There should be a fairly good supply of Laycock overdrives over here - in
old Volvos! Has anyone on the list (not at Portland) investigates the
possibility of matching up a TR 4-speed (plus o/d mainshaft) to a 70's
vintage Volvo 244's J-type overdrive? I believe the mainshaft splines may be
different (also why the 'magic clutch' uses a stock vs. Sachs friction
plate), and possibly the speedo drive gear. Hmm - maybe I'm starting to
answer my own questions!
Cheers, JD
-----Original Message-----
From: Randall Young [SMTP:ryoung@navcomtech.com]
Sent: July 30, 1999 12:36 PM
To: 'Gernot Vonhoegen'
Cc: Triumph List
Subject: RE: TRanny/diff work.
Gernot :
I agree, it's unbelievable, but it really is true : a working OD is
worth
more than a parts car in the US. In fact, I've bought 2 parts cars
just to
get the OD !
I see several reasons : OD never was as popular in the US as the UK.
Even
the US cars that offered it as an option are almost never found with
it,
and most didn't offer it, due to the mass dis-interest. Probably
something
to do with petrol prices (OD got a lot more common after our 'gas
crisis'
back in '74). Of course, OD on LBCs also added a lot of complexity
to cars
that were unreliable to begin with.
Since LBCs in general were pretty rare (compared to US cars), and
the OD
trannys were even rarer, most junk yards (breakers) don't recognize
them as
being special. And since most junk yards don't keep the cars
forever, I'm
afraid many of them were recycled into beer cans.
New repair parts are also quite expensive, when they are available
at all.
($130 for a lousy solenoid !)
Now, it seems everyone with a LBC wants an OD in it, so we squabble
and
fight over the few units left. Demand is high, supply is low,
prices go up
(and up, and up ...).
What we really need is for some enterprising soul to collect up a
whole
container-load of A and J type ODs in the UK, ship them to the US,
and then
go into the business of manufacturing mainshafts (pure unobtainium)
to fit
them to LBCs.
Any takers ?
Randall
On Friday, July 30, 1999 6:20 AM, Gernot Vonhoegen
[SMTP:gernot.vonhoegen@stir.ac.uk] wrote:
>
> you folks sound unbelievable (in the sense that I can't really get
it.
> You talk about parts cars for 300-400$$, and then you flog od
trannys for
> lots of bucks.
> Situation here is the other way round. I get an od tranny for say
150??
but
> have to pay say at least 1000?? for a parts car. Sounds to me this
is the
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