Removing gearbox tunnel, HELP......

[ian.stewart]

Silly I know, but I seem to be having a nightmare removing the gearbox tunnel, as I need to repair the gear linkage to repair it.
It looks relatively simple but Im not so sure now, I have done what appears to be the right way, But I think im missing something........ remove gear knob, carpet, remove all the bolts along the floor and over the rear of the tunnel, (5different types??) 4 nuts on studs attached to the bulkhead, 4x 7/16 bolts from the parcel tray support, the tunnel has been moved back about 20mm but now it looks as if I have missed something, Parcel tray out as well???, if so, whats the secret as I dont want to wreck it removing it,

[Carledo]

Sorry mate, the parcel tray needs to come out! The angles just dont work with it in place. There is (or should be) a rubber seal around the housing that sometimes sticks hard to the body which may be making the job even harder.

I'm interested to see how the shift has been modifed to fit on the Manta gearbox and using what looks like the Triumph shift lever. I use the Omega gearbox for it's hydraulic clutch and concentric slave and shortened the shift rod about 18" to make it fit the Toledo. I also shortened the housing and modded it to fit solidly to the gearbox rather than use the rubber bushed mounts of the original to give a more positive "feel". The only downside was it meant I had to keep the reverse lockout "lift" mechanism which is now breaking up with old age!

Steve

[ian.stewart]

If I can work out how to remove the parcel shelf, and, of course I will get some pics of the remote, its gone to a typical stirring wet porridge shift, you can bang your knuckles on the dash in first and if the handbrake is on you cant get 2nd because it hits the lever, its about the same range of about 8"between reverse and 5th, its, err, interesting to drive... plans seem to be before getting the thing off, replace All the mounting isolator bushes with ally bushes that I can machine, ( I hope its that simple) probably find the bottom wobble joint is buggered too. that could be changed for a rose joint, not seen it yet to tell,

[Carledo]

There are 4 more 1/4" bolts securing the parcel tray to the kick panels in the A posts and a handful of self tappers holding the millboard shelves to the bulkhead/heater and 3 more round the steering column in a U shaped plastic finisher. That's about it, the bar will come out with the tunnel brace and all the millboards attached, might be a tight squeeze, I sometimes have to loosen the 4 or 6 nuts and bolts holding the angle irons on the ends to the millboards to give more space.

If it truly has a Toledo shifter, they are famous for wear in the bushes in the bottom of the stick and also in the ball and cup on the stick itself. But you can get a bush kit for a Herald that will overhaul it for only a few quid from all the usual suspects. It's why I wouldn't even have countenanced using the Triumph gearstick, though it DOES make the interior look more stock for that sleeper look.

My own Vauxhall derived shift gets nowhere near the dash and only touches the handbrake when selecting 4th gear with the handbrake ON. Since this never happens in service, i've given myself a pass on it!




Steve

Edit, the dash in the first pic is the MKI version, nicked wholesale from a Nova SR the MKII version is more traditional and uses Triumph instruments.

[ian.stewart]

Well that was a struggle, but the shelf is out, so Is the gearbox tunnel allowing access to the wobbly shift, I dont think theres a major issue lurking in there,
My issue might be with the speedo proximity sensor that was attached to the tunnel, well it was attached, but now hanging by a wire, Ill take a better look tomorrow, followed with pictures, only because Im out for a bit of imbibing tonight, and need to get in the shower. to try and make myself presentable, (honestly I need more than a shower for that)

[ian.stewart]

Eventually got back out in the garage, as you can see, I found the gear lever gator, is totally knacked, I wondered why it was so noisy inside, as theres only a thin layer of carpet stopping noise and fumes, there was one bolt missing from the linkage, complete with missing isolator bush the lever does have excessive throw of about 10", and its all very oily, thats the shift linkage seal into the box has seen better days, I have also, inadvertently somewhat destroyed the siting of the speed flying magnet pickup for the speedo, but its not a hard to do relocate, while im there ill refit the exhaust and hopefully fix the leak right under the ripped gator. If I can work out how to dismantle the lever ball joint I might consider lengthening the bottom of the ball away from the pivot by 10/12mm that should reduce the lever throw and give a quicker shift, abiet making it heavier in action, another option is convert a quick shift lever from something else, I have seen people use BMW ones. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354365265351 ... R7qp1oGbYQ

