Morris Minor Owners Club

anyone give me advice re options to upgrade to 5 speed in a traveller - seen the birmingham ford based kit - any good - how involved to diy? Any other good alternatives? ta

The Birmingham kit is expensive and I have had problems with the clutch actuating arm not centralising the thrust bearing on a diaphragm clutch. BUT if you are using the standard clutch cover (with the Ford plate) with the carbon bearing it should be fine.

How easy it is to convert depends on your own mechanical ability. I would say it's all pretty obvious how it goes together but don't expect it done in 5 mins!!

I've done two Travs with the Brum kit. It's really the same as swapping over the standard box, except you bolt the new bell housing on the front of the Ford box and when refitting the gearbox cover you use the new one supplied in the kit (to clear the new box. The gear lever ends up a little further back and they recomend shortening the handbrake lever. I moved mine back and got new cables from JLH to suit.

With the first one that I did years ago the new gearbox support / cross member wouldn't fit. We concluded that this was due to the chassis leg being not original and a quick phone call to Mike brought the prototype member from there car, and that fitted like a glove - excellent service from Mike. The second one just fitted, simple as that.

BTW, you might want to move dip switch to make it easier to reach - min's on the column anyway.

It's an excellent conversion & I've still got a smooth box after 120K+ miles.

Sometimes you get what you pay for, and Mike's honesty and integrity speak for themselves.

Go for it, and enjoy it.

Was there ever a 6 speed type 9 gearbox? as I want to fit a gearbox with more gears, and if the 6 speed is not much harder to fit then I may as well fit the 6 speed instead of the 5 speed.
Tim

I think possibly so, AND a sequential shift one! They are made by certain kit car people (not sure who now) but if you search about I think you can find out............

Ive done a little research into the 6 speed type 9 gearbox. They do exist, but you have to buy them built buy a specialist company, and they dont come cheap. Also the 6th gear is the same ratio as the 5th gear on the 5 speed version, so the only advantage would be that the other ratios are slightly closer together. I was hoping that the 5th gear would be 0.871 and the 6th wud be even less, but that is not the case. So if you have £££ to spend then it would be good to fit the 6 speed to get slighlty better acceleration due to closer gear ratios, but I dont have £££... so I will get a cheap 5 speed off ebay and save up for the kit from Brum minors.

If any one is interested in the 6 speed box, go here:
http://www.quaifeamerica.com/transmissi ... rraseq.htm

Hello all,
a six speed Minor?, surely a retrogade step unless you have an extensively and expensively modified engine. I.e. an engine with a narrow power band and un-user friendly in normal traffic conditions. I can understand a 5 speed or an overdrive conversion if you have a larger engine to improve high speed cruising.

Alec

If your fitting a 5 speed box and need it to be reconditioned, you could ask the reconditioner to alter the ratio's to suit your driving style/requirements.
There will be extra cost but not excessive. The only 6 speed box is from Quaiffe and they are expensive, generally because they are all alloy rather than a mix. If your running a modded 1275cc motor you can benefit from fitting the output shaft from the V6 version which will give you longer first and second. The type 9 box has many ratio's to choose from, so you can easily produce a bespoke unit. The main downside of the Type 9 is that on smaller engines 5th is only really an overdrive . Fine if this is all you need but atleast with a 1275 motor 5th is more driveable.
Other companies producing these convertions are C.S Autoclassics and Autogear. If you are to choose between standard and hydraulic clutch actuation I would choose hydraulic every time.

Yes, just to agree with jonathon, I have a modded 1380cc engine (ex-1275) with the 5-speed type 9 and the hydraulic clutch conversion is recommended!!