We’ll soon see. I have the axle out and will be cleaning up and inspecting the inboard CV soon. The event occurred suddenly when making a sharp left hand turn into an incline entering a parking area. Sudden loud clicking/grinding noise and unable to move further.

I have never seen a inboard CV fail but I have repaired plenty trannys from late classics 90s models with main shaft and diff pin issues. Good luck. Steve (CTR)

Good luck with your work

 8 Years of no use :   Prepare to flush fuel system and rebuild carburator.
 Add brake reconditioning to the system needs too .

Really getting this going again will be a great project, Good luck!

This is getting interesting, I look forward to your next post. Hehe

Well, it’s only been eight years since my last post. I am rightly ashamed for having neglected poor Brutus for so long. I’m finally well into removing the right driveshaft to inspect and rebuild the inner CV joint which seems to be the root of the problem. 

With the car jacked up and driving in gear, both axles should go round.

I'm thrilled to report that, as Malsal suggested, on looking down at the CV joint gaiters, the right one (RHD) rotates with the transmission engaged! So the problem is in the driveshaft/CV joint domain rather than the engine/tranny innards!!! Preparations are finally well in hand to pull the driveshaft and see what's what. Will probably plan to do the opposite side shortly as well depending on what I find. 

Well there you are. Got my fingers crossed for you. Just about anything that would interupt drive will include an R&R of the power unit. She's coming up on 20 years old may be the best time to address a number of trouble areas. Good luch man.

CTR

Thanks, all for the very helpful information! I will be examining Brutus' U-joints, etc. as soon as I can to get a better handle on what may be wrong. Obviously, I am fervently hoping that there is the root of the problem rather than in the pinion gear assembly. It's wonderful to have that ray of hope! It will likely be a couple of weeks before I can get to it; in any case, I'll report back as to what I find.

Peace, Love, and Twisty Bits 

Peter, I have not heard from you nor have you revisted this thread. E mail me direct if you'd like more info. [email protected] I don't want to sell you any income property unless you want some.

CTR

All good answers. Start the car up and put it in gear while having someone look at the inner cv's to see if they are turning, if they are you have a drive axle problem if they don't you more than likely have an internal gearbox/diff problem which will require what you mechanic has stated.

Or...have an inner CV cage break...drive gone (of course the balls got lost in the disintegration and disappeared all over the highway).  Happened to me.

Could be as simple a thing as an inner cv slipping out just far enough from the diff.
Simple enough to verify by just looking down and see how much CV is sticking out.
( yes this happened to me...)

I've had to deal with two of the busted diff. pin SPis, too. Both were bad enough that figuring out the problem was easy without having to do any more than look under the car. The big holes in the differential housing gave it away. That and the absence of oil on the dip stick.

Peter, I have rebuilt several late model trannys for SPI cars. I would be surprised if a single nut were the only problem. I have seen the pinion nut fall off but only after a local LBC guru (not local to me) had been at it. In that case the crown wheel and the pinion were both damaged to badly to use. The customer had just bought the CWP and paid to have it installed. The ones I have found due to wear and tear had issues with the diff. pin. It's pretty hard to loose drive with a unit that's all constant mesh gears. If it showed any signs of popping out of gear of grinding going into gear, face dogs are a problem with these in second gear most of the time. If all was well and then no drive I'd put my money on a busted diff pin. I have rebuilt two of the late trannys due to this issue. I have e mailed you an offer to help. Just so you know that's not spam.

CTR

Trade your prose for work done by the alleged LBC guru.  Everyone wins. 

Regarding the much loved Brutus, a 1993 Mini, whose giddyupper has suddenly no relationship to the energy transducer. 

Whilst enjoying a most sedate meander, all of a sudden there was near complete loss of connection between the engine and transmission. This from a seemingly totally normal operating state mere moments before. I have been told by the local LBC Guru that there is a recognized issue where some critical nut (other than the driver) can come off/loose resulting in this condition. He says that *if* said item didn't do any damage in its fall from grace the repair is quite straightforward except that it requires pulling the engine and transaxle and separating them in order to get at the damned thing.

My question, obviously, is do any of you understand any of this...better yet, have you encountered and repaired such?

Thanks ever so much!