Gear Sticks - Remote Change Gearboxes

[Drumbogle]

In my quest to restore an early GT, my 'anorak' friends told me the chrome, Cooper gearstick I planned to use was wrong. Apparently the shaft should be black and the rubberised mount should be 'reversed'. I doubted such a thing existed, until I found one!

See photo ... I thought I'd post this in case others hadn't seen this version of gearstick. I've no idea why the design was changed. It's obvious the rubberised mount has indeed been reversed, and the shaft has been thickened somewhat.

Regards,
Anthony

[Peter Laidler]

Mmmmmmm. I'd say that from an engineering point of view and therefore cheapness, the black mone was a cheapened version of the chrome one because a) it's not chromed of course and b) it's simpler to machine one piece of steel - the 2x spheres and large dia socket onto one piece of steel then bend to suit than machine two pieces. Thicker shaft is probably an off-the-shelf engineering diameter and parallel unlike the chrome one that's tapered. And that taper has been machined! I agree that it's very marginal when you look at the two side by side, but production engineers look at thousands.

Might be totally wrong but I bet someone here comes up with the correct answer......

[mab01uk]

I would agree, a large part of production engineering is looking at cost reduction throughout the life of a product, testing any modification and then introducing a manufacturing change request to introduce it, as long as a break even analysis shows it is worth the cost of implementation. This must have gone on thoughout the many years of Mini production but no one could have known how long the Minis extended product life cycle would eventually end up being!

[jerry]

Hi,
Very early GT had chrome gearstick and chrome handbrake.
Jerry

[Drumbogle]

Interesting Jerry. Mine's a mid-1972 GT ... so early'ish, but not early. I wonder what the 'change date' was? Do you have an early/early'ish GT? If so, see my topic on "Commission Number (etc) Research" further back in General Chat ... I'd welcome any information you might be able to provide.

Anthony

[smithyrc30]

Hi,
Very early GT had chrome gearstick and chrome handbrake.
Jerry

How early is early please?
My late 1970 J plate had a black hand brake lever and a black gear stick.

[Dr S]

Mini thou's as mk2's had these when they had a proper shifter as opposed to a magic wand. Assume the two piece is to allow just the top section to be chromed?

[mab01uk]

Assume the two piece is to allow just the top section to be chromed?

I think you will find that both types are manufactured from two pieces but just with the rubberised joint reversed as a cost reduction as stated above.

[Jelmy001]

What's that? I never seen the component of this picture.

[Spider]

Our locally made Cooper S had a Chrome Gearstick.

[timmy201]

According to Somerford :
22G1190 GEAR LEVER, chrome
22A1586 GEAR LEVER, black

http://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/eshop/in ... age&id=151

Interestingly here is a 22A1586 style in chrome:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Oldtimer-Schalth ... 7675.l2557

[63Cooper]

While on the subject of gear levers. Can anyone tell me what type a 997 Cooper would have?
Thanks
Michael

[mk1]

early type straight remote lever with no anti rattle rubber mounting & a domed boot.

[Rich997]

early type straight remote lever with no anti rattle rubber mounting & a domed boot.

Think I've seen that image somewhere before, with a suggestion that is was a pre production mock up?
Cant see from this angle, but the suggestion was this specific remote change mounted to the gearbox case using horizontal bolts, similar to the 1100 box. Not sure whether a sandwich plate was visible.

Having searched for early gear sticks without the damper, there seems to be slight variation on the stick thickness, although all seem to have the same slight crank near the joint.

The gear knob here is unlike any purportedly early Mk1 I've seen on eBay etc, also looks a bit 1100 ish?

My 997 survived with original engine and box, but lost its remote change, so I can't validate which is correct for an early car.

Does anyone have the setup in the photo with domed boot?

[Polarsilver]

The MK1 photo is the original 997 remote change set up including the rearmost mounting bracket for the remote .. with the 4 x clamping bolts can be seen on the remote that join the remote to the diff case ..these bolts & studs fit at a jaunty angle into the diff case .. the two horizontal bolts that you are seeing are actually the pins that locate the weird shape gearchange ball located within the diff housing.
Your correct that gearnob in the photo is not standard 997... the one you look for is a rounded top tapering down to the thread area.
You can get a spare domed rubber gaiter from Somerford .. but get the part number off their site first .. as the Somerford parts guy always wants you to supply him the part number !

[mk1]

Yes the image is a pre production one, & yes it differs in some minor details. However, you were asking about the shape of the lever, this is the best image I could find off hand.

There is a pic of the boot on the Somerford web site.

http://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/eshop/in ... bYKB0mTkE3

[Rich997]

Shame the prototype arrangement didn't survive, looks really elegant.
I've seen very few early Cooper / 1071 sticks in the flesh, mainly through researching old photos.
Am I right in thinking there are some thicker sticks about?
I have one which is butchered by a previous owner (bent to form a quick shift), slightly different from the other one I have which looks like the one in your photo Mark.

[Spider]

Having searched for early gear sticks without the damper, there seems to be slight variation on the stick thickness, although all seem to have the same slight crank near the joint.

None of our Gearsticks fitted here, either for Remote or Rod Shift (until about 1977-ish) had the damper, they were all one piece.

Maybe look in Aust?

[jerry]

My GT is April 1970

[Costafortune]

Hi,
Very early GT had chrome gearstick and chrome handbrake.
Jerry

How early is early please?
My late 1970 J plate had a black hand brake lever and a black gear stick.

Both of my J plate GT's - September/October registration - had chrome gearlevers. One had a centre key start and the other had a steering lock, a time when BLMC were fitting whatever was on the shelves at Longbridge.

VIN's were:

XAD2281198
XAD2125270A