Old-Nail,
you'll have even better access if the n/s wing is removed, as well as the starter motor.

Even with a gearbox on the bench, I find that checking the security of the selector ring as well as peening it are carried out working from the nearside.

If it's fully unwound, which is when the synchro cone has to be moved into position with a pick or scribe, that part of the work has to be done with access from the offside...

ken

Ain't that the way? Two wings to choose from and I remove the wrong one.

Thanks Ken, I'll unbolt the starter as well, I'm beginning to form an idea of how fiddly this will be... <thinks>....I better warn the neighbours.

Update? How's it going Old-Nail?

sure the update will follow the arrival of the tools mr old nail ordered on ebay... and then he will give us a full run down,

(ps mr old nail im not critising, i really enjoy reading your detailed threads, there very useful! thanks )

S'ok James, I came here first and then read the update in the 'Tech' section.

Correct! I'm waiting for those tools to arrive that Ken put me on to. Anything that'll make it go smoother is worth waiting for.



And that's why I do them James, I'm glad you like reading it.

The way I look at, it there are roughly three sets of 2cv people - and I've met all three. There are those folks out there who are committed to, and passionate about the marque, those guys really know their A series inside out. they are the folks that we should be listening to and learning from. And then of course there are the rest of us mere mortals who don't know much.

There are also those who don't like to admit to knowing nowt, so they form the third and in my opinion most dangerous category, which consists of people possessed of very little genuine knowledge, but with the front to talk it up so it sounds encyclopaedic. A certain classics magazine editor springs to mind there.

And me? Well I don't care if I freely admit that I know nothing, I'm not embarrassed by that, which means that when I attempt a job I'm doing exactly what you or anybody else might one day want to attempt for the very first time also, with no experience, and little aptitude. All I know this far I've learnt just by doing.

I take plenty pictures and explain as best I can in detail because I hope to encourage others to have a go themselves and to learn from my mistakes, because if I do make mistakes along the way (and I do) I always say so! On the flip side if I find a good tip or a new product then I'll share that too, that's why I like this I2F forum, because we can all help each other which is just how it ought to be really.

When I first began visiting the 2cvGb forum a couple of years back I was looking for help with a few things technical, I knew nothing and said so. Blokes like Ken and Sean would always answer my questions, but some others treated their knowledge of 2cv's as if it was some hard won secret. One muppet in particular I remember actually accused me of 'Gleaning information about 2cv's'...ffs, what did he think I was going to do sell it to the Russians?

So I'll keep on writing so that others like yourself can either see what I'm doing and try it for themselves, or see what I'm doing, sneer, and roll about laughing if that's the kind of person you are - either way's is cool for me. I don't do it to big myself up, and the fact that I set myself up to rebuild a 2cv for the first time - warts an' all, with the world and his wife watching via the net shows that I have very little fear of, or regard for critics.

Al-righty then.

As I've mentioned in the technical section I had the chance to have a go at my gearbox today so I removed a few more bits that were bound to get in the way, these were; the other heater tube, the starter motor, and I disconnected the handbrake lever.

The sun was shining today which makes a change, and I even opened the gearbox lid lid while managing catch the detent spring....so already by my standards things were looking good!



The collar was soon identified, which had indeed unscrewed so I screwed it back on again easily enough, so far so good. I put a blob of grease in the detent ball hole to stop it flirting out and then moved the selector forks to and fro ensuring everything was ok.



I had assembled a few photo's and bits and bobs in the garage, in preparation for the job so that I had a rough idea what it was that I was looking for, but I soon found that when trying to peen the collar back on whichever screwdriver I used was always just that bit too long, which meant the hammer would keep catching on the bulkhead. After a while I gave up and sacrificed a screwdriver, sawing it off to the correct length.



Above: Does anyone else do this when removing bolts?
I think it stems from my lack of experience, but I once undid several seemingly similar bolts from something only to find later that they were actually all different lengths...and I had just chucked them all together in a box. Ever since unless I'm sure where they go I mark their place.



