333 box rebuild

[swifty]

Hi I rebuilding my 333 box . All is going well , box turns easy but bit concerned when I put it in first gear . Seems like there is a bit to much ball bearing showing . I'm now wondering if I have the right 1st / 2nd gear assembly or the right outer track . The part number engraved on the outer track is 22g439 . Is that the right part ? Or has someone changed the outer track ? .... Ken

[rich@minispares.com]

that's not right, it wouldn't take much movement for those balls to ping out.

my rusty memory tells me that the sprite inner has a different length of 'boss' in the centre than to a mini.

unfortunately all my 1st gear outer track samples have been leant to someone, so I cannot check

[BRI MK1]

Hi Ken you need part nummber 22A1021 that will cure your problem cheers Brian.

[NickD]

Have you fitted the the selector gate/interlock into the case and around the ends of the selector rods yet, as it is this which limits the travel of the rod and fork and which also, therefore, controls the position of the gear on the hub?

[swifty]

Thanks for answers . Nick all the selector mechanism is fitted . Had a conversation with Brian last night and it seems that the inner and outer track are wrong . So will be looking for the part brian has mentioned . ... Ken

[rich@minispares.com]

just be careful hunting for a 22a1021

not everything has the number engraved on it, and its still possible for the inner to be wrong

1st gear outer tracks and inner hubs and the 'kit' number of the pair are an utter minefield - the bmc part book gets into a right twist with the change points and supersessions - it must have been a nightmare for a parts man in period.

I have just been going through all this at work and ive lent all my samples to the people who are going to be making new ones for us (RED HOT NEWS! )

[Nevsmini]

That's great news Rich. What the ETA?

[mk1]

going to be making new ones for us.

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS!

[rich@minispares.com]

That's great news Rich. What the ETA?

oh, it will be a while, its taken years of nagging for the process to be started, but the samples are getting drawn up and the tooling costed.

trouble is, we are on with a raft of new products at the moment, so we have some serious 'backroom work' going on at the moment.

its fair to say that 2015 is going to be a year of exciting new UK MADE products

[swifty]

Point taken rich . It would be great to go and buy these new , as would a thick flange block. Also a new servo that's been promised for the last two years . I've noticed on the mini spares website that the gear will be available end of jan 2015 . ... Hope so ... Ken

[rich@minispares.com]

Point taken rich . It would be great to go and buy these new , as would a thick flange block. Also a new servo that's been promised for the last two years . I've noticed on the mini spares website that the gear will be available end of jan 2015 . ... Hope so ... Ken

the gear is relatively simple as its 'only' two parts, the big problem was always the tooling/process required to control the twisting of the outer track part during the machining / heat treating - this has always been the bug bear and the thing that has held the reproduction of this part back for so long


blocks are not a huge issue from a casting point of view either - once the cost of the casting boxes is taken into account its only the economics of the cnc machining of the raw castings that's the expense.


those servos are more of a problem as there are so many parts, im not involved in them, so don't know anything more about the expected date, ive seen the samples though, and they look great