Hi transmission-curious,
At the Sports Car Factory I saw some kind of Sprite hybrid that has a
Volvo transmission in it. So, it can be done. If you're seriously into
doing this maybe they can give you some advice. You can get the
particulars at:
http://www.inter-space.com/scf/
Then look under "August's available autos" and you'll see the car.
As a former Volvo enthusiast, I can vouch for the transmissions as
being very rugged even after many many miles and much abuse (not the
automatics, but that's moot for us!). Seals leak eventually but that's
normal enough. I think I may have fixed just about everything on those
cars at one time or another, but never had to touch a tranny.
The overdrive definitely only operates on fourth, and it does increase
the overall length of the transmission a fair bit when installed.
After all the conversation about transmission repairs on this list I'd
consider the conversion if it's reasonably easy, and if one is more
concerned about reliability than originality. Also, as Peter Z.
pointed out, the Volvo trannies are easy enough to come by for a
reasonable price.
Regards,
Jim Wallace
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