Air-cooled engines are just simple things. Sure, they’re a bit high-strung, drip oil and don’t provide any discernible heating supply – but what they lack in additional fluids they make up for with simple engineering.
They’re also relatively dry, and without water everywhere pulling them out of a car is a pretty simple procedure. I’ve pulled motors on lifts, in pits and just on the ground more time than I can think of, and after it’s all out I’ve always marveled at the simplicity of it all.
Here the engine and trans has been removed to fix a stuck slider which was keeping the gearbox locked in 5th. The coupling joint between the shift rod and the front of the box had become loose and slipped back on the rod. This allowed the shifter to pull the slider way more than it was designed to, and actually pulled the cog right off.
So with no power tools, no lights, no lift and minimal space, it was still a fairly simple procedure to remove the whole unit, pull off the front cone of the shifter and put everything back into place. A new shift coupler, some new gaskets and everything was good to go again.