Ok, just for those who might be curious about my progress with a longer ratio fifth gear:-
Bought a 4T gearbox and 1.6 engine off a guy on ebay for £15, took off the alternator and weighed in the engine for £7 - great, got a box and alternator for £8
. All I wanted from the gearbox was the 0.75 fifth gear cogs.
So, stripped the box following the instructions from Broke on the
www.thediygroup.com, which were excellent! I managed to get out the gears without damaging them!
Had to get the engineer in uni to fabricate a 27mm hex bolt and to file off the bottom of the bearing pullers to get under the gears, job done.
As I was fed up of the crunching onto second gear, I booked my car in to get the synchro done and told the mechanic to pop in the different gear when rebuilding as you have to remove fifth to get at second.
Anyway, I've finally had it done and its great being able to change from first to second quickly with no grind - it feels like a new gearbox.
Also, motorway driving is now a pleasure. The engine has gone from :-
4000 rpm (80mph, 0.89 gear ratio) to
3400 rpm (80mph, 0.75 gear ratio) and pulls surprisingly well considering. Obviously the car now has no quick pick up in fifth, but I still have the acceleration from first through to forth to play with.
I'll keep you all posted on how the fuel enconomy has inproved (hopefully).
