Avenga's 5 speed conversion project.

[avenga]

Hi Guys. I have decided to put a 5 speed gearbox in my '75 Hillman Avenger 1500.

I decided to go for the automatic bellhousing and Sierra 5 speed option.

I went and picked up the gearbox last night. It has a short shift kit installed so it is very tight. I will see how it goes in the car but feels like a good amount of shift length, Hopefully it is not too close that I miss gears but we will see.

My next job is to clean the gearbox up a bit and wait for the bellhousing. Hunted and I went halves in an Avenger engine and Automatic gearbox so he is using the engine and I will use the bellhousing for this project and will try to replace the BW35 in my Charger with the BW45 from the Avenger.

Here is some photos of the gearbox when I got it home. I will be updating you with my progress as I go along. Feel free to post any comments, suggestions or ideas as I do this project.

[avengertiger]

will you have to replace the spigot bearing in the flywheel nearly sure you do as talbot ones are smaller i think will see if i can find out definetly if you dont already know

[avenga]

I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead yet, I think there is going to be a bit of trial and error with lessons learnt along the way but hopefully this post will make it easier for others to do the same conversion down the track.

[avengertiger]

i will find out im pretty sure you have to can be bought in your local ford dealer i presume or mal stuart does them i will mail mal and ask him is there anything out of the ordinary to look out for

[oldschool]

The Avenger spigot shaft is 16mm diameter, probably the same as the Sierra one? The coffee drinking conversion just mentioned changing the spigot bearing to a Ford/Talbot one?
Maybe they mean putting in a needle roller bearing as early Avengers had a brass bush, nothing about any machining required.

[avenga]

Yeah they are a bit vague about that part on that forum so I might have to figure that part out as I go.

I will be using the coffee drinking conversion as my base for the conversion, obviously using the auto bellhousing instead of cutting a standard bellhousing.

[oldschool]

Yes it will be interesting to see if you can get by without having to shorten the gear selector, that part looks a bit tricky!

[sunbeam]

See info on other 5 speed thread. To shorten the gearlever position to suit avenger floor , you need another rear gearbox cover, mill of the existing one , saw of your doner, shape and weld into place, shorten selector shaft. The good thing about fitting these to avengers is the length so close , the spline are the same, and the driveshaft fits.I forgot to mention ,,, watch the input shaft lenght , i shortened mine to give clearence on the crankshafrt

[avenga]

Thanks heaps. I saw your other post. Much appreciated.

I am sure I will have heaps of questions once I start this project.

[avenga]

I got the Avenger Auto gearbox and bell housing over the weekend (Thanks Andrew) I will be starting the conversion soon so I will keep you all up to date.

[Hillman kid]

cant wait!

[Linesy]

Will keep a close eye on your progress too, I have the auto bellhousing let over from our auto - manual conversion.

[avenga]

I dropped my Avenger off today for the start of it's 5 speed conversion.

I will keep you updated on progress.

Here are some pictures of the bellhousing and gearbox all cleaned up.

[hunted]

good to see progress man. are you bringing car to nats? or just getting this all done out of the car for now?

[avenga]

I am hoping to have the 5 speed in by nats. It will be pushing it but if the 5 speed isn't ready I will still bring the Avenger but with the 4 speed.

It would be nice to have it done before I go away so I can have the overdrive for the long trip. Hopefully save some gas with the lower revs at motorway cruising speed.