Series Rover gearbox rebuild

      I had taken my new layshaft and gearbox housing to Andy's Auto Supply and had the 1st speed layshaft gear, rear layshaft bearing pressed on to the layshaft and the rear layshaft bearing race pressed into the case, $20.

     To begin with it was a struggle to get together. I started out in my unheated garage in the cold December weather, it is more like a big shed than a garage as you could fit a VW bug or a Mini in it IF it was MT.

     I had a 12x1 board across a couple of sawhorses with a hole cut in it to fit the rear of the mainshaft which protrudes thru the case. This way (as recommended in the manual) you can stand the case up and drop the various bits into place. This I did, then it hit me that because I was using some old gears in good condition that I was probably mismatching them and would have to take it all apart. This precipitated a vast search in my manuals and parts books, various websites in the US and UK for the differences between the suffix B and C gearboxes. On some I could count teeth in photos and on others the descriptions gave answers.

    Here is what I found; the "C" 1st speed layshaft gear is 14t, the 1st speed mainshaft gear is 30t. These have to match the reverse wheel assembly which in suffix "C" is a 16-19t part #561960
   
    So I had to tear the box apart and count teeth to make sure I had a matching set, which amazingly I did! I was sure with my luck I was going to have the layshaft gear removed and replaced........

     I struggled to get the layshaft and mainshaft to drop into place with lots of lifting and turning and putting on the bellhousing and taking it off for around 3 hours until my back said I needed to stop or face a relapse. What I did find was that my mainshaft needed to be a drive fit into the rear mainbearing as it wasn't letting the bell housing drop all the way on. With much finagaling I was able to put the layshaft and mainshaft in, in both vertical and horizontal( I was getting tired and frustrated with it) positions. Brian, it's easy once you've done it a dozen times!  Sheesh! I did quite a bit of pounding with my deablow hammer to get the mainshaft all the way on.

    The next day I moved everything into my warmer house.

    Out of my cold garage I made a new paper gasket for the bellhousing-mainbox as I had torn the one I made the day before. Using some posterboard and a machinist hammer I cut out a rectangle the size needed and located the studs on the paper.

Once these were located I used a hole punch to fine tune the holes, the studs would help to keep the paper in place whilst making the gasket shape.

Next the hole had to be made for the layshaft relief as it protruded above the sealing surface.

And the holes for the bolts located.

Then with light tapping with the ball end I worked my way around the inside and outside of the case forming a new gasket.

    In my lap in the dining room, tap, tap, tap........next up was to fit the pesky belhousing.

    The constant gear and distance piece need to be offered up to the primary pinion and then dropped in place on the layshaft and aligned with the mainshaft and the studs on the case all at the same time with only 2 hands. All this while not disturbing the now greased up paper gasket seal.

    I couldn't do this at the dining room table, it needed the hole cut out in the board set up in the garage. So back out into the cold, where with all my new learned knowledge I got the darn bellhousing on!

   I then put in the shifting levers and closed that all up.