Gear lever bush replacement and rewiring the overdrive switch

When I got the car the gear lever looked lovely... but there were problems! Firstly the gear knob was loose and tended to rotate around the gear stick. Not surprisingly this strained the wiring to the overdrive switch which in my car is mounted in the gear knob, leading to an intermittent fault. Secondly, when I removed the gaiter to address this issue, I discovered a litany of past bodges and half a sofa in terms of foam wrapped around the gear lever- presumably to control vibration and noise. I did make a temporary fix so that the overdrive worked again but in the longer term it was clear that I will need to rewire the switch and also replace the nylon bush at the base of the gear lever which can cause vibration when its worn and may well have been responsible for all the past troubles. 

The overdrive switch simply pops out of the gear lever by twisting a screwdriver in the front slot

Gear lever and gaiter secured by 4 cross head screws.

Gaiter ring screws. One of these is smaller than the others and this fits at the front of the ring.

Lifting up the ring reveals the foam padding I had found previously

The conical ring below the knob is screwed down away from the gear knob

The overdrive switch just slips off the two contacts beneath so you can look inside the knob...

... and the slotted ring inside the knob is removed by unscrewing using a fine screwdriver to push it round.

Then the knob can be removed revealing my previous packing! (which I now remove)

The gaiter then lifts off revealing...

.. the mass of insulating tape and chocbox junction points left over from previous bodges.

The  console will then come off but you have to remove this screw at the back of the console tray

Console removed.

... and bad wiring assembly separated from the gear lever- its chaos with lumpy dodgy contacts. The yellow wire passes through 2 choc box junctions and three wire colours before joining the switch!

Although its probably not absolutely necessary, I removed the under tray by removing the three short cross head screws and their spring washers from the front.

Removing the lower plate...

...opens up access. The gear lever is held on by three special (shouldered) bolts passing through special (Thackery) spring washers and securing the horseshoe mounting ring (slot faces forwards).

Removing the three bolts- take great care not to drop them or their washers

I didn't want the wires to disappear down the hole either so I held them with string.

Horse-shoe plate removed..

... and the gear lever then lifts out- it should bring the old nylon bush (this one red) with it

The socket needs cleaning up- just visible inside is the small brass rod that acts to take up any clearance as an anti rattle system (about 2 O'clock). Just visible at 12 O'clock is the guide pin that prevents the gear lever from rotating in the socket. The brass rod can be lifted out carefully,  use a magnet to fish out the spring behind if it doesn't come out inside the rod. Give everything a good clean

Anti rattle brass rod and spring... not clear here but the brass rod had a sharp burred edge and has clearly distorted in use. There wasn't a lot of  grease in the housing. I removed the burring with a file to let it slide more easily over the gear lever ball. Pack the rod with grease and insert the spring.

The gear lever components separated.

Cleaned up socket and all fixings.

It was then time to sort out the overdrive switch. I decided to replace all the cobbled together sections with new flexible silicone wire. This has to fit within the gear lever slot so I first tested that the wires were not too thick.

Testing the new wires for fit in the lever groove.

The problem is that the overdrive switch has unusual connectors. They look like round pin connectors (or possibly female bullets) that are being misused in the this application! They connect not to a pin, but to a thin plate which slips into the seam slot of the contacts. However the main problem I have is that I don't have any more of these contacts and so had to use the originals again. Last time I had joined them by soldering them onto fresh wire, but the soldered section is stiff and cumbersome. It doesnt fit easily into the gear knob and rather undermines the purpose of using flexible thinner wire. I was forced to carefully uncrimp the terminals from their old wires and connect them to the new with a combination of crimping and soldering. I fitted bullet connectors to the other ends of the new wires to replace the various choc-box junctions.

Round pin connectors? Slots visible that grip onto the plate contacts in the overdrive switch.

I polished up the ball sections of the gear lever on the brass wheel before greasing them and fitting the new nylon bush- more grease on the outside of that.

Greased lever, new bush on end.

Do not forget to replace the brass rod and its spring in the side of the socket. Then you can align the slot in the lever ball with the socket guide pin and the lever then pushes downwards into the socket. Its a bit of a springy contact and is held down against this springy-ness by the horseshoe plate so you need to refit this with its thee bolts and washers. You can then refit the lower tunnel cover plate and feed the two wires through.

Horse-shoe plate and lower tunnel cover plate installed

... and connect the new using the bullets

New wires connected

Refit the console- again feeding the overdrive wires through the console, up inside the gear gaiter and through the keyway slot in the lever where they can be held with the conical ring nut. I inserted a length of tubing to take up any room left in the lever slot and allow the key inside the gear knob to grip- probably not necessary unless the gear knob is worn as in my case.

New wires fed up inside the gaiter and through the lever slot. The conical nut holds them in position., Here I am testing a piece of packing tube to take up any space in the groove keyway.

Push the gear knob down over the wires and onto the lever engaging the inner key with the slot in the lever. Refit the ring nut inside the gear knob and then screw the base cone back up against the gear knob to hold it tight. Finally, reconnect the overdrive switch contacts and clip the switch down into position.

Reconnecting the overdrive switch

Finally job done! Don't forget to reinsert the screw at the rear of the tray in the console.

Upgrading to Accuspark electronic ignition

Having  initially bought a high energy Powerspark distributor I subsequently decided not to use this and returned it.  This was because the HE system required a low resistance 12V coil and to bypass the ballast resistor system: I have just reinstated this system following the installation of the new starter so I'm not too keen on undoing this, and anyway the ballast system makes sense to me.  Secondly,  the new distributor lacked a vacuum diaphragm and consequently would look different from stock.  Instead I opted for a Stealth Accuspark conversion kit for the existing distributor which has now been cleaned and lubricated.

