Odd battery/starting problem

I rebuilt several of the HA boxes, the layshaft needle rollers were the weak point. In fact I have one I rebuilt earlier in the shed !! Rebuilding is like a chinese puzzle, the layshaft gear had to be laid in first, then after the rest was back together you could put the actual layshaft through the layshaft gears, if you were very careful then the needle rollers did not fall out, otherwise you started again. The trick with those boxes was not to fill them with EP oil , they needed (and were specified) straight 90. The ep additives caused excess wear on the bronze bushes and early failure of the thrust washers and then the layshaft needle rollers got the swarf and they failed, taking the shaft with them, I have several worn ones I still use as drifts.

The output shaft bearing failed on the one I repaired - probably because the oil seal had failed so it was running dry. The last 10 miles (to a mate's garage to work on it) the gear on the output shaft was rubbing against the housing. In 4th it still ran quietly, presumably because the input and output shafts are locked together ...

We rebuilt the box on my mate's kitchen floor!

It was an interesting exercise, but quite expensive. Later worked on an HB Viva, and this time bought a re-con gearbox - much cheaper. It came from A-1 Gearboxes and it had parts of strain gauges stuck all over it ...

I disagree that it looks contemporary. Modern cars have windows with sharp angles and plenty blind corners; the Sentra has windows which you can actually see through... No wonder people these days buy high

the size of window pillars is the main loss of visibility on modern cars, especially if they have air bags in them too.

Same here, and reading that made me whince about my friend's bad experience doing the same...

He was working on the car in the drive when a bit of rain came so drove it forwards enough that the open engine bay was under the open garage door. After doing a bit of work he sat in the drivers seat, legs out of the door, and started the engine...

Unfortunately the change of routine meant he didn't take it out of gear like he normally would, nor depress the clutch, and the sudden jolt forwards resulted in the corner of the garage wall closing the door on his shins resulting in one broken leg!

Mathew

The flatter front screen angle may need stronger pillars. Also the new fitting technology of rear windows leaves a lot of black covered area on the glass itself. I feel quite claustrophobic inside a modern car.

I had two nasty experiences of a similar vein but luckily nothing broken except pride.