Having screwed the collar on as tight as I could I set too to peening it over which was a bit fiddly but I think I've managed it. (see above) I can't say that I was delicate with this bit, well I'm not really delicate with anything come to think of it as you might have gathered from the first blood spattered pictures of the open gearbox.

I'm in a manic phase at the moment, trying to do umpteen things at once, and now typing with bloodied stumps where once my fair manicured fingers sat. Unfortunately the sunshine didn't last long either, and now it's threatening to rain so I'll build the box back up again tomorrow and hopefully do the test drive.

Well done! A bit of blood is the magic ingredient to make these things work better...

Well the job is now sorted and the car put back together and test driven.

There isn't much that I can say regarding the rebuild other than it was the opposite of taking it apart, and the bit that I wasn't looking forward to at all which was replacing the lid without loosing the detent spring under it was actually a doddle.

So with the gearbox back together and the shifter re-attached I started her up to run back and forth just to make sure all was ok. This is the bit that I always find perplexing - the car started and ran rough, often on just one cylinder - why? It was perfectly ok before I dismantled it. I took out the plugs and they were fouled so I cleaned them up and put them back - no difference.

The garage was full of choking fumes by now so I had to move the car outside, and a few minutes after I did so the rain came down, and boy did it come down, properly, properly pissing down it was.... great!


Above: Not so nice weather for this duck.

After a while, well.... just long enough to get soaked to the skin I reckon, I noticed that the choke was full on, not in the cab but in the engine bay, I moved it 'off' and all was well again. I've no idea why that was in the on position as I've never used the choke since the rebuild. Happy with the fact that the car was running normally again I went indoors to change out of my wet clothes and have some lunch.

Around twenty minutes later I went back outside to reverse the car back into the garage so that I could get out of the rain and replace the wings and so on ready for the test drive. I started her up, and it ran as badly as it had before. 'Oh-No!' I thought, so it wasn't the choke after all, but I looked again just in case and - the choke was full on again. Weird!

Having reversed into the garage I began putting the wings back on. Now this bit is one of those things that nobody ever mentions. Plenty of times you hear tales of how the wings of a 2cv can be whipped off in five minutes flat, yet no one ever remarks about what an absolute bastard they can be to put back on. Needles to say my once shiny wings are now wearing a little less paint than they did yesterday.

I think the chassis I have doesn't help in that regard as it's an early 'Wheels' one, and putting it bluntly - it's shite. The front wings have to be persuaded all over the shop before they sort of come to a compromise and fit, and much paint is removed in the process. Not so my quarter panels however which permanently rub on top of the wings due to their funny position. The nearside quarter panel looked so 'wrong' that I tried to bend it slightly, but it buckled like tinfoil, so now I'll be looking for a replacement.

The test drive revealed that gearbox wise all was well, all the gears are back to normal and working fine, it also revealed that the dip beam in my offside headlamp had blown, no doubt as a result of the lamp unit being severely clobbered by the wing on refitting, so until I can replace it I have one white and one yellow bulb fitted.

So what have I learned? Well I have learned how to unwind a gearbox obviously, but I've also learned something even more important and that is never to dread a job simply because it sounds difficult or involved. Say 'broken gearbox' to most folk and their immediate reaction is that it's a job too far, and a specialist is needed. I thought that too. I also spent a couple of days running the 'lost detent spring' scenario through my head, finally convincing myself what an absolute swine it would be to put back together without it falling into the gearbox, and yet it actually went as smooth as silk.

So on the whole I'm glad I did it. I'm not glad it happened in the first place, although it did have the decency to unwind on my driveway and not in the Scottish highlands or whatever, so even that wasn't as bad as it could have been.

So I chalk up another bit of experience, and all it cost me was time and about half a pint of blood!

You are are star in the firmament to all us aspiring mechanics who actually have sweet fa knowledge but are prepared, like you, to have a go - well done son!

BTW - with the wings - what happens is that when you take them off, the headlamp bar relaxes, so to speak, and so when you try to put them back on they often foul the underside of the bar right by the headlight. Note to self - in future pull the bar forward prior to offering up the wings - I always forget until it is too late and a nice scratch on the top of the wing often follows!