Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi everyone

Hoping that I may be able to get some advice in relation to my series 2 and gearboxes. I currently have a 1955 series 2 (The Count) which has a 948 engine and a 4.22 diff in it, it also has the original series 2 gearbox in it which is getting a bit tired.
What I'm after is opinion please. I can just have the series 2 (three foot long direct shift gear lever) rebuilt with probably a few second hand parts due to the limited parts availability, or would it be better to have a recon 948 box installed (though modified to take the original series two lever, as I won't chop the floor etc. to have a remote shift 948 box.
I've been told my original box is actually really good condition, just tired, and therefore asked why I'd want to change to the 948 as its a weaker box.
I'd really appreciate some advice or thoughts on this.
Thanks for your time.
Cheers
Gav

The 803 box is the really weak box - the 948 slightly better. Not sure where you would get a 'reconditioned' 948 box from - not just one that has had a coat of paint..... It is reasonably straightforward to put the pudding stirrer on a 948 box - much more difficult to do so on the (much better) 1098 box unfortunately.

I'm not sure there's much difference in strength between the 803 and 948 boxes, having had both apart (though I may be wrong). What I am sure about this a that the 948 box has vastly better ratios than the 803 one, which has horrendously low gearing from 1st to 3rd and a massive jump from 3rd to 4th. So with the different engine and final drive, changing to the 948 box is well worth it. You'll need t have the box apart to do the few changes properly (gearbox tailpiece for gear lever, changing reverse selector rod and changing the speedo drive gear on the third motion shaft) so that is a good opportunity to assess the condition of the new box.

Yes - the miserable ratios are the main problem with the 803 box. Well worth going 948 even just for that. Trouble is finding a good 948 these days.

Alternatively you can do what I did, do a conversion using a 1098 gearbox. See my post in "Useful Tips"

Thanks very much for your thoughts on the matter. Certainly going to help make the decision.
Much appreciated.
Cheers
Gav