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MG MGB Technical - Gearshift Lever Removal

In the process of removing eng/trans from 68 gt that has been sitting for a number of years. Engine does not turnover and gearshift lever stuck.No foward or backward movement in lever,just up and down slightly but it won't come out. Have removed boot and cover and can see two locating pins on either side of lever. Do they need to be removed? If yes,How so? Very tight spot.

No fluid in master/slave cylinder, so I can't get clutch to move. probably rusted fast anyway. When I drained gearbox oil, noticed metal shavings around drain hole and in pan.

Any comments would be appreciated.
75 midget
68 bgt
L SILANCE

The sides of your gearshift are grooved and fit over the locating pins. The gear shift is covered by the rubber boot, held in place with an oval ring with four screws. Then, there are three special bolts with spring washers that hold the gear lever in place. At the bottom of the gear lever is a nylon bushing that fits into the top of the shift linkage. There is also a spring and anti-rattle pluger located in the area the ball segement of the shifter fits into. It sounds like everything is gunked up making difficult to remove the shifter. Try spraying it down with a good penetrating lubricant like ZEP-45 or PB Blaster and let it soak in. When everything gets gunked up, it can make the shifter hard to remove, but it should be possible with a penetrating lubricant. Sometimes, due to the shape of the shifter, it is hard to get a grip on properly. Les
Les Bengtson

Les,further to an earlier comment on rattling gear lever, you gave some good advice which I followed(as described in previous posting)BUT the b***** thing still rattles, albeit slightly less so...
Any thing else I can try? What about some grease in the ball hole??
(Put in new bush and plunger from MGOC - although didn't renew the spring)
Any advice gratefully received..
Bob (aka The Blue Max)

Bob; sorry to jump in, but do you have the three very special double-coil spring washers on your three stepped bolts that hold the lever in? If you use normal spring washers it doesn't work as the plate needs to be held down further than normal washers would manage.

Just a thought.
--
Olly
Oliver Stephenson

Bob. Olly is correct that there are three springs, normally described as "flat wire springs" on the special bolts that hold the retaining cover onto the transmission. The ball portion of the gear shift fits into a hemispherical cut out in the transmission extention. The hold down, or cover, with a similar hemispherical section stamped into it holds the shifter in place due to the tension of these springs. Any further vibration is dampened by the "anti-rattle" plunger and spring. Thus, I know how the system is supposed to work and, in fact, how it works on my cars. But, I do not know what your problem is. If your car has the flat wire springs in place and the anti-rattle pluger is capable of exerting some minor force on the gearshift lever, the system should work properly. It does on my cars and the majority of other people's cars. There is some minor vibration, but no rattle. So, understanding that I do not have a clue, may I suggest the following possible problems.

First, excessive engine vibration. If there is a miss in the engine, it will cause a vibration which may show up in the shifter as a rattle.

Second, if the engine mounts (motor mounts) or transmission mounts are bad, this can cause excessive vibration to be translated to the gearshift lever.

Third, if the shift knob is loose, this can rattle. I just bought an International Scout and the friend who drove it home for me (I drove my MG) mentioned the transfer case knob rattled. I twisted it down so that it was fully seated and the problem went away. I have read that some of the aftermarket shift knobs have a two piece assembly and they are glued together. The posters have mentioned that the glue had seperated and the knob rattled. I had a similar problem with my 79 LE when the hold down nut had loosened. Currently, I am running solid, aluminum (aluminium) shift knobs on all my cars. Could not sleep one night and got on the lathe to make custom knobs. Also shortened the shifter on my 79 and it makes a very interesting conversion.

Sorry I cannot diagnose your problem, but, with a little more information, we might come up with something.

Olly. You are relatively new here, but you seem to have a very good understanding of MGs and their problems. Often, we forget to say "thank you for sharing your experience" and "welcome to 'the Club'" to some of the newer people. I, for one, greatly appreciate your joining us and for your gentlemanly insights. I appreciate your taking the time to share what you have learned with us and, I believe, most others would agree with this sentiment. Les
Les Bengtson

Cheers Les :o)

Just a couple of last thoughts on the rattle... Firstly, do you have the nylon bush on the bottom of the lever? If you lack this then you'll have a sloppy shift as well as a rattle. Secondly, does it do it in all gears? I had what I thought was a rattly shifter with my 3-sync that turned out to be a chipped tooth!

Good luck, hope you find your rattle as I know how irritating they can be.
--
Olly
Oliver Stephenson

Once again,thanks to all for all suggetsions,,,I had the lever out to replace the nylon bush and plunger as recommended earlier, and indeed I have the correct flat spring washers in place...so am now somewhat "lost" as to what to try next.Rattle comes in at about 3000 revs in all gears, and is improved when O/d kicks in.
gear knob is not proplem- noise is there Knob or no knob!May be I didn't tighten the three bolts onto the springs enough...BUT they are pretty tight (no torque setting known)
This rattle only started recently, whilst driving,(pretty fast - 80mph+!) so I assumed that somehting had "broken" in the selector area...

Will dismantle all again perhaps tonight and see if anything amiss!
Bob (aka The Blue Max)

I had a rattle that I thought was the gear shifter.It was in fact the hand brake shaking at a certain speed.
Worth checking.
Jose Santos

Bob. Perhaps a better question would be what has changed in the engine to give a vibration at 3K rpm? The flat springs and anti-rattle spring and plunger seem to be capable of dampening vibration at other engine rpms. So, what else is happening that is causing the engine/tranny/propshaft to vibrate sufficiently to overcome these features? Les
Les Bengtson

This thread was discussed between 24/10/2002 and 29/10/2002

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