A couple of months back I was driving home from Bankstown     Aerodrome where I had just completed my AFR (Aeroplane Flight Review). Ronnie (our Rover 2000 Automatic P6) enjoys the trip to YSBK as it’s known in aviation parlance, and also likes to look at the planes when he’s there. How do I know this….he told me! We have great discussions when I am working on him albeit I do all the talking. I am sure most of our club members have similar relationships with their Rovers.

I was thinking to myself what a great feeling knowing my pilot log book had been stamped for another two years of currency. But any good thoughts were soon pushed aside by the gear selector that started to violently go up and down like a pogo stick. I will pass re the first word I uttered, but the next few were of similar meaning….what the @#%$#%!  I worked out later that the up and down motion was the selector shaft base riding on the front universal and can certainly count my blessings that it did not jam.

By this time I had stopped at the traffic lights about 10 minutes from home and found I could hold the shaft up in one hand and move forward quite normally. This got me home where I shut down the engine and enlisted a neighbour to assist in pushing Ronnie into the garage. I would check out under the car tomorrow as the engine and surrounds were too hot to inspect at this time. I spent the afternoon studying the workshop manual and preparing for what I might find the next morning when I don my overalls.

That night I called a good friend from the flying club, John Young who has his own mechanical repair business in Castle Hill. Being of similar vintage to me and indeed a Pom, he was familiar with the vehicle type and has serviced it on a number of occasions. I would give him an updated report of what I found the next day.

With overalls on, car stands at the ready I jacked up Ronnie and secured him as high as I could safely do so. This was complicated by the fact I have a small (3.7 metre) aluminium run about that is suspended from the garage roof above Ronnie. Clearance was tight all round but I was able to wriggle in and have a close inspection of what had happened. The stick had certainly dropped and the bush holding it was long gone, mainly through wear and tear over 40 odd years. After removing the front exhaust section I was able to remove the main linkages and manoeuvre the stick and its assembly away from the car. This was not as bad as I had thought. A new shaft bush and some TLC to reassemble was next on the repair agenda.

I again consulted with John who suggested this was a consumable that someone, somewhere would have. I could not believe that the first call I made to TR Spares who I had used during the restore some 15 years ago, had these. They were waiting for a new batch from their supplier, a local manufacturer they had arrangements with to produce them, for export as well as local sale. The same bush fits both auto and manual gear selectors. At $44.00 I thought it a fair price. It was a few weeks later that I picked this up when I returned from driving across the Nullarbor with my wife Viv and her mum. Perhaps a story for another time.

I had arranged with John to make a retainer pin (a cut down 5mm drill bit was the go) and we setup the selector assembly for me to replace in the car. It was fiddly having to work from inside and then underneath to get this sorted. Surprisingly the linkages were an easy refit, just the reverse of their removal. Thank goodness for my Meccano set days with tight positions and nuts, bolts and washers you had to balance. It was a good grounding for such a task. All the other bits and pieces fitted together OK and my test drive confirmed all was back in working order and Ronnie is now ready for the next YSBK run. Total cost $44 plus my time and a morning tea for John.