Make the most of it.. drive to the corner shop 'for milk' in reverse
A bloke in a Vauxhall Cavalier .. nearly new.. had all the forward gears fail
So he just drove in reverse ..!!
Many GM m32 gearboxes didnt last that long in either direction
In Rose Street Edinburgh, famed for it's pubs, there used to be a pub called Paddy's Bar. (now trades under new management and a different name but you can google it for further info) Our crowd would meet there most Fridays in the late afternoon/early evening and stay 'till it closed at 10.00pm - those were the days of 10 o'clock closing - before going on to a party or whatever. One of our friends had a mini van which he was seen departing the pub in reverse.
The next day another friend, knowing I was "into cars" rang to ask for my help with it. On arrival at the chap's home he told me it was stuck in reverse and he'd had to reverse all the way home - at least a half hour's journey! He hadn't been stopped by the police and made the journey without serious incident. When I checked it I found the gear lever was waggling about like a stick in a bowl of porridge. Anyone that knows Minis will be way ahead of me already, the roll pin in the sleeve which joins the gear shift rod to the gearbox selector shaft had sheared. Once we had procured a new roll pin the broken bits were easily drifted out and the new one tapped into place, took just minutes to complete.
PS Fragile gearboxes were not the preserve of GM alone. It was not all that unusual to find worn layshaft and bearings on many rear wheel drive gearboxes. I certainly did quite a few on both A and B series BMC applications and ford Escort/Cortina's too.
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