Long story shorter. After more mileage and performance trouble with my 68 B18B, I've pulled the injector-port plugged B20E/M41 out of my 67 wagon. The wagon is half-disassembled and should get some body welding before I get it painted. No sense wasting my best engine/gearbox while gasoline costs nearly $3.50 a gallon. I can do the swap this weekend and at least see some improvement while I investigate the B18B further...

The extraction was harder than usual due to a stuck bolt and it required some pulling and twisting to get the whole enchilada out of the 67's engine bay.

The main casualty was the 4th gear lockout which scrapped along the drive tunnel breaking the topmost bit off. The spring was sticking out.

If I put the spring back in, the "spring" is restored to the ball, but I'm not sure if restoring the spring alone will restore function.

I need to find a replacement switch for sure, but I only have this weekend to complete the motor/gearbox swap with the sedan.

I know I can wire out the 4th gear switch, but I'd like to keep normal functionality until I can get the new switch.

Any ideas? anyone have a spare switch or know of the best/most affordable source?

While it's certainly best to have a working 4th gear "lockout" switch (which, of course, locks out the od), there are ways to deal with it temporarily. I was faced with a non-functioning switch on a car I purchased years ago and not having the time to deal with replacing it immediately, I wired up a key buzzer and warning light using one of Volvos simple 3 prong relays. I took + to the extra relay from the OD relay's far side and ground from the reverse light relay. Therefore if I inadvertantly left the car with the od switched on, the buzzer and lamp would activate as soon as I went to engage reverse. This method also allowed me to play with the od in gears other than 4th, just as MGs (3rd & 4th) and Triumphs (2nd, 3rd & 4th) are wired. It was interesting having a 7 speed for a while.

I'm going out on a limb here but it's possible that the OD switch and the reverse light switch are the same. The parts book only shows one on the gearbox and the electrical section refers the back-up light switch back to the Gearbox section without giving a number. The part number of the reverse switch is in the index as #662292, says 2 off so that's encouraging. My spare GB/OD a few miles away. You'll be able to see when you have both units out of the car. You should then have 2 undamaged switches for installing the B20/M41. The switches are just switches and don't actually physically lock out anything in the GB. When in top or reverse, a part of the GB selector mechanism pushes up the switch plunger. When in any other gears the plunger is "down" and the switch is "open".

Good luck.
Derek UK

I have one you can have, but it will be Monday before I can ship it. Looks good, but would need to test it.

Paul

Sounds like that might work, e-mail me off list and we can work something out.

I guess nobody knows if the switch can be fixed?