Hi folks.
Good news to report. I'm no mechanic, but I know a thing or two about electrons, so I tested Brown Rover's old inhibitor switch yesterday. It would only make when the shaft was rammed in as tight as I could push, and in N the detent seemed to manage this, but not in P. As the switch is the type with the non-adjustable shaft, I could see that the whole situation was in danger of escalating. Farting around with the linkage would be next, and that would likely open up cans of wear-n-tear worms, and all this on a gearbox I'd like to ditch in favour of a nice ZF 4HP22 in the not-too-distant future.
So I scoured the earthquake-ravaged town for another switch, preferably genuine, and turned up a shiny NOS Lucas switch, possibly the last in the city, complete with the adjustable thread, for just $40 (less than twenty of your very sterling pounds) and delivered it to John. The difference in the action of the two switches was quite obvious, and although I won't catch up with John again until Monday, I'm hoping that by beer o'clock yesterday the problem was solved.
And that would be a relief! The least significant of the jobs on the list I gave to John was starting to turn into the biggest pain-in-the-arse!
Checking the car out yesterday, still atop the hoist, the new sump gasket looks good, sitting above a freshly straightened and painted sump. You should have seen the old gasket! Yuck! No wonder the car has an undercoating of engine oil. John mentioned there was plenty of gloop in the bottom of the sump, including some lead (!!??) but nothing to be concerned about. He prodded and poked about the bottom end while it was exposed and says the old lump is in great shape, so far as he can tell.
Other leaks (especially since I replaced the valley and rocker cover seals) are now confined to the tailcone of the transmission, and a bit dribbling out of the front end of the diff. The transmission pan seeps a bit too, but I'm not worried about that. Oddly enough, my crank seals don't appear to be leaking at all, and as far as I know, they're the ropey old rope type. Wonders will never cease!