... about the gearbox and the new linkage but I've had to face up and re-apply myself. Now I've mocked up the position of the dash and have a fair idea of where I want the gear lever to be, I've had to re-jig my thoughts about the mechanism. At this stage, it seems a bit of  an unnecessary complication to put in a right-hand change - it just gets too complex. Even if I put the gear lever outside the body and give myself a bit more room to play with, the bell-cranks and levers part of it is going to encourage a lack of precision in the change so, a centre lever it's going to be. Perhaps in time I might re-visit the right-hand scheme but for now, I just need to be a bit creative with bits and pieces from the come-in-handy box and get on.

A rear brake shaft support will be re-employed as the selector shaft support. I'll tap a couple of threads in the gearbox cover plate (taking care not to get anything in the way of the internals) bush the bracket and use a bit of the old gear lever torque rod (from a spare right-hand change extension) as the shaft. The bracket looks like it was made for the job and has a grease nipple fitted which is a bonus; it doesn't get much better than that. For the cross-shaft which will run across the top of the box and operate the shifter lever, I'll use the rest of the old torque rod which is big enough to take the milling and slotting for the actual gear lever and its pivot pin without the integrity of the shaft suffering. Here's the basic idea...

And, whilst I was messing about with the computer, I added a bit of bodywork to the chassis...

I know it looks a bit weird but I find it quite difficult to draw and paint on a computer. Having tried on several occasions to get the hang of CAD programmes, in the end I've always picked up a pencil and paper; it's so much quicker. With a computer you somehow lose the spontaneity (and gain a desire to throw the blessed thing out of the window). Anyway, if Learned Counsel spots this, he'll think I'm half way to Monaco already.

But I'm not - certainly not without a back axle. I've started to clean it up..

... and notice that the crown wheel and all the gubbins in the diff look pretty sound...

The bevel pinion and drive flange are in one detachable unit...

I've dismantled, cleaned and loosely reassembled this ready for the final assembly and adjustment. There seems to be quite a lot of end float which I'm not sure is either meant to be, or is a sign that it's knackered. I can't seem to be able to adjust it out but as I've got another couple of these units in the spares pile, I'll pull one out and see what's what.

The other thing I'd almost forgotten about is the front brakes. That would be a serious omission.