Eversince I got the Khaki Cruiser, she would occasionaly jump out of fourth gear, especially when flooring the accelerator, in other words when more power was put through the transmission. I've adjusted the gear lever, and the problem even went away for a few months, but came back worse than ever a few weeks ago. According to the guys who know, it is most probably due to long-term wear (hell, the poor car is 40 years old this year) either/or due to low gearbox oil levels, or because the previous owner drove it with his hand constantly on the gear lever, causing more friction and wear in the long run.
So on Saturday morning HW2 donated its gearbox temporarily to the Khaki Cruiser, and I did the exchange. Unfortunately I only realised late Saturday evening that I need a different release bearing, and I could only get a new one yesterday morning.
By around 16:00 yesterday afternoon, the Khaki Cruiser was running again with its new Bugger box - and the 4th gear stays put!
The two boxes next to each other, old Type 3 IRS to the left (the remains of some river crossing recently with all the rain here in Gauteng can be clearly seen on the top..), and HW2 1303 IRS box to the right.
These aluminium plugs were fitted by the factory to Type 3 IRS boxes, since they don't use the same engine mountings as a Beetle.
Although the Khaki Cruiser has reverse lights on its rear lenses, the reverse light circuit wasn't fitted in the factory, and the bulb holders were blanked off. (Reverse lights were not compulsary in 1970, and fitting them was probably only a dealer/factory option for higher spec vehicles.) So installed the reverse light switch, so that she can have functioning reverse lights for the first time in 40 years! Pictured next to the switch is the old factory-fitted plug.
I had to work rather precisely, as I was constantly being supervised by very strict quality controllers...
I will ask Bugger to help me recondition the Squareback's gearbox, and either put it in HW2 again, or switch them back, but it is quite a job, and I am currently pretty GATvol for lying under cars on weekends..
LOL @ Karma - good one, it is the first time I saw it!
Bugger helped me this morning to do a small modification on the dimple of set screw of the 'hockey stick' below the car. It seems like there is an eversoslight difference between the Beetle and Type 3, but it is A-OK now.
