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overdrive vs 5-speed conversion

To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: overdrive vs 5-speed conversion
From: Larry Colen <lrcar@red4est.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:17:49 -0700
Nobody was seriously interested in buying Jasmine. I'm sure that there
is someone out there that wants to build a street BGT that they can vintage
race, and she'd be a perfect car for them, but we haven't met yet.

Besides, it's not that I want to sell her, it would merely be the wise
choice. However, if things go well with the startup, in a year or so
I'll be able to fix her up the way I want, and build a race car as
well. 

I finally got all the parts I need to put the engine together. I'm
hoping to start next weekend. About a week ago, I brought the tranny
into the shop to have them fix the overdrive. It turns out that the
overdrive (rebuilt by O'Connor 20,000 miles before it went out) is now
just a bunch of noisy expensive pieces of abstract art.

At this point my options seem to be:

Put in a 4 speed, (~$500)
Get the overdrive repaired (~$1300)
Do a 5-speed conversion ($2000-$2500?)

Having gone through two overdrives in 40,000 miles, I'm not really
thrilled with their durability. Doug at Pierce said that he had done
the 280Z conversion, and had had a whole bunch of problems, but that
the ford type 9 tranny conversion worked wonderfully (even if you
never used 5th gear it was a better 4 speed tranny). It also bolts
directly up, unlike the Datsun conversion. Then again, they
sell the ford conversion. 

What sort of experiences have people had with the 5-speeds? Are they
happy with them? Are they worth the money? Any businesses or products
to avoid? 

In an unrelated note, when I was in Portland last weekend I took the
rental car out to the rallycross (autocross in a dirt field) and had
an absolute blast. Even at stock ride height, I suspect the MGB might
be a bit low for rallycross.

-- 
I've found something worse than oldies station that play the music I used to
listen to. Oldies stations that play the "new" music I used to complain about.
lrc@red4est.com                                    http://www.red4est.com/lrc


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