Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Ford 1600 5spd Conversion? Rev reducton.

Glad you liked it!
as I said, I wasn’t wholly happy with the gear change

I’ll get a stock lever ordered up tomorrow, and we’ll see if that improves matters

I think with the quick shift, and the shortened lever to fit, and the crank on the lever, it all kind of mucks up the geometry of the shift
My old Capri was delicious to run up and down the box- but they may be tinted by 30 years of fond memories…..

Cheers Simon, it certainly freed up a lot on the journey, but I think you're right about the geometry being a bit off.

I've dropped Mike P an email to see if he had a similar problem with the speedo, and also dipped a toe in the water with speedycables to see how much a recalibration costs. Did the box come with a speedo drive? I'll email Burton and see what specs they provided.

The box has whatever drive Burtons put in when they recon’d it
It wasn’t something we sourced…

I’d stick some tape on the speedo at 30, 50 and 70 GPS in the meantime…

It’s how we ran the pit limit on the Britcar 24hr roadster I built….

Emailed Burton, so will see what they say - hopefully can get close with a different gear drive. If not, found that JDO should be able to recalibrate without breaking the bank.

I got Speedograph in Nottingham to re-calibrate a vintage Smiths tacho I acquired. This involved an increasing gearbox mid cable and a custom dial. Sorting your speedo drive would be a simple task for them I imagine.

The old 4 speed gearbox speedo drive would have fitted, all you need to do is make up a retaining clip for it

I think I reprofiled the existing clip and used a nearby bolt hole to secure it to the gearbox. That's what I did on my conversion

Checking the gearbox speedo gears is easy by removing the pressed in domed cover, changing it is a pain in the arse as the tail casing needs to come off. So re calibration is probably your best bet

I've got the standard gear lever, much shortened but not bent or anything. Had no issues with it but having said that it was from a fairly low mileage car - less than 30K miles.

Never really got on with quick shifts even in my rally cars, it seemed to me that they could be a bit too precise at times

Arwyn

Cheers - Simon and I are looking at options - I've asked Burton Power what was in the box they supplied- their very helpful answer was 'whatever was in the donor box' so could be anything as it was an outright purchase.....

Had a chat with Mike P last night and according to his instructions I need a 7T worm and a 24T drive. Apparently the 7T is the most common of the worm drive so fingers crossed I have one of those in, and just need to swap the speedo drive. I have a spare 25T one at home and will check to see what is in the old 4 speed box this afternoon. Knowing my luck I have an 8T worm, but I reckon it can be swapped out with having to remove the engine/box - just the interior.

Recalibration is an option, but 40% may be a little out of range, and I have read that is only alters the speedo needle and not the odometer which is the bit I use most. That could be a bit of internet bs though!

We're also going to experiment with a standard shifter - the quick shift gate is tiny and although I was doing OK with it, I think if I was trying to shift gears in a panic, I may struggle.

When I converted my 4 speed to the T9 5speed gearbox the speedometer was way out and couldn't get it to read correctly, so I bought a plugin GPS speedometer for $30 and use that - much more accurate.

Forgot to say, the other delight is I now have reverse lights that work when I put the car in reverse (as opposed to a manual switch)..

Small pleasures.....