Stealth Accuspark kit- appx £30

As before the first step is to set the motor at tdc with no 1 cylinder on compression,  the rotor arm pointing at no 1 plug lead.

Motor at tdc

Distributor cap removed- Rotor arm pointing up and forwards at no 1 HT lead.

Remove distributor by unscrewing the two clamp to block bolts- not the distributor clamp bolt so as to maintain some semblance of correct timing.

distributor removed.

 I could then clamp the distributor in the vice (soft jaws) and start to dismantle it.

 Pull off the rotor arm revealing the points plate and condenser

 Pull the lead off the points spring and remove the clamping cheese head screw

 ... and lift the points plate off.

The coil lead passes from the points, through a grommet in the side of the distributor, but whereas earlier cars have this  grommet fitted into an open half-moon slot so it simply lifts out, in this distributor the wire passes through a hole drilled in the distributor wall. This means  you have to cut the wire to pull it through and remove the contact breaker plate.

Cut wires and pull through the grommet in the wall.

 The condenser is retained by a single screw so undo this remove the condenser but leave the earthing braid cable attached to the lower plate.

The magnetic trigger sleeve slips over the distributor shaft- it has a quatrefoil internal profile that fits closely over the spindle lobes so it cant go on wrongly.

The new pickup is fitted next, it slips over the stud that retained the contact breaker plate tip and is retained by the cheese-head CB plate screw into its original hole. The new pickup plate has a slotted location hole which allows the unit to be adjusted in its  final position. The pick up on the base plate must be close to, but not touch any part of the collar on the shaft as it rotates and although the size of the clearance gap isn't critical, it should be as even as possible.

Pick up positioned to give an even gap between collar and pickup and does not contact the sleeve at an point in its rotation. Note grommet already fitted onto the wires.

The new unit already has a grommet on the leads to insert into the distributor wall. However, the fact that this is a hole rather than an open slot means that the wires will not pass through and once again I needed to cut the terminals off to slip the wires into place. I will refit appropriate terminals later.

I had to cut these lovely new terminals off.

The earth braid has to be re-instated. Since there is now no condenser mounted beneath it, I needed to fit a spring washer on the screw to ensure it made good contact with the floor plate. Here the braid has been refitted.

The kit also comes with a cable tie to ensure that the new wires are tied away tidily and will not foul the base plate as it moves. Cut the excess tie off 

 ... and fit the rotor arm- I used a new red arm

Finally I could refit the distributor by reversal of the above process. I re-timed the motor to 30 deg full advance but you have to slacken both the distributor clamp bolt and one clamp-to block-bolt to allow the distributor to be turned.

In the event, I also installed a new Accuspark coil to ensure maximum compatibility with the new system although this was probably not absolutely necessary. In any event the coil I had was a Lucas item, possibly the original and so  now some 40 years old and replacement shouldn't hurt!

Cooling system flush block radiator and heater.

No pics for this one which is more of a placemarker.  I've had a coolant leak under pressure around the top of the rad for a while now.  Coolant collects in the weld seam gulley at the back top of the rad.  I suspected the otter switch seal....  But it could be the brazed seam itself.  Further,  the heater isn't working too well so I suspect its time to drain the coolant (probably overdue) and flush before refilling with new.

I decided to remove the thermostat to get a good flush through the block.  Mainly because Im nervous of removing the block drain plug.  Anyway I did it as follows:

Undo filler cap,   disconnect rad bottom hose and drain.  I collected the fluid but my local recycling centre has no idea what to do with it!
Remove themostat cover and thermostat...  Replace cover.
Disconnect top hose at rad.
Disconnect heater hose at water valve.
Using domestic water hose flush block through top hose and out of bottom.
Open and close water valve to ensure water can exit thru the valve when open and flow stops when closed.
Backflush thru open water valve into block
Flush heater through the water valve hose
Flush rad through top hose entry
Reconnect bottom hose,  fill rad and remove hose to drain again.
Repeat until draining water is clear.

I found the bottom hose was perishing so I fitted a new one.  I also removed and cleaned the otter switch. The seal was brittle and so I cleaned its seat in the rad with P1500 emery paper before fitting the new seal (buy several and keep one in the car) and old clip. The seal has to be fitted first dry,  and the switch then pushed in.  I used a little wash-up liquid as its very tight.  I took advantage of the opportunity to clean and tighten the spade connectors.  They slip easily out of the covers if you depress the correct tab.   Took loads of trial attempts and I can't remember which one worked!
I refitted all the hoses,  cleaning up their junctions and applying corrosion block grease.

I removed the thermostat cover again,  cleaned off any old gasket remnants on cover and block and wire brushed the studs.  I would have removed these to clean properly but they were pretty tight and would, I think, snap before coming out.  I did the best I could to remove caked-on crud around their bases.  I could  then fill the block and rad through the open thermostat housing before refitting the thermostat ("top" to top)  with a new gasket (no sealant) and topping up through the access plug.

Run the motor,  check level,  then replace the plug and run it up to temp (thermostat opens).  Allow to cool and check level via access plug. Again.

I had intended to use some K seal if the rad still leaked, but to my surprise the new otter switch seal has so far cured the problem.

I can also say I have improved the heater no end...  Not through the flushing, but because I hadn't appreciated that the water valve only really opens in the last few mm of its travel.  Mine wasn't set right and left about 0.25cms of movement when the cable was tight.  A simple matter to adjust the position of the solderless nipple on the cable and sorted!

Nb I had bought a "winter" thermostat with a higher opening temp.  This however also lacked any bypass hole and so filling with the thermostat in place would be impossible.  I refitted the old one and Im hoping that the water valve adjustment will be enough to restore heater function.