Tommy's A-series Misery - Poland or Bust

[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 😅