Morris Minor Owners Club

Towards the end of a fantastic run the other weekend, my gearbox made a loud and rather unpleasant crunching noise. I stopped immediately. Following recovery to my local garage, draining the oil from the gearbox brought with it two cog teeth.

So, having considered a 5 speed conversion, (I've a 1275cc Marina engine) I feel my hand has now been forced. (Am I right incidentally that the stripping down and renovation of the original box is not worthwhile?) Where can I acquire a suitable gearbox and conversion kit, and what is a reasonable price for these? I live in sunny SW Scotland and am willing to travel up to about 150 miles to collect the parts if appropriate.

Anyway, any help, advice or suggestions gratefully received.
Thanks in advance.

A common conversion is the ford type 9 box with the removable bellhousing. Commonly found in sierras.

In OZ and NZ people tend to use Datsun boxes - no idea what needs doing to them tho!

Not sure if there are any "kits" as such available. I think you need to change the backplate but I'm sure there are people on here who will be able to tell you for sure.

Nope, it's the bell housing that changes to fit the backplate. I've done it, Cam's done it, and I'm sure lots of others have too. I got the 'box through ebay and the parts from the B'ham MM centre.

It's not usually economic to re-build the standard box after it's gone bang - but there are plenty of boxes about very cheaply - sometimes free ! I would just fit another standard box to keep it running meantime and research/collect the parts to do 5 speed later. Check ebay.

Since you are in 'sunny?' SW Scotland - do you attend the Moffat and/or Dumfries(Crichton) and/or Sanquar classic shows ? If so - would be pleased to meet and chat!

bmcecosse wrote:It's not usually economic to re-build the standard box after it's gone bang - but there are plenty of boxes about very cheaply - sometimes free !

There are a fair few about and if you don't mind swapping gearboxes around a few times you might get lucky and get a good one. A recon box is guaranteed to be OK (if it's built by the expert ) and you'll only have to fit it once.

On a budget banger or if money is SERIOUSLY tight then keep swappin' the 'boxes 'till you get a good 'un, but if you are running your pride and joy and want things perfect then get a recon.

I would just fit another standard box to keep it running meantime and research/collect the parts to do 5 speed later.

It will be cheaper to fit a standard 'box as the expensive bit of the conversion (the bell-housing) is not cheap and they don't come up for sale 2nd hand very often. You also loose the 'feel' of the Minor 'box which I think is much better than the Ford one and of course the straight cut & non-synchro bottom gear will be gone which I think adds to the character of the car. On the up-side though you do get a very handy 0.82:1 5th gear!

Just as an aside, I quite fancy the challenge of re-building a gearbox myself. I know it makes no sense, but would be quite satisfying, I think, provided all the parts are available for the re-build. And a good learning experience.

Yes, it's actually not as bad as it sounds (I've stripped and partially rebulit one but not the whole thing). It all makes sense once you've stripped it all out and there's no black art to it really. You can see the problem areas once it's stripped.

Rebuilding a box that has not gone 'bang' - is straight forward. Although some of the balls and springs are a bit fiddly. Once they have gone bang - the damage is too extensive - but to strip a running box and renew the syncro rings and maybe the bearings and the layshaft and it's bearings (and look very hard at 2nd gear) is not too bad.