No Drive, all of a sudden....Um, er... Help?

[Buggybloke]

Today I went out for a ride in my BlitzII, about 20miles, or so, mixed fast and slow driving. I pulled into a car park, and at no more than walking pace, the rear wheels locked up, stalling the engine, so I got out, and pushed... no forward motion, but it would go backward 10ft or so, then lock again, pushed forward, 10 ft or so, and it locks up. I tried to engage gears, clutch seems to feel as if its moving ok,.... I can't make my mind up whether the clutch has broken up, and the locking up is caused by bits of it catching on iside of bellhousing, or if it's the diff playing up. I can select gears, but on releasing clutch pedal, all I get is faint whirring noise, and no drive.... anyone got any ideas?

If it's not the clutch, and something more serious such as box or diff problems, I do have another gearbox that I could fit, how easy is it to swap a box from one engine to another? This is all a bit urgent as I'd ideally like to be able to complete repairs by Monday morning, as it's my only form of transport......

Originally my buggy had a 998 engine, but with the size of wheels, and the gearbox it had it couldn't pull 3rd gear for more than 1/4 mile or so, so I fitted the current 1275 engine(and the box it came with). Buggy perfomed quite well like this, (-ask Jason, he came for a blast in it.) The box on the 998 looks far newer than the engine, and I'm wondering if it is the wrong box/final drive for a 998 ?

All sensible suggestions gratefully recieved, thanks,

Matt.

 

[Phaeton]

Sounds to me more like a diff problem to me, but I have no experience of them. But if selecting gears & releasing the clutch just gets you a whirring noise then it sounds like all that bit is okay, it's just not getting the drive to the back wheels. As I understand the diff is a weak point & is prone to collapsing on high powered engines & it's always a recommendation replacing with a cross-pin diff (whatever that is)

Alan...

 

[Mini Mad Max]

It could be a nackered idler gear, they were a big problem as when they go they go big. They usually blow a hole in the engine to flywheel housing. Without this gear you will get no movement at all. One way to tell is that there should be a little split pin on the bottom of the flywheel housing, if you push it up and lots of oil comes out then you've blown a hole in the flywheel housing thanks to the broken idler gear and therefore no movement. If you only get a little bit of oil on your finger then it's time for a new oil seal . As for the locking, I don't know what that could be as i don't think a nackered transfer gear would cause that. Were there any odd noises before this happened, because a idler gear on the way out makes an unhealthy wining noise.
I will carry on head scratching
Max

 

[Buggybloke]

Thanks for input gyts,... I also put a message in the direction of John, at Guessworks Mini Gearboxes,.... he answerd with 'I got as far as you saying it locked up at walking pace', and straight away came up with a diagnosis, which seems to add up, apparently the main shaft bearing cage in the box can fail at about 90,000 odd miles, which seems about right for my engine, earlier type cages were metal, instead of composite/plastic, there were a few 'imprecise' take-ups of drive, at slow speed, when the most stress is on the bearing, and when it breaks down the shaft goes out of mesh = no drive,... sadly it's an engine out/box off job to repair, but I have a spare, newer box, of a slightly higher ratio, to replace it with.
It's just I've not delved this far into a mini engine before, so am checking/double checking everything.... any idea how long a gearbox change takes, anyone?... I'm at 70% efficiency due to weak left hand after recent Carpal Tunnel surgery, so it'll be even slower,... I didn'trealise how bloody heavy an A+ engine and box is!!!

 

[Buggybloke]

oops!!!! sorry I meant thanks for your input GUYS!!!. not gyts!... typing error!

 

[HolyCount]

oops!!!! sorry I meant thanks for your input GUYS!!!. not gyts!... typing error!

Nah -- you were right first time  ;D ;D .... really helpful and friendly gyts er guys though  ;D

 

[heeley]

Hello Buggybloke,

Of no help to you whatsoever, apart from the knowledge that you're not the only person with a gearbox problem........I took my Blitz 2 out for a spin a week or so ago and got a terrible grating noise when in top gear, been advised its a bearing on one of the shafts. I'm not in a position to remove the gearbox yet but was wondering what the easiest method is. Lift the engine out, and risk damaging the paintwork (on the Blitz, not the engine ) or lift the Blitz up and wheel the subframe and engine out from under it.

H.

 

[Steves2580]

Hi Heeley,

Definately best to unbolt subframe and lift Blitz frame off!!

We have four Blitz buggies at work and that is by far the easiest way to do it!!

Just remember to lable everything!

Have fun!

Steve.

 

[Buggybloke]

yep, I'd say this unbolt subframe method is a good one -if you have the room, and all the right tools... rubber cone compressor etc,... I'm gonna hoik mine out with an engine crane, as my Blitz2 is just sprayed with satin finish Army-green paint and is dead easy to touch-up, I've already got my spare box ready , except local tool-hire place hasn't got an engine hoist availablee til Monday, and local car-spares shop ordered in wrong oil seals... crankshaft ones instead of trans-block, and block to bellhousing GASKETS, bloomin pain!

Off-topic, I visited the McLaren Technology Centre today, with my girlfriends Dad, courtesy of Vodafone, ...got to play with all sorts of F1 cars, and bits and pieces,... also got to meet Lewis Hamilton!...quality day out! ;D ;D

 

[Buggybloke]

....ok, here we go!..... I hoiked out the engine and gearbox, and proceeded to seperate the two to investigate the horrors waiting within.... after an initial diagnosis,(collapsed mainshaft bearing) by a very clever chap who knows his mini transmissions,... it actually turned out to be the diff shaft, the one with the two diddy little cogs on, on peering into the box of doom, I was amazed to see one cog laying in one corner, and little bits of 'shrapnel', everywhere else!... so it'll need a good stripdown anyway, to get all the bits out. I fitted the other box I had spare, (I think from a Metro 1.3 HLE), the spare box has a different final drive, it's a 2.95:1, and the busted one is a 3.105:1, so it'll be interesting to see the difference in performance. Just for good measure, I'll be fitting an HIF 44 carb, in place of the HIF38 that was on the engine, this would help things a bit, I'd have thought.
I really want to put a better cam in too, but money is a little tight at the moment.
All that's left to do now is finish tightening the awkward lower engine mounts, and refitting the exhaust/inlet manifolds, carb, etc.
It wasn't the horror story of a job I was expecting, the worst bit was having to work on the drive with no shelter when it rained.
I did have a problem with the oil pump, I ordered two new ones, (1 spider, and 1 blade type, as I wasn't sure which mine was!), when I came to fit the new one, it was wrong, my original one was a blade type, but the blade drive was sort of stuck-out, so as to fit deeper into the end of the camshaft, the new blade type pump just had a flush mounting face, with the blade drive coming directly out of it. I tried to fit it but the blade wouldn't reach the slot in the camshaft. I stripped, cleaned, checked and reassembled the original one and used that, making up a new gasket from some gasket paper I had laying around. I got my missus to take the pumps back to the shop, and she gave them a flea in their ears, for wasting both our time!
It should be up and running in about another 20hrs or so,...time for bed.

 

[Phaeton]

Good show, nice to know it wasn't anything too serious well not serious as you already had the spares.

Alan...