Recalcitrant 4th gear synchro hub in a Moss TX
During last week’s roadtest of an early 3.8 E-type we could not bring 4th gear into engagement. This TX is, of course, the legendary Moss gearbox which is high on torque capacity but generally slow shifting unless the driver is willing to help it along by double clutching both the down shifts and the upshifts. Sometimes situations like this can be resolved by clearing away upholstery or trim which is impeding the free movement of the shift lever.
No such luck here. Butch finally popped the top cover off the trans. and conclusively demonstrated that it will not shift up into 4th. Since you asked, we’re pretty well certain that it’s caused by a previous assembler not lining up the synchronizer inner hub to mainshaft locking plunger with the shaved tooth on the sliding outer hub.
Rectification details to follow once the transmission is out on the bench.
Patrick assembles a later full synchro E-type gearbox
In other Jaguar transmission news, Patrick finished assembling this full synchro E-type gearbox late last week. It’s fairly derivitive of the non-synchro first gear Moss transmissions, not all of which, interestingly, were built by Moss Gears. Their demand was such that many of the later Moss ‘boxes were built in-house by Jaguar, and they are identifiable by their serial numbers.
It’s a pretty good unit, even has it’s own oil pump and in a huge (like a Jaguar) leap forward, uses separate baulk rings which are much more affordable to change out than the complete gears with the blocker teeth cut on them ‘ala Moss.
John strips the flywheel off a Healey 3000 for inspection
Currently, Patrick is overhauling the Independant Rear Suspension on this car, which we’ll report out on next week.
Meanwhile John is doing some driveline work, too. In this case it’s a clutch overhaul on an Austin Healey 3000 Mk II. To get at it, all you have to do is take out the seats, the tunnel, and then the tranny. John can be seen here undoing the flywheel bolts so we can get it on the bench for a look-over. Depending on the amount of wear, we often times have them resurfaced but this flywheel was in quite good condition.
We’re replacing it with a heavy duty Borg & Beck 10″ clutch which just happens to be the same clutch as the E-type uses. That way we only have to stock one clutch to do two jobs.
Patrick and I started the day by convoying the MGB and series 2 E-type in the picture below up to East Coast Collision & Restoration in Mount Holly. E.C.C&R is beginning to look like E-type central with three of ’em there now for various fixes ranging from a spot repair to a full-on structural rebuild. Yes, there’s snow on the ground but we timed it for dry roads.
We Deliver: MGB & E-type arrive at E.C.C&R. for spot repairs Thursday
