I'm just starting to do a few jobs on Gaston, my very rusty 1982 2CV6 over here in Godzone. (The Antipodes to you blokes). For those who haven't caught up, and I've been a bit sparse with my posting of late, this car was privately imported by an expatriate Pom who used it as a billboard for his Patisserie then sold it on to a bloke who parked it under a tarp in the Sydney rain for 5 or more years before giving it to me for the sum total of $0 Aus. Mind you, I also had to tow a trailer empty to Sydney and bring it back with Gaston aboard to Melbourne. A costly exercise when you consider the tow car was a V8 Disco 3. Great road trip for self and a couple of mates though.

Anyway. I'm investigating putting a reversing light switch onto the gearbox since the whole assembly is sitting on a stand and staring at me, somewhat reproachfully I might add.

Thought I'd first of all drain the gearbox oil before removing the end plate. The problem with magnetic drain plugs is that sometimes they hold a nasty surprise.

This one was holding a small (about 6mm) washer of the springy semi-domed variety.

Anyone care to surmise where from? Are there washers this small inside the gearbox or is it possibly a stray cover plate washer that's fallen in and been missed, sought, assumed to have fallen under the bench and ignored?

And as the post said, should I be worried?

The other question without notice concerns the fitting of the reversing light switch. The ECAS website advertise a suitable switch and a photograph of a (presumably) later end plate with a cast boss in it just crying out for a switch to be threaded and inserted.

Gaston's endplate isn't quite like that, but is not too dissimilar for mine. It certainly seems to have about 5mm of alloy thickness and a spot that would line up with the selctor shaft in the reverse position.

Can anyone suggest why I shouldn't continue on this path, probably with a locally sourced switch (I've got a couple of Mini ones somewhere)?

The Good Word from the Gurus of 2CVs would be wonderful, and I wait in anticipation.

Is that enough grovelling yet?

Cheers for now, Pottsy

Oh, and Gaston will live again. I'm still in the data gathering phase making lists of all the repair panels I'm going to need, cleaning up a replacement chassis that I've bought (not new, but not rusty either, unlike the one currently under the car) and practicing my mig welding whenever possible.

More news as it comes to hand.

no gear-tooth marks? so hopefully just sat on the magnet

1. You'd be much better off using an end cover which has the boss for mounting a reversing light switch.

2. Looks like one of the two 'Belleville' type spring washers which should be fitted on the gear lever side of this linkage...
http://www.ecas2cvparts.co.uk/repair-jo ... -1480.html

Some careless work by a previous owner or a partially sighted mechanic?

Pottsy Repco or Auto barn can sell you a pull switch which you mount on the firewall with a chain to the top of the gear lever connection. Piece of piss.

see this ...much better
http://www.ecas2cvparts.co.uk/reversing ... -1938.html

1. No tooth marks so yes, I believe it's had a quiet life magnetically attracted.

2. While I agree that I'd be better off with the "right" end cover, I'm severely limited in their availability over here. I was wanting to make a neat installation and figured that there was enough thickness in this cover to enable me to do so.

3. Certainly looks like one side from the gear linkage. I can imagine a scenario where the cover's been removed in situ and the gear linkage hanging above detached temporarily I suppose.

4. Peter. Certainly what you describe is un morceau du pis but I was wanting a slightly neater and more robust system. The car has had a worm drive clamp on the gear shift inside operating on a microswitch poking out of a bracket on the dash. Rough as guts. Having a couple of Mini reversing light switches lying around so to speak I was looking at something that appeared a bit more "factory"

5. Subarupete, that's the page that provided me with the image of the "correct" end cover. It also said that only cars with that end cover could be fitted with such a switch. A challenge if ever I heard one!

Thanks for the replies chaps. I think I'll breathe a bit easier now that it seems probable the washer came from somewhere external to the box. I guess I won't know until I finally get the thing on the road, still a long way away.

Incidentally, can end covers be changed with impunity? By the look of it the inside surface provides endwise location for the two longitudinal shafts. Is there any pre-loading on these? I can't see any shims present and I imagine that a little bit of end play would be de rigeur for these rather agricultural devices?

Cheers chaps. Pottsy

Pottsy,
to clarify, there should be both a spring washer and plain washer on each side of the rubber bush.
Perhaps the original 'washer dropper' assumed there should only be one on each side, so never realised that one had gone awol?

The end cover clamps the outer race of both mainshaft and pinion shaft rear bearings into the main casing.
End play in either bearing indicates wear, I'd have thought...

Ken

Ken. Totally agree in regard to end play. I posed the query as I noticed the centre shaft, bearing and all, moving slightly fore and aft in the main gearbox housing as I operated the gear shift. I'm assuming this movement is held in check by the end cover as you say, but I wondered if each one was somehow matched to the main housing as there are no obvious adjusting shims on the inside of the rear housing.

Bear with me as I'm very new to 2CV's in general. My experience has been in DS, Xantia and Classic Minis. (An eclectic mix I think you'll agree)

When I stripped down my box the other day, I read that there would be shims in the end cover to hold the bearing in place but when I carefully removed it hey presto - nothing????

Rear covers on modern gear boxes are machined not to have any shims, whereas earlier boxes need shims