Tommy's A-series Misery - Poland or Bust - The final push of the walking wounded

[Matty]

43 minutes ago, Homersimpson said:

The first gear on these is straight cut and has no syncro as standard, how bad is it because they are normaly noisy and putting it into first when not stationary is inadvisable?

Tbf the noise when they are right is just gear whine due to the straight cut. Like an ascending siren as you accelerate. Ive driven a few with badly damaged first gears and they sound like a giant eating crisps. The teeth of 1st will be chipped to fuck due to people trying for first without being stationary or double declutching.

[Tommyboy12]

2 hours ago, Homersimpson said:

The first gear on these is straight cut and has no syncro as standard, how bad is it because they are normaly noisy and putting it into first when not stationary is inadvisable?

It's not whining gear noisy, I've owned enough old cars to know what that sounds like. It's grinding/graunching noisy. I suspect either the layshaft is worn or the needle bearing has collapsed.

[Homersimpson]

4 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

It's not whining gear noisy, I've owned enough old cars to know what that sounds like. It's grinding/graunching noisy. I suspect either the layshaft is worn or the needle bearing has collapsed.

Fortunately these gearboxes are fairly easy to rebuild, I've just put a Morris Minor ribcase gearbox in my Sprite, bits are fairly easy to get for the ribcase but some of the smooth case stuff is hard to get.

[kevins]

Our minor sounded awfull in 1st when we got it but it worked fine for 4 years (we did fill it with gear oil rather than engine oil in an effort to extend its life), when I rebuilt it 1st had a few chips, the layshaft was heavily pitted and the input bearing felt a bit graunchy, one of the easiest boxes to re-build though.  I use multigrade gear oil in the new box, It should be far better for the high contact stresses in a gearbox than engine oil.

[Matty]

56 minutes ago, kevins said:

Our minor sounded awfull in 1st when we got it but it worked fine for 4 years (we did fill it with gear oil rather than engine oil in an effort to extend its life), when I rebuilt it 1st had a few chips, the layshaft was heavily pitted and the input bearing felt a bit graunchy, one of the easiest boxes to re-build though.  I use multigrade gear oil in the new box, It should be far better for the high contact stresses in a gearbox than engine oil.

Im no automotive engineer but as a machine mechanic by trade ive never understood not putting gear oil in gearboxes. When you consider the shear strains put on oil going through the mesh between gear teeth, it needs to be something that can stand that. Multigrade makes sense as something the bearings can stand whilst protecting the tooth surfaces.

[Tommyboy12]

9 hours ago, Matty said:

Im no automotive engineer but as a machine mechanic by trade ive never understood not putting gear oil in gearboxes. When you consider the shear strains put on oil going through the mesh between gear teeth, it needs to be something that can stand that. Multigrade makes sense as something the bearings can stand whilst protecting the tooth surfaces.

It really depends how you design your gears and gearbox. You can effectively use whatever you want if you design it appropriately.

The bigger issue is modern gear oil having additives which don't play nicely with older technology like cone synchros, leather seals, and large tolerances.

Personally I have no problem using what is stated in the manual. Plus 20W50 is something I go through about 50L a year of so there's always plenty around 😅

[Tommyboy12]

Today begins the prep work for my mighty trip to Poland in my Mini for International Mini Meet 2026. 

It's looking nice weather (read: too hot) all week so I've packed plenty of fluids, to go with spares and tools. I've packed the all important headgaskets and everything I need to change one too 😅

Plus it's rammed full of camping gear for the stay at the other end. I even gave her a quick hose down

It's nearly 900 miles to our designation. Easy in something modern. Less so in something old. The intention is to drive over to Harwich tomorrow morning, take the day ferry to Hook, then we're stopping in Amsterdam for two days. On Wednesday we head for Berlin for an overnight stop before heading to Leszno in Poland on Thursday. Then Friday we are planning to enjoy the show and sights. Saturday we will leave around lunch and will be our longest drive at 450 miles in a day heading to Osnabruck in Germany, before getting the afternoon ferry from Hook on Sunday to hopefully arrive home Sunday evening.

Ill keep the road trip updated as we go. I'm sure you'll all be looking forward to me doing a headgasket on the side of the autobahn 😅

[Tommyboy12]

Good morning from Harwich port. Took a rather sedate drive over this morning. It's fairly busy at the port but we got through border control without issue. Apparently several Minis already came through last night although there's no others on our crossing

[Tommyboy12]

A good start getting off the boat...

 

[camryv6]

You do know that exhaust is supposed to be under the car don't you ?

[Tommyboy12]

1 minute ago, camryv6 said:

You do know that exhaust is supposed to be under the car don't you ?

I had heard this. Thankfully this isn't my first rodeo and there's exhaust mounts in the boot. Although I did hope I'd make it further than unloading from the ferry before I needed them 😅

[camryv6]

I have visions of the car full of spares and tools and no room for clothes

[N Dentressangle]

Would have loved to do this, but my Mini currently still looks like this:

[Matty]

Excellent, another mental road trip! Love it.

