Gearbox alternatives

[austinh7]

Bit of background, my car has (had!) a 1275 Sprite engine and gearbox in it, yesterday had an awful clunk and lost 1st (locked up solid) and 2nd was pretty much unusable. 3rd & 4th just about got me home. Gearbox is out and lots of shrapnel from broken teeth.

It gets used daily and goes really well but I have always thought it needed another gear as cruising at 60+ is tiresome. I think it may have a lower ratio diff. as speedo is about 10% out when compared with satnav.

So the question is what are people doing these days for a stronger box with 5 speeds? From searching seems that Ford type 9 is (was) popular.

Happy to fit it myself as fairly handy with spanners etc. and have a fairly well equipped workshop.

[philthehill]

Type 9 is the most popular and easy to fit - there are other gearboxes available but getting hold of the conversion kits is a bit difficult.

Lots of information on the WWW and this web site.

[kevin s]

I started looking at an mx5 box, got as far as working out it looks doable, bolted to the engine and in the car, would need a custom clutch disk, new engine back plate, propshaft, gearbox mount, and shortening of the shift position, one day I will re-visit it.

[irmscher]

There is also a Toyota conversion but quite scarce

[don58van]

There is also a Toyota conversion but quite scarce

The Toyota conversion is popular and highly regarded here in Australia and also USA. Conversion parts are available from Delow in Australia.

Datsun conversions are also popular here. (Overdrive and 1:1 5th gear versions available)

In both cases, you would probably have to import the gearbox from here or USA as I believe they are scarce in the UK.

Don