Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Game over!

Good option

That would certainly be my approach.

Peter, you have my sympathies.

Would one solution be to find another gearbox from an Italian breaker and use a local trusted garage to do the swap?

Alternatively, you could try removing the engine and box yourself but I admit it is a large committment although more straightforward than many fear.

Peter

I to was wonder if a visit to a breakers yard to buy a good MX 5 box would be the best way forward: you have the remote extension and the bell-housing, both of which are specific to Morgans.

Might be worth asking Vitesse if that is a viable solution.

Peter

I believe the gearbox oil is changed at 60,000 miles or 100,000km.

The gearbox has performed flawlessly up until now. I did notice it was a little stiff to get it out of first before I started the engine that morning but it did not particularly concern me. Other than that it made a strange click, more felt than heard, when I went to change from second to third. My initial reaction was that I had missed the gear and gone into neutral, and tried to put it into third again with no success. That is when I discovered it was still in second gear. If you look at the photo of the top of the box you can see the position of the selector is in the neutral position. The correct position for second would be further forward. The selector can be moved from side to side, as though in neutral, but can not be moved backwards or forwards.

I don't feel too bad about this. Any metal and mechanical object could have hidden faults and in some way go wrong. It is not as though it is a common known problem. I have just been unlucky.

As far as repair is concerned I have an excellent relationship with Borghi and given that I do not have an engine hoist etc. I would prefer him to do the work. For the repair of the actual box that is yet to be decided whether it will be done in Milan or returned to Vitesse. I think a good secondhand box of the correct type would be hard to find in Italy.

Peter

Sounds very much like something like a roll pin in the selector mechanism has sheared, sadly not that uncommon in gearbox work. Good luck with the repairs, as others have mentioned and if source is possible an exchange used box to get you on the road may be an option and refit your own next winter perhaps?

Feel for you....

The Mazda box is normally considered pretty robust. Vitesse tell me that they do not know of any other failures in over 6,000 boxes that they have supplied.

They have had one or two failures (pins shearing) in the remote mechanism that sits on top of the box but this quickly led to a re-design of the manufacturing process which should ensure no further failures.

http://www.ebay.it/sch/Scatole-del-cambi...5+velocit%C3%A0

There's this lot on eBay.

I thought I should report back on progress.

The gearbox is now on its way back from Vitesse. They have been fantastic, professional, and have responded promptly to all my emails and phone calls. It was probably the more expensive option to send the gearbox back to them for repairs but they are specialists and I feel confident that they have done a good job. Unfortunately the real cause of the problem does not seem to be all that clear and I can only hope it never happens again.

To quote their report: "We have checked all gears, synchros and hubs and they are in good condition. 
The issue was that the shift rods became out of sync, possibly due to gasket/ seal wear but we cannot find any other issue. We have replaced all gaskets and seals as required, including the rear oil seal which was heavily worn. 
We have also welded the remote lever as discussed, and fitted a new clutch release bearing and fork assembly. 
We have also filled the gearbox with fresh Mazda oil."

The welding of their remote lever (internal parts) was just a security measure to bring it up to their current manufacturing standard. Not really necessary.

I had already decided to replace the clutch whilst the gearbox was out and they gave me an excellent deal on the required components that had been in a car but with less than 10 miles on them (one of their auto conversions?).

Definitely recommended as a company to deal with.

That's great to hear Peter. Shame nothing definitive found but good to hear it's got a clean bill of health.