[Carledo]

Your shift extension and lever assembly looks more Vauxhall than Triumph, so probably Manta derived (that's my understanding of which box was used when the car was built)

I approached it slightly differently, losing the entire front end of that big tin plate extension (I note one of it's securing bolts is missing, which won't help) and mounting the shift lever box on 2 L shaped bits of 5mm strip bolted to 2 convenient horizontal holes on the back of my (Omega) gearbox case. So my lever is straight and near vertical. It has to be straight for the reverse interlock to work.




Thought I had a better pic than this, it's the gearbox wth the remote removed.

It looks like you may have a modded Toledo lever welded to a Vauxhall lower section. It's vaguely possible to use a Cavalier short shift lever in your housing, the layout and design of the FWD gearstick housing is much the same on the RWD cars.

Steve

PS, I note you still have a cable speedo attachment, it may interest you to know that I have had a cable made for the job by Speedy Cables in Wales that adapts a Carlton (maybe Manta as well, the boxes are very similar) drive to a Triumph Dolomite Sprint speedo head, he still has the patterns and dimensions to make another if I ever want one. Whilst the speedo isn't spot on accurate, it's within legal limits.

PPS that speed sensor pickup is a right bodge! Twere me, i'd find a way to mount it on the gearbox case and pick up off one of the prop bolts like I did on my Omega powered Sprint auto

[ian.stewart]

Your shift extension and lever assembly looks more Vauxhall than Triumph, so probably Manta derived (that's my understanding of which box was used when the car was built)

I approached it slightly differently, losing the entire front end of that big tin plate extension (I note one of it's securing bolts is missing, which won't help) and mounting the shift lever box on 2 L shaped bits of 5mm strip bolted to 2 convenient horizontal holes on the back of my (Omega) gearbox case. So my lever is straight and near vertical. It has to be straight for the reverse interlock to work.




Thought I had a better pic than this, it's the gearbox wth the remote removed.

It looks like you may have a modded Toledo lever welded to a Vauxhall lower section. It's vaguely possible to use a Cavalier short shift lever in your housing, the layout and design of the FWD gearstick housing is much the same on the RWD cars.

Steve

PS, I note you still have a cable speedo attachment, it may interest you to know that I have had a cable made for the job by Speedy Cables in Wales that adapts a Carlton (maybe Manta as well, the boxes are very similar) drive to a Triumph Dolomite Sprint speedo head, he still has the patterns and dimensions to make another if I ever want one. Whilst the speedo isn't spot on accurate, it's within legal limits.

PPS that speed sensor pickup is a right bodge! Twere me, i'd find a way to mount it on the gearbox case and pick up off one of the prop bolts like I did on my Omega powered Sprint auto

Thought you might like those pics, yes the Toledo lever is just butt welded to the top of the vauxhall stub, the geometry of the gear lever is definitely not quite right as it clouts the inside to the bracket, however I was impressed with the needle roller bearings inside the lever pivot, unfortunately seized, Im looking into the speedo sensor..it has flying magnets glued to the prop,.. it looks like there is what could be part of the old gearbox mounts, whatever it is it should make a sturdy starting place, or even using a Stainless band clamp, fit a bracket off this, and clamp that onto the tail housing, im still playing with ideas for making a quick shift, it could be just as simple as cutting off the lower link in the lever and extending it further from the pivot, I think the hard bit will be saving the needle roller bearings,,I bet they dont like heat, nor knock out easily,
I have been trawling the Internet, looking for bits so I can make a quick shift, over the years I have amassed a stock of bits, after a bit of box diving in my garage, which has in turn made me think, do I want to cut up my very nice, and expensive, brand new Quaife quick shift, Nah, Nor do I want to cut up a very expensive Japanese one I have, but what I have done is bought a very cheap chinesium quick shift for a BMW, bearing in mind, BMW use the Bigger/stronger version of the same gearbox, and hopefully it may well yield some useful parts.........

