Hey everyone,

I've been getting my car closer to working order - it at least now starts and idles well.

I was shunting it about yesterday getting it up onto some railway sleepers so I could do a couple of things underneath, and switching from first to reverse highlighted that this T5 might not be very happy.

It isn't difficult moving the lever out of reverse, but the lever will then refuse to move across to the 1st-2nd plane. A bit of wiggling and slotting between 3rd, 4th and 5th will eventually free it. A couple of times the gearbox 'jams' the back wheels (the lever doesn't jump) this happens in reverse and has happened a couple of times when shifting from 1st to 2nd. A couple of times the gearbox has remained in reverse after pulling the lever into neutral.

I've been putting this to the back of my mind for a bit, but I'm starting think this is a problem that won't go away with a bit of use (the car was laid-up for a couple of years with the previous owner).

Any ideas what's going on? I'm starting to think I'm going to have drop the box and open it up...

 

Sounds like the R-5 shifter fork is bent, and it isn't taking the transmission completely out of R by the time the shifter arrives at the N gate.

Relatively cheeeeeeep eeeeeeezy fix.

Replace the little green plastic pads on all the forks while you have the top off.

 

Cheers sofa, good to know.

I'll add it to the ever-increasing list of things wrong with this car!

 

Ok! The cause of the problem has been found!

It's this little puppy:


It's a gearshift interlock plate in the top cover, and it guides the shift rail between the various gear positions. Part of it had broken off and fallen into the gearbox. Actually, seeing how it works I'm amazed I could select any gears at all, and it's little wonder gears were selecting themselves at random.

Now the problem for me is sourcing one in the UK. I've contacted some gearbox specialists in the UK (including a Tremec distributor) and I've approached a local machine shop to see if they would quote for making up the piece...

...but would any of you guys have one of these in their garage and be willing to post it to me in the UK?

Thanks everyone!

Neil

 

The gear box ships internationally.

 

For that matter, the T5 had broad international usage, and maybe could be more easily sourced from Isuzu, Ford, or others who used the box whose parts distribution crosses to the U.K.

 

That was my thinking too - I know some Sierras and TVRs in the UK used T5s, although i couldn't establish if that included NWCs. I did some research trying to track down parts numbers, but struggled to find any parts catalogues apart from my own F-body one.

No matter, in the end The Gearbox Man came good and could supply the part at a fraction of the cost of other places. Now just to sit tight and wait for it to arrive.

Many thanks for the recommendation!

 

Ok, rather than start a new thread I may as well continue my gearbox-based woes on this one.

Cleaning off some of the RTV yesterday prior to installing my shiny new interlock plate, I spotted this:





I guess what I'm asking is 'can I get away with this?' It's at the top corner near where it bolts to the bellhousing and looks like it's being restrained by the top cover. I can slap some epoxy metal putty on it to stop it leaking, but how strong does this part of the case need to be? I can't really envisage how a stress can be placed here...

I think someone has spotted it before, as there's a huge gob of RTV on the outside of the case here.

The real answer is 'take it to a specialist who can do aluminium welding and get it repaired' but I'm getting sick of working on this car and I just want to drive it before yet another summer's gone!

So, can I get away with it? This car's never going to see a drag strip, or make much more power than its stock 190bhp.

 

Lots of used parts are okay to re-use. That's not.
Realistically, that's a "get me home one time due to no other options" break.
Not a "see how long it goes" break.
And a whole gear set is harder to lose to fluid loss than a few Pounds to the welder.
If it broke suddenly, badly, you'd be subject to possible drivetrain pole vaulting of the vehicle.
Weld, weld, weld.

 

Fair play, thanks for the honest advice. There's a local(ish) shop I've heard about I'll contact them for quotes.

Have you any idea what could have caused a crack here? I can't imagine how a stress could be placed on that part of a gearbox unless something weird had happened...