TR3driver
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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Larry, I'm not PeterK, but maybe I can cover the question.
There are really only two ways to get the Toyota box, you can either buy the complete conversion from Australia and pay to have it shipped here; or buy the kit from Herman and source your own Toyota box. Herman's kit is complete right down to the speedo cable (although I'm not sure if your speedo would be accurate afterwards or not); and has a lot of components in it that are not available anywhere else (except perhaps people reselling parts from Herman). He literally designed this himself, and has most of the parts manufactured himself. Either throw-out bearing is a readily available part, and the concentric slave cylinder can be rebuilt with common O-rings. The external slave (if you go that way) is a standard Toyota part I believe.
Herman has also asked me to point out that it's correctly a W-58 (although many people call it AW, since it's made by Aisin-Warner in Japan); and he claims it's good to 300 bhp.
Personally, for the same price, I would (did) go for a stock TR6 gearbox with A-type OD. Just can't see giving up a 7-speed semi-automatic for a 5-speed manual, even if it does last longer and give less trouble.
But when I went through this, it wound up being almost twice the price of Herman's conversion (with external hydraulics); which might be enough to tip the scales for you. And as I say, everyone I know with Herman's conversion (there are a lot of them in the local clubs) seems very happy with it (especially since they all started with non-OD boxes).
Now that I own (and have driven) two J-types; I think I'd take Herman's conversion over a J-type.
Just my $.02, YMMV, etc.
There are really only two ways to get the Toyota box, you can either buy the complete conversion from Australia and pay to have it shipped here; or buy the kit from Herman and source your own Toyota box. Herman's kit is complete right down to the speedo cable (although I'm not sure if your speedo would be accurate afterwards or not); and has a lot of components in it that are not available anywhere else (except perhaps people reselling parts from Herman). He literally designed this himself, and has most of the parts manufactured himself. Either throw-out bearing is a readily available part, and the concentric slave cylinder can be rebuilt with common O-rings. The external slave (if you go that way) is a standard Toyota part I believe.
Herman has also asked me to point out that it's correctly a W-58 (although many people call it AW, since it's made by Aisin-Warner in Japan); and he claims it's good to 300 bhp.
Personally, for the same price, I would (did) go for a stock TR6 gearbox with A-type OD. Just can't see giving up a 7-speed semi-automatic for a 5-speed manual, even if it does last longer and give less trouble.
But when I went through this, it wound up being almost twice the price of Herman's conversion (with external hydraulics); which might be enough to tip the scales for you. And as I say, everyone I know with Herman's conversion (there are a lot of them in the local clubs) seems very happy with it (especially since they all started with non-OD boxes).
Now that I own (and have driven) two J-types; I think I'd take Herman's conversion over a J-type.
Just my $.02, YMMV, etc.
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