[Tommyboy12]

2 hours ago, camryv6 said:

I have visions of the car full of spares and tools and no room for clothes

Not far off...

We got the exhaust reattached outside the port and back on our way

Right outside a dealer with some cool stuff for sale

We have made it to our overnight hotel. Things got a bit hot on the motorway though 😅

But we are parked up and get to enjoy Amsterdam for the next few days

[rustdevil]

3 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Would have loved to do this, but my Mini currently still looks like this:

Is that an ultra burner at the back there

[N Dentressangle]

33 minutes ago, rustdevil said:

Is that an ultra burner at the back there

Tuff Burner - the one with Skyways

[Matty]

Yeah, i had similar problems today and i only went to Bury 😁

[kevins]

On 24/05/2026 at 00:28, Matty said:

Im no automotive engineer but as a machine mechanic by trade ive never understood not putting gear oil in gearboxes. When you consider the shear strains put on oil going through the mesh between gear teeth, it needs to be something that can stand that. Multigrade makes sense as something the bearings can stand whilst protecting the tooth surfaces.

Stragely I do happen to have a msc in Automotive engineering!

In the late 1940's when the minor was launched  gear oil was typically heavy and caused poor shifting, there weren't many other options aside from engine oil. In the preceeding 70 years there have been massive developments in tribology and engine oils and gear oils have developed to suit their unique requirements.  Something like a ford IB5 box (based on a mid 70's design) has the same materials as a minor in it so I use a 75W90 listed for one of those.

[Joey spud]

I worked at a Peugeot/Talbot dealership in the 80's and when the 309 came out there was complaints of its gear changes baulking when cold (BE1 box).

The official repair was to drain the 75/80 gear oil and refill with 10/40 engine oil .

[Tommyboy12]

We've started making our way to Berlin.

First up was a fluid check. Coolant was a little low but other than that it was fine.

Unfortunately the second I left the hotel I ripped off another exhaust mount...

I cable ties it back in place. I'm sure that'll last (foreshadowing)...

Spotted this quirky thing when we went to Lidl for water.

And got pulled over at the German border for checks.

We've just pulled up for lunch near Rheine.  Saw this old Vanguard in the petrol station we stopped in.

Once the car cools I've got two jobs to tackle. I'm replacing the snapped exhaust mount (my last spare 🥲), and I'm removing the thermostat because we're still peeing brown out the radiator.

What fun!

 

[hairnet]

crazy melonfarmer

only cos of the heat

do you think the guy with the 4wd mini that goes to the ring might be there?

[Tommyboy12]

4 hours ago, hairnet said:

crazy melonfarmer

only cos of the heat

do you think the guy with the 4wd mini that goes to the ring might be there?

Could well be. I'll keep an eye out for it!

We're currently about 2 hours from Berlin and just stopping for fuel as we won't quite make it on one tank.

Before we tackled the last 3.5 hours I did a couple of running repairs. Another exhaust mount was required... The middle one between the two boxes

Replaced and hanging properly again. I'm now out of middle mounts and on the hunt for some metal cable ties. We you can see it hangs quite low even strung up properly. The height of the suspension fully laden isn't helping either.

This continues to be a problem...

Spraying the inside of the bonnet as well as the outside

I resorted to removing the thermostat. It hasn't helped...

It's pinking a little so I'm taking a bit of timing out before we carry on. That may help with the hot temps. Hopefully we will be in Berlin centre around 8pm local time.

[hairnet]

k series? *runs

[Zelandeth]

I've seen in some situations that removing the stat can actually make things worse as the water ends up travelling through the rad too quickly and ends up not shedding as much heat as it normally would.

[Surface Rust]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Could well be. I'll keep an eye out for it!

We're currently about 2 hours from Berlin and just stopping for fuel as we won't quite make it on one tank.

Before we tackled the last 3.5 hours I did a couple of running repairs. Another exhaust mount was required... The middle one between the two boxes

Replaced and hanging properly again. I'm now out of middle mounts and on the hunt for some metal cable ties. We you can see it hangs quite low even strung up properly. The height of the suspension fully laden isn't helping either.

This continues to be a problem...

Spraying the inside of the bonnet as well as the outside

I resorted to removing the thermostat. It hasn't helped...

It's pinking a little so I'm taking a bit of timing out before we carry on. That may help with the hot temps. Hopefully we will be in Berlin centre around 8pm local time.

The only thing I found that resolved that problem in my minis  in very hot conditions was an upgraded rad (3 core I think) and a good electric fan conversion.

Not much help in your current situation, but have you got the heater on full as well for maximum misery / cooling capacity?

[Peter C]

I’ve driven from London to Poznan, Poland and back twice in my W123 and never had any problems.

Good luck and have fun.

I’m looking forward to more updates.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

on the hunt for some metal cable ties

Maybe something like this could be a solution?

It's got me out of a good few holes over the years, handy to have in the toolbox.

[Tommyboy12]

We made it to Berlin! I wanted a shot in front of the Brandenburg Gate but got ushered along by a policeman....

 

[Tommyboy12]

Hello from Poland!