The V8 Owners Forum -

Thank you. I feel a LOT better about the whole idea now.

I'm not sure I'm up to stripping gearboxes... I suppose I could take the easy way out in that instead of swapping tailshafts, I could just have a custom prop made?


With regard to the selector, I'm sure that it's the correct MGB item. I drove an automatic BGT about 4 years ago and it looks the same.
The seller of that kit seems to make their money by stripping MGB's. I've bought items from them on ebay in the past.


With regard to the parts you were offering, would you mind PMing me some contact details? It'll be a little while before I can buy things, though. I'm a final year university student and my next "pay day" isn't untill the end of April!


Thanks for all your help, today though. I really think that the BW35 is definately now the way to go - much more so than the Factory V8 manual on the basis that they are very expensive assuming you can find one.
These BW35's do seem a little bit more abundant.

Cheers,

JC.

I agree the selector lever looks correct, it's the long rod from the lever on the box that would serve no purpose of the lever was mounted on the side of the casing, and if the rod was used the lever would be a long way back. Just not sure about the rod.

JC

Theres a BW66 on e-bay which will bolt straight on.
Don't know the spec of the 66 but will have a search

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rover-SD1-V8-Borg ... 240%3A1318

If you have the original MGB 3.9/1 axle ratio you will need to change to a 3.07 V8 crown wheel anf pinion. which will still work well with the later O/D auto boxes.

Kevin

CastleMGBV8 wrote:JC

Theres a BW66 on e-bay which will bolt straight on.
Don't know the spec of the 66 but will have a search

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rover-SD1-V8-Borg ... 240%3A1318


Kevin

That will fit straight to the V8, but will need special rear mounts and probably a custom prop. I'm not sure that that particular box has all the upgrades that differentiate a BW66 from a Bw65.

Harvey,

JC will probably need a modified propshaft any way, do you know the difference of the BW65/6 mounts in comparison to say a LT77.

Whereabouts are you based as I may be considering a swap to autobox when i get to feable to want to drive a manual.= which may not be that far off unfortunately.

Kevin.

CastleMGBV8 wrote:Harvey,

JC will probably need a modified propshaft any way, do you know the difference of the BW65/6 mounts in comparison to say a LT77.

Whereabouts are you based as I may be considering a swap to autobox when i get to feable to want to drive a manual.= which may not be that far off unfortunately.

Kevin.

If JC uses the MGB 35 box he should get away with the standard prop providing the V8 doesn't move the box backwards too much if at all.

If you have an SD1 LT77, and an SD1 BW65/66, then the rear mounts are the same IIRC. You can mix and match pretty much anything between 65 & 66, and to a certain extent 35 as well.

I am in Essex.

Thats handy as I have a LT77 in the car at the moment, I'm not far from the Dartford tunnel, which bit of Essex?

From what you have said I presume you do auto box work, you can drop me a PM re what a likely re-build cost would be and what else you can do.

Kevin.

Thanks for the link, Kev.
I thought the BW66 had an electronic speedo?


Harvey,
When you say that the BW35 is "marginal behind a V8", according to Wikipedia, they were used on the 4.2 litre Jag XJ6. I know the 4.2 models were kicking out about 265bhp.
Would it perhaps be worth looking for one from a Jag and bolting the MG bits to it?


*edit*
It's a small world, eh! I'm moving to the Milton Keynes area around August!

JC. wrote: Harvey,
When you say that the BW35 is "marginal behind a V8", according to Wikipedia, they were used on the 4.2 litre Jag XJ6. I know the 4.2 models were kicking out about 265bhp.
Would it perhaps be worth looking for one from a Jag and bolting the MG bits to it?

Most of the Jag 35 boxes were behind the 2.8 XJ6, it really isn't up to using the full performance of the 4.2, which is why they soon changed to the Model8, and then the 65 and 66. You can build up any 35 box to the highest spec with the correct internals, and providing you start with the correct main casing you can do the same thing with a 65.

I've looked at Wikipedia and there is quite a bit of incorrect info on there about the BW35/65.

JC

Ther 4.2 didn't produce anthing like that BHP. The E type was supposed to have 265 BHP which was quoted as an SAE figure in reality it probably had about 225BHP and the saloons nearer 190BHP.

Re your LT77, whats actually wrong with it?

Kevin.

I use a BW-35 behind the Rover 4.6 litre V8 without any problems. Mind you I am very respectful of the torque that the 4.6 provides, so I drive with that in mind.

Also and probably more importantly, I live in Australia where much stronger internals are available for these boxes.

Ron.

Had a thought....

Would it be a sensible idea to aquire a BW35 from an MGC?
These put out 145bhp as standard and my V8 is only going to be making about 35 more HP and a handfull more torques.

The other benefit would be that the tailshaft and flange will mean I can use a standard MGC / MGB V8 prop since I'm using an MGC rear axle anyway.
Should also mean I can use an MGC speedo cable which *might* fit straight into my MGB speedo.

Any thoughts?

At a guess I would say the MGC box would have the same number of clutch plates as the ones fitted behind V8's, but I can't be certain. If you can get one it could make things easier providing the V8 doesn't neccessitate the gearbox being moved backwards or forwards.

Unles you know where there is an MGC BW35, I think you may be a long time looking though.

Thank you for the reply.

I know of a couple of MGC breakers and have a few contacts in the MGC community who might be able to provide me with some leads.
If I haven't found one by the end of the year, I'll just grab a p5 / p6 version as these seem to be quite plentiful. It's not a problem if I have to buy a V8 box, it'll just mean a custom p6 to MG propshaft.

Even if you get the MGC box you'll still need the V8 torque converter, bellhousing, cooler pipes, coverplate, flexplate, spacer and spigot bearing.