FIVE SPEED GEARBOX - DRIVING IMPRESSIONS

Having given the updates in development and supply expectations of our five speed box, it has come into fruition. Customers worldwide have been receiving their long awaited gearboxes. The feedback has been very good. Odd teething problems have occurred, but more due to the "if all else fails, read the instructions" attitude of those suffering the odd problems. The demand is so high for our five speeder that I have had to wait my turn before I could fit one to my MG Metro. Sorry it's not a Mini, but it's my "utility" vehicle.

Well, what can I say? It would be very easy for me to be totally biased towards our own product, spawned by the genius of Dave Hirons, and manufactured by his gear manufacturing company Tran-X, so I will. I couldn't believe how right it felt. The fifth gear feels like it has been there all along - just needed the relevant link to make it operational. The gate is perfect, the throw of the lever equal to the other gears. And the gear lever bias is a joy. It's amazing that such a simple device could make such a difference. Even if the gearbox you have is only a four speed, the bias spring makes gear changing much more - well "updated". With the lever biased to third and fourth, gear selection is much better. No more "looking" for gears like a standard gearbox - second to third is achieved by snicking the gear lever out of second and a prod forwards to third. No waving the gear lever about. I think we will probably market this item on it's own as the improvement by using it is astounding.

Driving the car with the five speeder in it took a little acclimatisation. Firstly, as previously mentioned you didn't have to look for third and fourth. If gear changing was done in the usual fashion, it was easy to go into fifth from second. After a few minutes through. utilising the gear lever bias became second nature giving the car a very modern feel. Then came the apparent speed against noise alteration. I usually drive off the rev counter/engine noise as I have had intermittent speedo problems. The fifth gear in my 'box dropped the rpm by 500. You wouldn't have thought that this would make such a difference, but suffice it to say that at any given rpm the car is travelling around 10 mph faster than before. Some lurid moments occurred while getting used to this approaching favourite roundabouts or corners at my usual rpm sites.

This drop of 500 rpm means that the engine is not straining away to maintain reasonable motorway speeds. The quietness of the car whilst cruising on major roads is very noticeable, futher adding to the more modern feel of the car - getting on for being almost sophisticated even. The drop also means that the car does not struggle on gradients. I took the opportunity of converting the standard A plus gearbox ratios, which are pretty naff being neither one set of ratios nor another, to the close ratio gears of the old Cooper S/1275GT. Again, this was a change for the better to drive all round as the rpm drops between gears are just right for road use, be that standard or fast road.

Selection has not suffered either. Apparently on other five speed gearboxes, this is a problem; selection being somewhat awkward and hit or miss. In fact the only problem I have encountered is selection into first at a standstill, but this is largely down to an excessively worn gear linkage. To make the most of this conversion it is worth sorting out any wear in the linkage. The most notable point being where the selection rod goes into the remote housing. This wears very badly (mine is no exception - the car has done in excess of 120.000 miles!) and is the source of most selection problems. I'm confident that once I have rebushed this, the gear selection will be perfect.

As a foot note, it is worth noting that any clutch drag will cause notchy selection of first, and sometimes second, especially when at rest. This is most commonly experienced on vehicles that have the Verto set up using the very short clutch arm. Worn clutch arm and bearing carrier are the causes for this.

Once again, I can not enthuse enough about this conversion. As many people who have fitted a five speed 'box have voiced -why didn't Rover get around to dOing this themselves? I guess it has much to do with the repeated threats to finish production of the Mini, production of the new K-series engined Metro that uses a Peugeot type 'box, and the cost of production and installation of such an item. Whatever their reason for not doing it, we have - and made it an affordable proposition at the same time. Get your order in now!

Keith Calver

Importation rules regarding vehicles are very specific: Only those over 25 years in age may be brought in to the USA without compilance to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).