>In article <200108290033.AA157810898@141.com>, Laura Gharazeddine
><Laura.G@141.com> writes
>>>I hope you put an overdrive in there if you were going through
>>
>>all that
>>>trouble and expense anyway...
>>
>>Nope. I went with a regular 1500 transmission. After much
>>discussion, driving, 'research' and thought, I decided that I
>>really do like my car the way it is! And it really does drive
>>wonderfully. (It's not exactly stock, you know.) Also, all the
>>stories I hear about o/d not working etc. put me off. (A friend
of
>>mine has this problem-he loves it when it works-when being the
>>operative word.)
>
>Very interested to hear that you made this choice. When I first
got
>Carly, and started learning about Spitfires, I made an instant
decision
>to replace the standard gearbox with an OD gearbox as soon as the
former
>wore out. As I learnt more about Spitfires, and found things
such as
>the Autocar mileage figures for both OD and non-OD cars, I became
more
>sceptical. As far as I can see, the only real advantage to OD
is to
>keep the revs down when cruising at high speed, which should help
to
>prolong engine life. Given that Spitty engines seem to last at
least
>150,000 miles if well-maintained, this is not exactly a top
priority for
>me.
Thank you for supporting me!
People have said, "(hrumph!) You've obviously never driven a
Spitfire with o/d!" Well, I have. Of course, they were more stock
than mine and hadn't had all the engine work, but I found it
nothing terribly special. Nigel's cam doesn't even kick in until
above 4k rpms-and then it's so sweet! That's about 70-75 mph. So,
if I'm in fourth, with overdrive, and doing that speed and
switched to o/d, the engine would drop about 1,000 rpms-which
means I'd have to speed up to get the cam to kick in again?
My engine is well maintained, and I only drive about 10,000 miles
a year...so...
I am curious and looking forward to taking Nigel up to San
Francisco for a long-ish weekend in November. I haven't been on
that long a trip with him before (about 8 hours of driving)-and
all alone! (Eeee!) I've only been as far as half way there-and
felt totally battered at the end!
So, based on the performance, I made my decision. Mike-if you ever
get out here, you've got to have a drive.
>What is more important, to my mind, is to preserve examples
of the
>cars as they came off the production line. The number of people
>swapping standard gearboxes for OD gearboxes at the moment
suggests to
>me that in a decade or so, you and I'll have the only Spitfires
with
>standard gearboxes left in the world!
Well, Nigel's engine is a little too tweaked to be "as they came
off the production line"... but it is the original engine. Of
course there's the Weber and the oil cooler, but at least it's not
some sort of engine switch. (Augh!) When I looked at the Spitfire
racing at Monterey, her engine didn't look that different from
mine! (Of course, that was on the outside-who knows what's been
done to it on the *inside* where no one can see!)
With all the engine swapping and gear box swapping, someday Nigel
and Carly might be two very rare beasties indeed!
>>So, I'm a very happy camper indeed and am really quite happy
with
>>my choice to not go to o/d.
>
>Very glad to hear that Nigel's heart transplant went so well. :-)
Thanks. Of course, it was only a used transmission...maybe in a
couple of years we'll be able to get him a brand spanking new one!
With the clutch and tranny-and a new spring on the throttle
cable-(and the brake adjustment of a couple of weeks ago)-it feels
like such a different car now! The pedals all feel stiffer, the
gear shift tighter, the noises and vibrations not what I'm used
to! It's like getting accustomed to a whole new car! (Ok, half a
new car!) It needs a bit more aggressive driving style than I've
been using on him for the last 6 months or so since he was
"ailing".
I wonder what will be next-because (altogether now!) "It *never*
ends! There's *always* something!"
Laura G. -and a rejuvenated Nigel (All clean and shiny and sitting
in his carport, covered.)
p.s.-put the radio back in today, as it had been removed for the
"transplant". Took me all of 20 minutes! I'm much more comfortable
now with electrical systems and wiring especially since I've
started work on pyrotechnics!
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