Don Daves writes:
>One question raised by Kai Radicke I can answer - there is no overdrive
>on it. It has the shortest shift lever I've ever seen, it's kinda
>neat.
I used to own an A that I had put a B engine into. In fact, it was an 18G
engine out of a rotted pull handle B (so near, and yet so far!), and in fact
I put an airpump head on it (big valve, too). But mine was not a '59, it
was a '60. Anyway, the virtue of the 18G engine is that the original A
tranny mates up to it perfectly. Spline dimensions are the same as on the
original A 1600/1622 engine, and the backplate is identical (I think). No,
an OD tranny is unlikely, because the A's tranny tunnel/frame won't
accomodate it (at least not w/o some mods I'd guess). That's why I used the
A's box in the first place; I don't think the early B 4-speed will fit in
the A's tunnel either. Besides; the brace points are all different. OTOH,
at the Twist summer party a year ago someone was selling fiberglas
floors/tranny tunnels for the A that will accomodate the MGB OD tranny
(probably both the early and later styles).
I also put HS4s on the thing. They are much more civilized carbs than the
HS's on the A.
Did it all matter: probably not much. By the book anyway, the 1600/1622
engine wasn't that far off from the 1800 in HP/torque. I don't remember,
but is the A's rear axle ratio higher than the B's? Sort of limits what you
can get, in terms of top end anyway.
So, I tend to agree with Kai, its an early B engine with a late B head and
I'll toss my 0.02$ in by predicting its a stock A tranny. The short shift
lever sort of puzzles me. The stock A tranny shifter doesn't seem short to
me. Probably the PO shortened it him/herself so as to convince him/herself
that he/she was making quicker shifts so he/she could blow off all those
fuelie corvettes!
Will "hey, wan't there something important that I was supposed to be doing
today?" Zehring
p.s. Wow, top that sig, Mark J! two lines!
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