As a break from working on the bodyshell, the gearbox and the A-type overdrive were rebuilt. The car did have an overdrive gearbox when it left the factory, but not when I bought it. An almost complete second-hand O/D was purchased along with a second-hand TR4A gearbox and overdrive. From these units and some new parts, including a new A-type mainshaft, one good unit was built.

A cradle was made to hold the gear clusters, to get an idea how it all fitted together! Damage to the teeth on the constant pinion gears, caused by pieces of a disintegrated layshaft bearing, can be seen here. What cannot be seen is the badly damaged layshaft and bearings. The other picture shows the selector mechanism dismantled.

The overdrive only required dismantling and cleaning before being reassembled with TR6 ancillaries. The last picture shows the rebuilt gearbox ready for installation on the chassis.

I partly disassembled the differential (to paint it and renew the oil seals) as it was an exchange unit from Cox & Buckles (remember them!) that had only been on the car for a year so when the restoration started. The previous unit had completely broken off a tooth on the pinion one morning on the way to work while accelerating rather vigorously around a sweeping curve! It still got me home though!

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