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MG MGB Technical - Overdrive weight

Anyone know what the MGB overdrive tranny weighs dry?
-Bill
Bill Mertz

I can (carefully) pick mine up and put it in the back of my pickup (and believe me, I'm no weightlifter). I'd guess 100 lb plus.
PR Peterson

Bill. When I shipped my Mark II tranny up to John Twist the weight was just under the maximum the freight company allowed, 148 pounds as I remember it. The shipping container, made for transmissions, weighted about 20 pounds, so the weight of the tranny and OD was about 128 pounds.

Les
Les Bengtson

Les,
I'm trying to get an OD tranny shipped from Canada to California. What shipping company did you use?
Thanks
Bill
Bill Mertz

Bill, I used Fed-Ex to ship. Contact the company and ask what is the heaviest weight they will ship. At that time, it was about 150 pounds and my boxed OD tranny was just a few pounds under the max weight. I think John Twist also used Fed-Ex to ship the tranny back to me. If Fed-Ex does not do that anymore, check your yellow pages and see who does ship heavy objects. There are still companies out there who handle the big, heavy items. You might also check with your local pack and ship store to see whom they might recommend. That is who I used with mine and they found that Fed-Ex would accept and deliver the package. I keep using the same place because of the quality of their service.

Les
Les Bengtson

I bought an overdrive trans on a trip to Hawaii a few years back. I had to split the overdrive portion off from the main trans to get it under 90 lbs so it could go as regular baggage and not as overweight baggage.

It was our wedding using wedding cars tonbridge anniversary and my wife didn't appreciate hauling the trans from island to island on our second honeymoon.

Never did use the tranny. Sold for about double to a friend who was excited to get it. It is still working very well thank you.

My wife has been talking again about going to Hawaii. I'm going to have to do some research as there are a lot of rusted out cars over there with good transmissions.

We're taking a trip to China, Singapore, Saigon, Malaysia, Bangkok, etc in January. Anyone over there got some good MGB stuff to sell??

This January when I was in Australia for a couple days I tried to get some JP pistons delivered to me in Sydney but I started too late. The whole plant was shut down for the summer holiday.

Barry

Barry Parkinson

I rcvd an email from Moss promoting their new Sierra 5 speed conversion kit. (You probably got the same email)
It is interesting to compare the ratios:

Moss/Sierra 3.65, 1.97, 1.37, 1, .82
Datsun 81-83 3.062, 1.858, 1.308, 1, .745

The Sierra has a lower 1st gear than the late model MGB box. I'm running a modfied cam and an alloy flywheel and find the Datsun 1st gear to be lower geared (higher numerical ratio) than I would like.

I'm not aware of any weight differences between the two conversions.

I have heard that there are aftermarket parts to change the Sierra ratios. I don't know if Moss will be offering any options- or if you can buy the kit separately from the trans.

The MGB overdrive is heavy, expensive to repair and by reason of the extra gear set, less efficient in overdrive, than a comparable 5 speed trans.

It's good to have some alternatives.

Barry
Barry Parkinson

Yeah,
I'm looking into doing a Nissan 240 SX 5 speed conversion using a modified back plate, and custom crossmember, driveshaft etc..
There is a guy who did this conversion for an MGA and said he'd sell me a backing plate for $200.
-Bill
Bill Mertz

This thread was discussed between 16/07/2006 and 19/07/2006

MG MGB Technical index

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