[ian.stewart]

Not that Im a whimp, but its a touch cold in the garage today..........
As soon as my cheap Chinese BMW quick shift arrived I realised it was not a lightweight animal, with the shaft for the lever made from 20mm steel shaft turned down on a gentle taper to 12mm, it will never break off thats for sure, the nicety of it is its easy to build into something else other than BMW,






started to knock ups bracket to take the quickshift,




time to lop off some of the excessive lever

then drill it out for the next bit,

the next bit is cutting down and fettling the old lever into the stub


assembled and ready to fit,

compare the two pics, 1st to 2nd stroke has gone from 300mm down to 55mm, im stoked with that,


But in the meantime I got a touch distracted after a Christmas dinner, probably too many beers too.... and a bit of facebooking...... Bugger there goes keep it simple stupid (KISS)




So, I now own a set of direct to head 20xe Jenvey 45mm throttle bodies, 2 ECUs alledgly configured for a 20xe, and a bundle of wires that appear to a loom to fit a XE, mmmmmmm what have I done,

[Carledo]

Not that Im a whimp, but its a touch cold in the garage today..........
As soon as my cheap Chinese BMW quick shift arrived I realised it was not a lightweight animal, with the shaft for the lever made from 20mm steel shaft turned down on a gentle taper to 12mm, it will never break off thats for sure, the nicety of it is its easy to build into something else other than BMW,






started to knock ups bracket to take the quickshift,




time to lop off some of the excessive lever

then drill it out for the next bit,

the next bit is cutting down and fettling the old lever into the stub


assembled and ready to fit,

compare the two pics, 1st to 2nd stroke has gone from 300mm down to 55mm, im stoked with that,


But in the meantime I got a touch distracted after a Christmas dinner, probably too many beers too.... and a bit of facebooking...... Bugger there goes keep it simple stupid (KISS)




So, I now own a set of direct to head 20xe Jenvey 45mm throttle bodies, 2 ECUs alledgly configured for a 20xe, and a bundle of wires that appear to a loom to fit a XE, mmmmmmm what have I done,

Now i'm seriously jealous! Jenvey's factory is just up the road from me but I can only dream of affording their stuff!

The original C20XE Cavs (in fact all MKIII Cavs and my Donor Carlton) had a discrete management loom that was a cinch to install, 5 wires and running! I don't know how yours was set up for carbs, it may have used a stand alone ignition ECU, but i'm reliably informed that the original Motronic ECU is capable of being "improved". I've even got a loom around here someplace for an X20XEV, the Vauxhall-ized version of the XE complete with ECU etc, though it's only the 137 horse version of course.

I keep the original EFi on my cars in the name of KISS. The Motronic is simple, utterly reliable and NEVER needs tuning. My servicing schedule is down to an annual oil and filter change and 2 yearly new plugs and a clean of the dizzy cap which condensates inside in the winter. And the fuel economy is vastly better on injection!

I'm very impressed with that BMW pattern quickshift and would like one for my upcoming rebuild of the Carledo. I have a spare Omega box and it has a shifter, but it's old and tired. That one also looks more compact than the bulky Vauxhall offering. Just one query, how does it deal with engaging reverse? Is there a lift up or push down type of lockout?

In any case, if you could PM me with details of where you got it, i'd be much obliged!

Steve

[ian.stewart]

Steve, reverse lockout on my box is just a simple spring bias, simple as just push a bit harder left and up,

[Carledo]

Steve, reverse lockout on my box is just a simple spring bias, simple as just push a bit harder left and up,

Course it is! Silly me, it's a Manta box with reverse next to 1st. The Carlton/Omega box I use has reverse next to 4th and directly below 5th, much easier to make a mistake with if you're not thinking!

Steve