I have seen 5 and 6 speed gearboxes for Minis, although I'm sure the gear ratios are close together.

Does anyone know if you can have a 5th gear, like an overdrive gear, so you can go for long cruises on the freeway a little happier? Do such g'boxes exist?

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Jonathan
http://photobucket.com/albums/y64/FatMaserati/

To get more than 4 gears into your gearbox, it is necessary to upgrade almost all of the internals. Just adding another gear would be nice.... but unfortunately it doesnt work like that.

The 5 speed boxes you see in England are usually made by Jack Knight Developments. They used to sell a few different types, but now only straight cut close ratio boxes are available brand new (from what I have read).

In these boxes, 4th gear is the same as a normal 4th gear. 5th is an overdrive ratio, perfect for highways.

I believe 5 speed boxes are worth around $4,000 or more in Australia.... would be best to call your nearest mini specialist to find out.

Might be cheaper to transplant a twin cam Japanese motor with its own 5 speed, hey!

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

There were helical 5 speed boxes built by JKD, Mini Sport, Mini Spares etc with the 5th gear an overdrive.
Some of the last Rover Coopers had them fitted, but they gave lots of problems from what I've heard.
Layshaft bearing setup in a Mini casing (with pissy little needle bearings) is not conducive to reliable O/D 5th gear addition where the cluster gear is under constant load. REAL 5 speed boxes use REAL bearings for this job.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Just get a smaller diff, then you can run on highway at lower revs. Take off is slower but meh, can't win at everything!

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Fair nuff.

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Jonathan
http://photobucket.com/albums/y64/FatMaserati/