hi, have a pinto engine with a type 9 gearbox,

runs smooth as a nut, everynow and again i will struggle to find a gear whilst changing down, but most of the time runs all good..

this just happens every, now and again, and only changing down a gear, also a gear crunch getting in reverse,

any help appriciated please.

If you're getting a gear crunch when stationary into reverse then it might well be the clutch not disengaging properly. Initially I wondered about a worn synchro but cars don't generally have them on reverse anyway.

Manual adjust or auto adjust cable?
If manual try adjusting out some play.
If auto make sure the spring retained wedge disengages on full depression of the pedal or it wont auto adjust.

Check two things, clutch adjustment wether pedal or on the lever arm, also make sure you have enough oil in the gearbox

This was a common problem on the Sierra and other Fords at the time.

Caused by dirt and rust on the input shaft splines not allowing the centre plate to come away from the flywheel fully keeping the gearbox driven when changing gears. Most common when selecting First and Reverse.

The solution is to remove gearbox and clean up the splines on the input shaft using wet and dry in every groove of the splines. Then apply a small amount of copper grease to splines.

Also check the splines on the centre plate and make sure they are also clean (or fit new).

Not the news you wanted Im sure but that was the fix we used when I worked at a Ford delership some years ago without any return issues.

Can be a few things.
Check adjustment as above. If thats OK its gearbox off. Check that the release bearing is OK. The fingers are all level (indicates diaframe failure) and not worn. Then strip the clutch and check the driven plate on the splines as above and for any oil contamination. Check the spigot bearing in the flywheel.
If that dosen't find anything your onto gearbox problems.

On some ford gearboxes like the MT75 reverse is selected alot easier if you put it into 5th first then reverse. Obviously while stand still.

The poor reverse gear selection was such a problem for Ford that when they developed the MT75 gearbox they added a syncro on reverse gear.