[lenus]

My gearbox was behaving funny so I thought I'd pop the inspection plate off and have a bit of a squizz inside...

I don't know much about what the gearbox is supposed to look like on the inside, but this just doesn't look right...

Maybe somebody can help me out here?

lenus.

 

[77SudTi]

ooooooooh, umm, not how it should look...

Your gearbox has chewed on a synchro ring...a pretty good effort really since its totally dislodged and also eaten the parts that sit inside the synchro ring. Which gear is not engaging? That synchro doesnt come from 1st gear. Whichever it is, it more than certainly will need renewing. Was there a big circlip in there somewhere?

Oh and did you let your girlfriend drive your car? Either that or you drive **** hard...

 

[lenus]

I didn't see a big circlip...

All of the gears engage fine still... Although 2nd and 4th gear sometimes don't engage properly...

But I have a couple of gearbox in peices in a box in the shed somewhere, can you change the syncro's with the box still in the car?... With old ones?


lenus.

 

[77SudTi]

all gears engage fine still, hmm, how odd. It really shouldnt. Which makes me think that its probably a 4th gear synchro, as at speed the synchro isnt needs as much as say 2nd or 3rd as the speed difference between the gears is not as great.
Synchros are a total gearbox out and strip it down job unfortunately, all the selector forks need to come out, the diff, the big nut on the end of the secondary shaft etc etc..
If you are to replace the gear just make sure it has the same number of teeth on it and preferably has sharp selector teeth.
Also check your other gears for damaged teeth as gears dont like synchro rings for breakfast...

 

[lenus]

Ah that sucks.

And na, don't let girls drive the alfa haha, it's a bit of handful at the best of times.

The syncro has been pretty crappy for a while now, it was pretty much non existent when I put the box in months ago, it was virtually impossible to change without grinding.

Then recently it started just slipping straight into gear no grind at all, almost as though some kind of vortex field has taken over the 2nd gear cluster, and just sucks the drive gears and selectors straight into it.

It's a strange feeling and it's what happens now when/if it goes into gear, so I don't know... It doesn't seem to -need- the peice that's missing because it still works, but last night when things let go I think it's taken some of the springs and stuff out from the selector shafts so the change doesn't feel quite right...

In the picture you can see what I mean, on that top shaft there's like a lone peice of metal there, with a spring that isn't really connected to anything, and an obvious missing split pin... So tomorrow I'm gonna open up wone of the other gearboxes to work out how it should be, get some spiral pins and bash them in, see what happensss.


lenus.

 

[77SudTi]

The spring and missing roll pin could be a separate issue. The mechanism is the reverse lockout, which stops you from selecting / grinding reverse when moving forwards. The roll pin that normally lives there is only a half length and has probably vibrated out over time, it can happen.
I would say the shift feels a bit lousy as the selector ring usually slides onto the synchro and squeezes it a bit giving a more positive feel, but without it there it probably feels a bit sloppy.
And be careful driving it, it could go bang in some unexpected way and lock up, in which case engaging the clutch wont save you...

Best of luck!

Any questions you have, just post them and I'll try and answer - Ive rebuilt a few over the years

 

[lenus]

Ok, it's back together... It seems to be normal, the 2nd gear grind is maybe a little less now then it was before.. I put new fluid in, there was alot of metal in the old stuff so...

I think I'm going to keep an eye out for a proper 16v box.

I want the longer 1st and second gear makes the car alot more normal around town.

Anybody know of any 16v boxes?

lenus.