Woodsport Mk1 6 speed gearbox upgrade

[Phaeton]

not particularly cheap this gearbox, yet still the cheapest torque for a 4AGE one can buy :)

I was thinking exactly the opposite & wondered how it could be delivered so cheap appreciating how many new parts & work goes into it

Alan...

[stenky]

I was thinking exactly the opposite & wondered how it could be delivered so cheap appreciating how many new parts & work goes into it

Alan...

depends on how you look at it. for what it does compared to toher mods (ie. fiddling with the engine) its very, very reasonable.
my gerabox is s bit more expensive though because i opted for the LSD upgrade and the shipping to slovakia is not cheap either. still it's money well spent in my opinion :)

[snowtigger]

Best upgrade per pound of any mods for a six speed plus lsd , I have seen Paul build one and its a long labour intensive process.

As Paul has said stripping 3 gearboxes to make all the parts first is hard work, then making it like having a brand new box for the price is dirt cheap.

[Phaeton]

depends on how you look at it.

I look at it this way, I have a Renault Megane there is an injector fault, specialist diesel garage want £120+vat for each injector if all 4 injectors are faulty that is just short of £600. Compare the work involved in replacing them with what Paul has to do & that's why I think it's amazing value. It's still a lot of money & I could never afford the luxury, but as a value for money product it's amazing to me.

Alan...

[Paul Woods]

I have to agree, i think it is a lot of money to lay out for a gearbox, no question, the new parts alone come to £400, i suppose the old bearings could be re-used but then i wouldn't be able to guarantee it at all, it would be a horrible situation if the customer paid for this and it wasn't right or became noisy after 500 miles.

The amount of labour this takes is crazy, it is a 3 day job, but the more of them i do the easier it gets, i find i can strip the Mk1b donor box for its bellhousing in under 4 minutes (90% of it is thrown away) , the 6 speed takes several hours to strip which has to be done properly.

I see it this way, you end up with something very special that not a lot of people have, and i know of people that have spent almost the same having a Mk1 5 speed box reconditioned by gearbox specialists. Ok they are probably replacing all of the synchros as well, but how far do you go?

Ironically if it was any dearer than it is i doubt anyone would go for it, so it's a fine trade off between value for money and what can be accomplished, certainly £300 labour is never going to make me rich for the amount of work it takes, but i really enjoy building these gearboxes.

[snowtigger]

Mate I used to work for carver brothers at one point in Manchester, big gearbox rebuilder and for the product you provide I think people are getting a bargain six speed LSD equipped mk1 gearbox.
And as a bonus the ratios for motorway driving will be better, I just wish I could get the same for the 2gr we can but hope.

[tripod23]

paul is there no way this can be done on the s54 boxes to make them 6 speed .

[Paul Woods]

I have looked at that in detail mate and there is just no way unless i have a lot of custom parts made at huge cost, the easiest way would be an adapter plate and just use the C60 straight on the V6, but that too has been tried and the gearbox lasted a week, now wether he was just unlucky we will never know.

[stenky]

How many C60 6speeds for mk1 have you alredy built Paul? I am just curious how special my car is going to be :D Since this upgrade is your invention, I doubt anyone else has done it besides you. Ok there are some C160 mods but these could be counted with the fingers on one hand.
Given that MR2 of any kind is a rare car here, with this gearbox, it's going to be super unique :D

[Paff]

Looks good Paul. keep up the good work. these guys who still have thir mk1's are lucky buggers.

hopefully in 2 more years I'll no longer be a student and be able to rejoin the fun :)