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Hi all,

I went to buy a couple of parts from a chap today and I see he had this shifter, I’ve not seen one before can anyone identify its maker?
I have an SPQR major change and I’ve seen a woolner and this looks different. Very interesting so I had to have it

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Some better photos

Docksides wrote: ↑Sat Sep 21, 2024 5:11 pm

Wow! Thank you very much, interesting

Was also marketed as Sackville. There (once) was an installation guide on the performance index.

Had a fibreglass cover as well.

I saved them from the main site

Wow thanks guys! Knew someone would know. Missing the main site already

Another pic from a Super Accessories brochure with the Sackville and SPQR both listed

Thanks for posting those.

I’ve got a bunch of parts from them, albeit no complete ones.

Hipwell wrote: ↑Sat Sep 21, 2024 10:27 pm Thanks for posting those.

I’ve got a bunch of parts from them, albeit no complete ones.

Any bits that’ll make this one a bit less rubbish?

Probably not, but maybe of use to someone.

Just looking at those old gear change contraptions, I'm bound to ask whether any of them really worked successfully? Or were they always just what they looked like....... clunky contraptions. And not cheap clunky things either!

I always felt you were better off keeping the original magic wand direct gear lever...or of course fitting a proper remote change gearbox from a Cooper/Cooper S/Mk2 Mini 1000 or failing that the BMC 1100/1300 (usually 2nd choice due to the rubber sandwich block but breakers were full of rusty ADO16's stacked up in their yards at the time!).
I don't think the aftermarket internal remote conversions bolted to the tunnel were that great if your 850 Mini engine unit had a lot of rocking movement in the engine mounts/steady bar rubbers....which most 850's did, especially when 'performance' tuned under hard acceleration....

From what I’ve read the SPQR was the best out of the offerings, although you needed to cut holes in the floor. I’ll let you know soon as I have a NOS one to fit to my supercharged 850

But even the SPQR looked as agricultural as the others! Mab has the best idea!

The SPQR shifter is only attached to the floor and the shift rod, so my feeling is it’d be more affected by the engine rocking back and forth

At least the Sackville shifter is braced to the gearbox end so it should be less effected by the engine rocking

The Sackville shifter only needs two bolt holes at the shifter end drilled through the floor, and not the big slots like the SPQR

My thoughts:
I swapped from a worn out remote shifter on my mini to a refreshed magic wand shifter. The magic wand is surprisingly short in throw and positive to get in gear, although I can imagine it’d be quite poor once the bushes all wear out as bad as mine was prior to rebuilding

I can see the appeal of one of the period shifter assemblies, but it seems like an SPQR needs much more cutting to the floor than a standard remote shifter, so if I was going to change back to a remote style shifter I’d use the factory one as it also acts like an engine stabiliser. It’s also a lot easier to find remote change parts out here

Having both in front of me I think the SPQR is a better build quality and design, the Sackville is very flimsy and I personally wouldn’t trust the two very small mounting points.

I agree the remote gear change is the best option but that’d mean going away from the 3 sync box, I’m trying to use only parts that were available at the time for my project.

Holes for the SPQR aren’t as bad as I first imagined

hi tim 201
my father had an old mini van when he worked in brisbane the magic wand could be lifted out which was his anti theft system one night coming home from work he was driving through the valley in bris when he stopped at a ed light just of the story bridge when about 6 louts decided to tip the van on its roof but dad got out quickly with magic wand and laid them all out on the street then got in the van and drove home
i guess they were sore and sorry the next day
cheers roger

For interest, the engine rocking/movement can also affect the modern internal rod shifters but most of the kits are intended for competition Minis with solid mounted engine/gearboxes. More info in link below.

Internal Rod Change shifter:-
viewtopic.php?p=176903