8 replies to this topic

[MG99]

Hi,

I've got a 1997 Rover Mini Cooper Sportspack that has been reasonably well modified by a previous owner! 

I like everything about it that's been done with the exception of the straight-cut/drop gearbox, which is just too noisy for my liking and for general use.

I'm looking for a recommendation for someone that may be interested in swapping out for a standard gearbox and in return for their work they get a much more valuable straight cut gearbox that has only done about 5,000 miles

Any suggestions please?

Thanks

[whistler]

Just change the S/C drops back to helical. S/C gearbox is only mildly noisy in 1st,2nd and 3rd gears. No noise at all in 4th. get rid of the drops.

[absx2]

No personal interest but I know what you mean as I had a mini with a SC box and a quiet exhaust and I didn`t like people turning around to see what was making the noise, I had three people in line to buy it off me though.

 

You need to check if you actually have a SC box and SC drop gears or just SC drop gears.

 

To do a gearbox swap properly there are things to check and shim and most likely a diff rebuild while your at it so my advice would be to get the job done properly and sell the box or gearset off afterwards.

 

I had just a SC box and standard drop gears and found the noise too irritating. 

[GraemeC]

Whereabouts are you in the world?
(It may be in your profile but that does seem to show up on mobile site)

[stuart bowes]

near watford by the looks of it

[Cooperman]

All that straight-cut stuff really is for out-and-out competition use where you have a very 'hot' cam with a narrow power band. The SCCR gears enable the engine to be kept 'on-cam' when looking for maximum acceleration so that when you change up at, say, 6500 rpm, it's still giving near peak power in the next gear. The SC drops are to enable the overall gear ratio to be slightly adjusted to optimise gearing for different circuits.

SC anything is the last thing you need on a road car.

I'm sure someone building a race or rally car would love your set-up.

[and90cooper]

My old big power 1380 was a right pain to drive in town or traffic with its SCCR box-it had a 3.1 final drive and first and second gear were ridiculously high-although a 3.4 would have made it much better.(it was built by the previous owner)
The noise didn’t bother me at all.

[Ethel]

If it's not just the drop gears...

 

The gears themselves are a relatively small part. If it's been well built your best option could be getting them swapped out. That way you'll keep the bearings & synchro hubs etc.

 

guess-works.com might be of interest. At least for the ratio calculator, if you're not sure exactly what's in there.

[Gaz66]

My old big power 1380 was a right pain to drive in town or traffic with its SCCR box-it had a 3.1 final drive and first and second gear were ridiculously high-although a 3.4 would have made it much better.(it was built by the previous owner)
The noise didn’t bother me at all.

I bet if that had ST ratios it would have been doing 60mph in first 😁