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MGB MGB or TR6 -- 280Z 5 Speed Conversion

mgbmedic

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Hello BCF
It's been a long time since I've been on the BCF. After an ongoing three year divorce, living in a rented home, I've finally purchased my own piece if heaven. A beautiful 6 acre dream site with a fruit orchard,a creek running thru the property and the closest neighbor is a quarter mile away. But, no garage, so I've spent the last three weeks and what little time off wrk to build a 4-car hobby shack. Now, I,m back to the important things in life--my british toys. I now have a '69 B-Gt, a '80 B roadster, a '72 TR-6 and my latest--a 63 MGB which I plan to restore to original. OK, enough small talk. I am interested in doing a 5 speed conversion on the 80 B, but everything I,ve seen so far seems very expensive. I have two late model O/D trannys which I could use, but they can be finicky to say the least. I can rebuild the OD trannys for about $400 and install for the price of my labor $0. Why would anyone spend what they're asking for the 240Z conversion when one can pick up an original OD tranny for less than half the price. Am I missing something. I can get all the 240 to 280Z trannys I want for $47 each. But everything I've seen so far for the conversion starts at $850 to $2000. Has anyone here at the BCF done this conversion and if so, have you spent a small fortune? I look forward to all replies. Thanks
 
The Rivergate "deluxe" conversion kit costs under $1,000. If you source many of the parts yourself, you can spend much less. Bottom line: For just about the price of a refurbished o/d, you can have a solid 5-speed. Same cost, basically the same result - personal taste.

R.
 
Just be sure that you source out the correct transmission for the conversion. The 82-83 280ZX 5-speed. It has the proper gearing for the application we use them for. There are other Z 5 speeds, but they have o/d gears that aren't even worth going through the conversion for.
 
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