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MG MGB Technical - 4/s w/OD --should I buy rebuilt

Sorry. Me again.
I am considering buying a late B 4s/OD from Bromsgrove in UK. They say they'll pull a working unit out of a car (175 pounds) but no guarantees on longevity or sell me a totally rebuilt unit for 770 pounds with a 12-month guarantee. Question is, how many miles can one expect to get out of one of these units and should I pony up for the rebuilt gearbox?
Dan Neil

Dan -

Before you do that maybe you should consider contacting John at Quantum Mechanics in CT. He specializes in trannys and overdrives and may have a unit for you or know where to get one. He does excellent work, and may save you some dollars. 203-459-9612.

FWIW
Sam
Sam

Dan. A four speed with overdrive is a very desirable option for the collector. For the driver, either the four speed with OD or the five speed conversion are a good option. The purchase of a used OD trannie, even from a running car, is something of a gamble. It the trannie has been well taken care of, you have a good trannie that will work well for may years. If it has been abused, you will have to have it repaired. The fact it requires work is usually found after the tranny is installed in the car. A couple of days work if you do it yourself, several hundred dollars if you have it done. Then, it is time to remove the engine and tranny again, re-install the old tranny and reinstall the engine. Then, take the tranny in for repair and pay to have it rebuilt. Then, r and r the engine again to put the rebuilt OD tranny back in, hopefully for years of trouble free motoring. The price quoted for a used tranny is somewhat low by US standards (about $280) while the price for the rebuilt tranny with warranty is hard to determine at just over $1200 as I do not see many people offering fully rebuilt units here in the US. Shipping is going to be a big factor, especially if the tranny has to be returned for warranty work. So my advise, for the above reasons would be to consider whether I wanted the five speed conversion or the four speed with OD. They cost about the same and the five speed I saw was easy to install (used on an MGA). I would post a thread about Bromsgrove asking if anyone had used their rebuilt parts before, how good were they and, if they had to use the warranty, what kind of service and quality of work did they get. Then, I would ask for information of who has had their transmissions and/or overdrives rebuilt here in the US, who did it, what was the quality of work and what did it cost. Then you can decide what your options are if you purchased a used, non-rebuilt unit and had to pull it to have it rebuilt. For my money, any OD coming out of a car I have not been able to drive is suspect and may require a rebuild. Installing a rebuilt unit with a warranty makes a lot of sense if it is a good rebuild and a good warranty. I have seen bad rebuilds and warranties not worth the paper they were printed on. Ask some more questions, then make your decision. Les
Les Bengtson

Dan, try Atlanta Import Auto Parts. www.atl.britishautoparts.com. They can get you a used trans or rebuild one for you. Much closer than the U.K.
James Skinner

FYI, fellow water buffaloes,

Quantum Mechanics offers a rebuilt 4/s with OD for pre-1968 B motors for $1570.

QM's Sierra Ford kit totalled $1775, complete.

Atlanta Imported Auto Parts sells their Ford Sierra kit for $2495. Ouch!

However, their MGB 4sOD complete sells for $1295.

go figure.




Dan Neil

Dan,

Before you finalize plans, check out these two places:

Flying Circus Motors Ltd in Durham, NC. They repair all makes of British cars, vintage and otherwise. They should be able to provide some good advice.

Sports Car Salvage in Mt. Holly, NC (just west of Charlotte). This is a salvage yard with lots of MG's. The owner races a midget in SCCA, so I'd guess he knows his product. If you decide to go with a salvage, it would be much cheaper to drive to Mt. Holly than to have a unit shipped overseas.


Matt K.
Matt Kulka

Cool, Matt. Thanks. I'll do that.
Dan Neil

The printed Moss catalog (but not their online
version) lists rebuilt OD transmissions for all
pre-75 MGBs for $1995. I'm not recommending these
one way or another, and don't know who rebuilds
them, but its another option.
Ronald

Dan -

You might also want to check out Octarine Services in the UK, I have never delt with the company but Chris is an occasional contributer to the BBS and I have never seen anything negative [double negative?] about him or his products on this board.

http://www.octarine-services.fsnet.co.uk/octarine.htm

He has an OD kit with all the bits to convert a four-speed to OD for $345 US used or $640 recon plus $160 shipping, also complete OD trannys 675 UKP recon or 325 UKP used plus shipping.
Jon Sjoberg

This thread was discussed between 06/11/2001 and 08/11/2001

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.