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OD Transmission

Tim R

Silver Level Sponsor
If you want to see what John does when he rebuilds the gearboxes and overdrives there is a series of five videos on The Sunbeam Alpine Channel on YouTube that cover the entire process from strip down through to rebuild. He is an absolute master at what he does and hopefully the videos will keep this knowledge available for generations to come.

Tim R.
 

jdoclogan

Platinum Level Sponsor
Yes john rebuilds them.

Jeff sources the boxes, driveshafts, relays, switches, and speedos and gives you a plug and play rebuilt setup.

That is pretty much the way it works. Jeff sources/sells and John rebuilds. However, in 2014 I visited John south of Liverpool for a few days. We went to the Rootes spares meet near Coventry together. John had no problem snatching up a couple overdrives and transmissions before Jeff spotted them. They are both great individuals and it was a wonderful day for me. So many parts and only a backpack to carry anything. John actually retired from Ford after 40 years. Yes, John was the main "box" (transmission) manager for the company. Tim R has a wonderful video of John rebuilding Trans/OD on his workbench in the garage behind John's home (
).

It brought back memories of being their while John showed me his setup and process.
 

jfcroni

Donation Time
I do believe my SV has the wrong tranny in it. So, I'll talk to Jeff to see where to start.

Also, my fourth gear is jump out at times (not on acceleration). Any wisdom on that?
 

Hillman

Gold Level Sponsor
If you think it has the wrong trans in it, have you checked to see if the engine is a 1725? The number above the fuel pump should be the SN of the car it came in.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
When you say wrong trans.. As in its a non syncro first?

Jumping out of gear.. Either worn syncro rings (likely) or maybe the alignment of the fork... Synchro wear unusually more comon on 2nd and 3rd
 

Mike O'D

Gold Level Sponsor
Ball detent on the selector shaft can also cause it to pop out of gear. There are instructions in the WSM for checking and correcting it.
 

jfcroni

Donation Time
Thanks all... Yes it's the wrong tranny. will check the manual for the ball detent. Still want a correct tranny with OD though.
 

RootesRooter

Donation Time
I got an O/D transmission from Jeff, shipping was only $100.00 +/- and it got to me from the UK in less than a week.

$100, and only one week, is very reasonable. I see you're in Ontario. Do Commonwealth nations get a break on shipping, vs with the US?
 

jfcroni

Donation Time
Is there a way to tell if a sunbeam transmission is full synchro by serial number of the tranny? I'm looking at a used one... owner isn't sure.
 

pruyter

Donation Time
Take a gearstick in the gearbox and check were the reverse is situated. It is a synchro when the reverse is beside the 4th gear.
Non synchro's have the reverse beside the 2th gear.

Regards,

Peter
 

volvoguys

Diamond Level Sponsor
The tell-tale way to distinguish whether a gearbox is all-sync is to look at the placement of the reverse spring plunger.

The shifter handle is mounted on the rear of the top cover. On the side of the cover, just beside the handle mount, is a small housing that resembles a tophat. If the housing is on the left side, the gearbox is all-sync (reverse to the right and down) but if on the right it's non-sync first (reverse to the left and down). This assumes you are viewing the box from the rear, with the input shaft forward.

Mark ..... volvoguys
 

jfcroni

Donation Time
Does a 4 speed full-synchro swap into the SV w/o issue? I did notice when restoring the car, the T/O bearing was different (smaller) from what the SV book called for. Is the flywheels, T/O and fork the same?
 

RootesRacer

Donation Time
Does a 4 speed full-synchro swap into the SV w/o issue? I did notice when restoring the car, the T/O bearing was different (smaller) from what the SV book called for. Is the flywheels, T/O and fork the same?
The TO bearing detail relates to the clutch and flywheel, not the transmission which when equipped with an appropriate flywheel/clutch/TO bearing/TO Pedastle system, will result in a correctly functioning system. The one caveat is that very late SV (or more likley Arrow/Hunter spare parts) transmissions have a fine spline input shaft which limits some of your clutch options.

Long story short is you can take the bits from a SII alpine (padastle, fulcrum and TO that matches the flywheel/clutch) put it in an SI to SV trans and it will all work.
 
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