New gearbox into old shell

[Neilboy]

Hi, I am new to this forum and it looks great - here's a challenge for you technical experts.

I am building up a 1967 Mk1 saloon on a tight budget. I have got the shell into a good solid state with zero rust - she will be smart but never concourse. I want to enjoy driving her, so a larger engine, disk brakes, lowered suspension etc - the usual stuff and nothing too drastic to start with.

I have a few different power units hanging around. A more modern 1310cc which is the engine I want to use but which has a rod-change gearbox, which (so I understand) is no good with an early shell unless I modify the gearbox tunnel (raising it up a bit so that the rod change does not sit too near the road). I don't really want to do this as one day I might want to go back to the original running gear. I also have the original Mk1 848cc unit. With this one, the gearbox is the old 'magic wand/pudding stirrer' type which is less than ideal for a fairly powerful engine. What I think I need is an early remote gear change (as fitted to early Coopers) but do I need to buy the whole gearbox or can I cobble something together from my parts - perhaps buying just the remote change parts, bolting them to the original 848cc gearbox in place of the magic wand shift and then swapping the gears for those in the modern 1310 gearbox? - or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Any advice would be very much appreciated - thanks in advance!

[Gr4H4m]

good question. I asked similar when I was looking to change my engine I have remote change on my 1970. I think the best answer is to change to a remote change box which I think will fit a new 1275 engine. Steve or Deano might shed some more light..

[DanTheMiniMan]

hey, my moke has the same floor plan as a magic wand type moke but it has a rod change box and with a shortened linkage as standard and a bent gear stick.

so it looks like a magic wand shifter, id have a play and see you if you cant shorten a linkage / modify it so you dont have to play with your floor pan. nothing like a bit of weld and fab on an afternoon :)

[Neilboy]

Thanks Dan,

So it sounds as if I may be able to use the more modern rod-change gearbox after all - it would be great if I could because I have a decent 1275 rod-change box available to me. I suppose the thing to do, once I have the subframe back in, is to drop this box in (it's not mated to the engine block yet so it will be easy to handle) and see where the rod change sits. I am happy to modify the rod change itself but would prefer not to modify the shell as I may want to put the mini back to original one day.

[Deano]

I would try to fit the rod change to the old shell as you can have trouble with the drop gears between the two engine`s as they are different :)

[Neilboy]

Thanks Deano - so if I use an old gearbox, I'll probably need an old block too, to ensure that everything lines up between box and block (in other words, it's ALL old or it's ALL modern, but not a mix of the two). I did wonder about getting an old box (to fit the shell best) and swapping the gears inside it for those out of my modern box, so that the old box could then marry up to the modern block (if the gears can simply be swapped - and I'm not convinced they can). The trouble is that they all look so similar until you offer them up and its only then that you realise things are slightly different. I will be at Somerford Mini's this week and will ask what they think as they must do these things regularly - if I can get something absolutely definite from them then I will pass it on. thanks again.

[charlie_mini]

good luck mate, hope you get it sorted! :D

[DanTheMiniMan]

If you want to come and measure / eye up the mokes linkage its off the car at the minute, or i can take a pick for you its not a problem


Thanks Dan,

So it sounds as if I may be able to use the more modern rod-change gearbox after all - it would be great if I could because I have a decent 1275 rod-change box available to me. I suppose the thing to do, once I have the subframe back in, is to drop this box in (it's not mated to the engine block yet so it will be easy to handle) and see where the rod change sits. I am happy to modify the rod change itself but would prefer not to modify the shell as I may want to put the mini back to original one day.

[Neilboy]

Hi Dan,

...and thanks for the advice. I would be grateful if you could post a picture of the Moke linkage on this site - that would be great.

Meanwhile, I was at Castle Combe on Saturday for the MiniWorld Action Day (great event despite the weather - and a couple of fantastic Mokes there). I saw a Mk1 with a rod-change box. Unfortunately the owner was not about but I had a good look underneath and it looks as if they have fitted the modern gearbox without any modification to the floor-pan (other than cutting a new hole for the gear lever and welding a plate over the original hole for the 'magic wand' lever.

This was really encouraging and I now think that I could make it work - it may need a little fabrication but that is all part of the fun! I did also wonder about modifying the engine mounts so that the engine sat just a fraction lower (quarter inch?) in the subframe - this might be enough to make the difference if things got really tight.

Thanks again,


Neilboy

[DanTheMiniMan]

Sorry for the delay! this is the linkage from my 74' aussie moke, it uses the same hole in the floor as the earlier mokes with puddin sturrers. hope this helps! If you need any help let us know

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l54/storzy/Image120.jpg

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l54/storzy/Image119.jpg

[Deano]

Awww a baby gear Linkage:p