I've only put a hundred or so miles on the transmission, most of them
in the Santa Cruz mountains, and one one run up and down
Mt. Hamilton. In a word, I'm happy.
The conversion kit (mfg by Hi-Gear and sold by Pierce and others) is
very nice. It comes with just about everything that you need. It does
not come with a clutch alignment tool, and a stock clutch alignment
tool will not work. The only other thing that does not work "as stock"
is the speedometer calibration. It seems to be 15-25% low.
-- Has anyone else done this conversion? Do you have the calibration
info that I'll need to send it to Palo Alto Speedometer and get it
recalibrated?
My one complaint with the unit is that the gearshift seems to buzz at
certain speeds/RPMs. I don't know whether it's my unit, if I assembled
something wrong, or if it is endemic to the unit.
Installation was very easy, especially if you follow the directions. I
thought I'd be clever and fill the tranny before installing it. Unlike
the MGB tranny, it doesn't have sealed up tailshaft. I ended up
dumping tranny fluid all over everything out the back. I'd like to get
a spare end for a Sierra driveshaft to use as a cap for the tranny to
keep it from leaking when installing/removing the transmission.
The documentation did not say what transmission fluid to use. I called
Pierce and they said Redline 75wt so I'm running Redline MTL.
The shifter seems pretty precise, with that notchy feel that I
like. It's a little bit stiff, especially going into fifth but it
seems to be loosening up a little bit.
Cost is reasonable, with webserching and bargaining, you can pick one
up for about $1800. Dave at BMS sells a reconditioned MGB O/D tranny
for $2,000, and if you have a tranny and o/d getting them both
reconditioned costs around $900 plus parts, so cost is comparable
between the two choices.
Installation was a breeze. I actually found the supplied crossmember a
LOT easier to install than the stock one. Bolting up the transmission
crossmember was one of those jobs that was always an awkward pain in
the propshaft on my car.
I was very favorably impressed with the quality of the workmanship of
the unit. It uses the stock MGB clutch, throwout bearing, arm for
the throwout bearing, and clutch slave cylinder. It also uses the
stock starter motor and bolts to the stock backplate. You do have to
mount an bushing inside the tail of the crankshaft as the shaft
diameter is smaller than stock. The kit comes with the new bushing, as
well as two bolts to use to remove the new bushing if need arises.
I've heard that the Nissan conversions require swapping several other
parts, including the starter and engine backplate.
Apart from the shift knob, you cannot tell that there is not a stock
transmission mounted from inside the passenger compartment.
I see the big advantage of the 5-speed over the O/D unit is mechanical
simplicity. It's probably a little lighter, but you only have one
transmission rather than effectively two in series. Having diagnosed
non functional O/Ds on a couple of occasions (once it was a missing
ball bearing in the electrically operated valve, once it was a toasted
o/d) I like the fact that there are fewer assemblies and no extra
switches manufactured by Lucas in the system. I also prefer the more
standard shifting, when I had more than one manual transmission car,
I'd always reach for the wrong lever to shift out of fourth, whether I
was in the MG with o/d or a car with a regular fivespeed.
Is it worth switching if you already have an O/D in your MGB?
Probably not. If you're looking to get that taller gearing, unless you
are a freak for originality, I'd highly reccomend looking into one of
these kits.
--
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
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|