Magic wand gearlever 'gap' on assembly?

[mab01uk]

It has been quite a while since I last worked on an 850 Mini with a direct 'magic wand' gear lever. Currently restoring a 1959 Mini with my brother and on fitting the straight gear lever there seems to be a gap between the retaining plate and the alloy gearbox diff 'tower' it bolts to. All the exploded diagrams I've looked at only show the metal plate, two bolts and a gasket so I presume there was never a spacer/distance piece as found on the remote gear lever assemblies? The gearbox is later than 1959/60 but we have also tried it on another old 850 Mini gearbox (see photo below) with the same gap of about 1/4". Are we missing something?

[timmy201]

There shouldn’t be any spacers between the plate and the diff cover.

What’s the diameter of the ball on that shifter? Is the anti rattle plunger moving freely and pushed all the way in?

[Jason]

Check the nylon cup is not seized in the end of the ‘smoking pipe’ selector shaft.

[360gts]

I was curious about this...so, have a few levers on the shelf...tried them all in a diff housing....just as you explained...space between the cover and the housing. After a bit of studying....came to the conclusion....just dirt in the socket/cup. Cleaned it out and presto...they all slid right in.

[mab01uk]

All now sorted, many thanks for the help and advice.
Cleaned out the socket/cup, then when gear lever located there was some resistance when the small ball end meets the cup in the 'smoking pipe'. That was where we previously came to a stop and had a 1/4" gap. After a firm push it now enters sufficiently to leave just a gap big enough for the gasket.