the original post too!

Edit: on looking back at the correspondence I had it was actually £1600 plus fitting! To give you a rough idea Bruce I was quoted £1200 (by a specialist with a good reputation) for a drive-in-drive-out overdrive conversion for my 13/60. Couple of years back but not so many that I’d expect that figure to have changed much. Also wouldn’t be too surprised if I end up spending that much in the end on my current ‘rebuild gearboxes and swap them around between cars so the Herald ends up with overdrive’ journey… But hey, I’ll probably be more satisfied having done it myself

An right, with the eBay link being H1s I was jumping to this thread!

So except for some rust on third gear the internals look alright. There’s no play in the 1/2 shift hub like in box number one so I’m pretty confident in my diagnosis of extreme wear on that one. Will be starting on taking the whole lot to bits tomorrow afternoon and will have a proper inspection then.

Wrong thread I think @Colin Lindsay?

The Mk3 wasn’t fitted with a ballasted coil from new. So unlikely that you’ll have a ballast wire built into the loom unless someone’s done a good custom job!

Spare gearbox obtained. Not quite as local as I was hoping, but hey I’ve got something to play with. The magnetic drain plug has been doing it’s job, hopefully not a sign of it being too worn inside…

Frustrating, but you’re moving forward! The metal that forms the back of the dash is definitely flexible, and the angle the h-frame sits in can deform too. So there should be wiggle room for the whole bulkhead if it needs it.

Well I will be bearing that one in mind for when I finally get to that point on the Spitfire. Having read the info here I’m pretty sure it has 5mm arms and 7mm blades! I never got to the point of figuring out why the wipers were so terrible before taking it all apart.

I think the spare 13/60 pipe you’ve found is probably the one that runs from the three way union at the rear of the car to the LH rear wheel cylinder (assuming the LHD pipe work is the same as RHD in that area).

It must’ve been quite something that happened to burn out one of those switches! I’ve taken one apart (not too difficult as it’s just a case of separating the metal front from the plastic back) and the switch element that joins the various terminals together is a chunky copper rod. It may be worth opening it to have a look as some judicious cleaning inside may be all that’s needed to get it back fully working again.

I thought all Herald 1200 gearboxes were GB prefixed? (Unlike the commission numbers) Then the 13/60 went to GE?

Well the author of this thread might be able to point you in the direction of a Vitesse overdrive gearbox!

Yes the low bite can definitely be due to not having bled the system properly. Could be your connections are upside down? I’m pretty sure the bleed nipple should be at the top and the pipe to the master cylinder at the bottom. Bleeding it in the orientation you have means air can be trapped in the space above the bleed screw.

I used this tape when restoring my Spitfire loom and was very pleased with it. (Sadly the loom then got shorted and horribly repaired by a garage so I ended up just buying a new one…)

It’s likely you’ll be able to find one that’s had the studs drilled out from the Spitfire Graveyard if Mathew doesn’t turn one up. Not much chance of anything else though, based on my ringing round with the same question a year or two back.

Autosparks don’t list them, I expect they’d probably make them up for you though as the looms are all made to order. But it’s not a particularly hard part to DIY so for the cost / effort ratio I’d probably make them up myself. Only didn’t for the equivalent bits on my Spitfire as they’re identical to those on classic minis so you can get them dead cheap!

Just received a small but very rare thrust washer for the mainshaft from Mick Dolphin. The one in the box was actually cracked! So should be able to do a bit of measuring and see what other bits I might need. My possible spare gearbox lead is not panning out very fast, so I’m more and more tempted to just buy the offending 1/2 hub. Expensive, but it also means I wouldn’t be scrapping another gearbox just for one part… I’m pretty sure the rest of the important bits here are actually fairly decent.

Any sign it might’ve been shortened? Might’ve been done to fit one of those t-bar style saloon to convertible conversions. At a wild guess!

The gear ratios are rather different. If the price is right though the overdrive specific bits could be used to convert your existing box (oil pump drive, adaptor plate, cut out switch mechanism, and the overdrive itself - I think that’s everything). You might also be able to use the mainshaft, if it’s in good condition, and compatible with the Herald gearset (I’d guess so but don’t know).