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MG MGA - MGA five speed conversion

I will be in the Uk in Aug ,for two week vacation...hope to get to Abingdon, and also to Derby, where Hi-gear engineering, is located..I would like to check out the conversion..I called Moss USA, which are marketing the Hi- gear conversion) but are doing the conversions by special order only. I was wondering what the shipping cost difference would be between picking it up in the UK or Moss US. Moss was unable to give me a quote right away.. Anyone done this? Is it a true bolt in?
Thanks,
John Coryea
s john

John:
It cost me round about $500 CDN to ship my kit and a reconditioned gearbox from High Gear, about two years ago. Plus taxes, etc. It seems there's always one more 'johnny with his hand out'.
If you purchase the stuff in England when you're there, you may be exempt some of the import duties which will make it worthwhile.
As for bolt-in: you need to drill four holes in the rails along the gearbox tunnel to mount the new cross member. You may need to do some minor trimming of the hole in the tunnel to clear the gear stick. Other than that, it's an easy installation. Peter Gamble's kit is very high quality and everything fitted for me.
Fraser Cooper

When I was in England two years ago, I went to Hi Gear and visited Peter. He was very gracious along with his wife who made me lunch. Peter showed me his original prototype trans which he still uses in his MGA. I had a little problem of carrying back a rear engine plate for my conversion on the train back to London. I had to make a choice of taking the rear plate back to my hotel and missing a play on the Strand or going directly to the theater. I chose the latter. It is very easy to get to him by taking the train at Kings Crossing. The size of the boxes and weight would make it difficult by train. You would have to rent a car and figure out how to get it on with your luggage. I used an air freight company to get it to Calif. It took two days to get here and 5 or 6 days to get it to clear customs. Cost of custom broker was about $100. The dealers in the US can make a reasonable profit and keep the price somewhat competive as they buy in bulk and can send it by ship. The cost of the custom broker for one trans or 20 would not be to much different.You could save some money if some other people would want to buy with you and ship at the same time. Peter is a pleasure to deal with and I can speak very highly of him.
JEFF BECKER

This thread was discussed on 09/06/2006

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