gearbox woes

[dutton v8]

Have had my dutton back on the road for a couple of months now (although most of that time was spent trying to make it run a bit cooler, and then finding and fitting a new brake master cylinder) i went for another test drive at the weekend and all was well, until i returned to my garage and tryed to put it in reverse, it just wouldnt go in, it didnt grind or make any noises, it just wouldnt go into reverse.

I have a phaeton s4 with a rover v8 in, i think it has the r380 type c gearbox and i presume that it is a problem with the selector but i cant get access to the top of the gearbox very well, i have cut a bit of the transmission tunnel away but still cant get in that well.

Am i barking up the right tree i thought i would check before i destroyed more of my transmission tunnel, i especially dont want to have to take the box out as it looks like i would have to take the engine out first or take the body off and i have a new kitchen that the missus wants me to fit soon!

Thank you tom

[CastleMGBV8]

This may sound crazy, but have you actually used reverse gear before?

The LT77 has reverse to the left of 1st and the R380 has reverse below 5th to the right of 4th, you push the lever down to access reverse.

Kevin.

[dutton v8]

Hello, after further investigation i can confirm that i have the earier type LT77 gearbox(dont know why i thought reverse was right and down but i was convinced that it was, im sure this car is making me go nuts) i can get into reverse with the gearlever removed so i know that the problem is in the linkage, also i can engage reverse if i raise the gearlever whist moving it to the left but it takes a lot of effort to lift, and i know that this wasnt like this previously as the gearknob is not very well attached and would have come off with the force required.

Ah well at least the box isnt knackered as i was begining to think.

As two hands on the gearstick to engage reverse isnt very practical does anybody have any ideas as to why this problem would have appeared?

Thank you Tom

[CastleMGBV8]

Tom,

You should push the lever down and to the left to access reverse with the LT77

Kevin.

[ged]

Tom I've been using the lt77's for years & I don't push or pull I just slap it to the left & forward for reverse. If you remove the cover under the gearshift you'll see a plate that is spring loaded with adjustment bolts on the side of the remote to set the tension. It's worth looking at so you get an idea of how the mechanism works. That's not to say that things were changed after suffix D though.

Regards Ged