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$3k for a rebuilt overdrive

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You can buy the same unit from Quantum for about $2550, outright, $100 shipping and get a one year warranty from a man recognized as the best in the business. Trade in a 4-speed and deduct another $175.

Sometimes the bidding fever takes over and people do strange things.

I have a buddy in CT with a completely rebuilt unit in a crate just like the ebay unit that he'd sell for $2,000 all day long, but he's just too involved with other things than to get on ebay. He's not a real computer guy, and doesn't want to deal with the hassle of someone wanting a warranty, so he'll just let is sit and appreciate in value.
 
I don't really understand how ebay works but it looks like the same guy bid 3 times in less than a minute jacking his own bid up $400 without any competition?
Why would someone do that?
 
Graham,
You can set a "maximum" bid in your settings and the computer will automatically bid for you in minimum increments up to that maximum if someone outbids your current bid. So if the bidding was at $1 and you set a maximum of $10 and the minimum bidding increment was $.50 , the current bidding price would sit at $1 with your name as winning bidder until someone came and bid, say, $2. The computer would automatically bid you up at $2.50 and it would only show your name on the bidding history for that increased bid. If someone else came along and set a maximum bid at $7 but bid $3, the computer would again run it up to $7.50 with your name on there. And so on until someone bid higher than your maximum at which point their name would be entered in to the bidding history at $10.50. Make sense? Clear as mud? That's what I remember anyway.
 
AltaKnight said:
I don't really understand how ebay works but it looks like the same guy bid 3 times in less than a minute jacking his own bid up $400 without any competition?
Why would someone do that?
Click to expand...

That means he already had a higher bid in place. the system will automatically raise your bid to a limit that you set. Someone else was trying to bid but his "highest" bid will always met automatically...
 
Tom,

I've seen those units before in person and I don't know what they do to get that finish, but it is smooth and shiny and won't come off. I think that one may have come out a rebuilder in the midwest, who may or may not still be in business. I've been looking through old bookmarks trying to find the name, but can't seem to find it. Once I found Quantum for mine, I gave up trying to go elsewhere, with John being in CT 150 miles away.
 
The whole thing is that transmissions have this big "vood-doo" factor...a cetain mystique about them. Most people think of them as difficult to work on and, somehow, the average guy could never get one rebuilt himself.

The truth is they are pretty straightforward in design and MOST of us here on the forum could handle a rebuild with some pretty basic tools and some patience. You'd also need a good manual and access to a press...no big deal.

Remember that orginally the dealership mechanics who did the repairs on these were pretty much self-taught. I hung around the old Wisconsin Auto Sales in Milwaukee in my early days. they were an MG, Healey, Morris and Jaguar (I think) dealer...the guys that worked there certainly were no better with wrenches that the industry as a whole...and they fixed this stuff everyday.

A TR owner with some ambition should be able to tackle one of these and not spend more that $800.00 or so on bearings, syncros and gaskets and have a good operating unit when done.

I remember hearing that TR engines couldn't be rebuilt by the average Joe because of the engine having "wet liners" and you needed all kinds of "special tools" to remove them.

The "special" tool turned out to be a piece of 2X4...
 
"A TR owner with some ambition should be able to tackle one of these and not spend more that $800.00 or so on bearings, syncros and gaskets and have a good operating unit when done."

Me thinks it might also tale a bit of skill and experience.

d
 
YankeeTR said:
...I remember hearing that TR engines couldn't be rebuilt by the average Joe because of the engine having "wet liners" and you needed all kinds of "special tools" to remove them.

The "special" tool turned out to be a piece of 2X4...
Click to expand...
And this strikes me as really odd. In most of the world, this type of engine construction was a selling point, notably in vehicles such as the Standard Vanguard or Ferguson Tractor (both using essentially the same engine as the TR. Coincidence? I think NOT! :G). You needed little more than hand tools (and maybe that 2 x 4) to rebuild your engine under your shade tree or out in the lower 40 or ....
 
I spent $150.00 on an A-Type in '93 that just needed bearings. Two years later at TRF Summer Party I spent $400.00 on one that needed a lot. I felt I was taken. but was reassured that the price was good.
These prices are really getting ridiculous. You can buy a lot of gas or rebuild an engine for that money. It would take a long time to get a ROI.
 
Andrew Mace said:
YankeeTR said:
...I remember hearing that TR engines couldn't be rebuilt by the average Joe because of the engine having "wet liners" and you needed all kinds of "special tools" to remove them.

The "special" tool turned out to be a piece of 2X4...
Click to expand...
And this strikes me as really odd. In most of the world, this type of engine construction was a selling point, notably in vehicles such as the Standard Vanguard or Ferguson Tractor (both using essentially the same engine as the TR. Coincidence? I think NOT! :G). You needed little more than hand tools (and maybe that 2 x 4) to rebuild your engine under your shade tree or out in the lower 40 or ....
Click to expand...

Hi Andrew,

One of the preventative maintenance procedures in my old TR4 shop manual was to rotate the liners a 1/4 turn every 25k miles to extend the life of the liners and rings. I doubt anyone ever did it.
 
tomshobby One of the preventative maintenance procedures in my old TR4 shop manual was to rotate the liners a 1/4 turn every 25k miles to extend the life of the liners and rings. I doubt anyone ever did it.[/quote said:
I bet they did in merry old England, right about the time they did a de-coke of the cyl head.
Click to expand...
 
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