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I felt a little nervous fitting the R7ME gearbox in to my car, it is an unknown to me. So I have decided to have it stripped and serviced at M&T Transmissions in Sheffield prior to installing it on the 19th..... What was supposed to be a cheap conversion is now looking not so.....

I hear of many owners fitting 30" and even 31" tyres without altering the drivetrain at all, often saying that the car drives fine.....

Having fitted the 225/75x16's (which are a tad under 30") on my VVT and doing a few journeys, it is awful.... There is a long gradual climb southbound from Sheffield on the M1 and I had to drop in to 3rd before hitting the crown. I drove out of South Wales the other weekend (on 215's) with many miles at similar inclines and the car romped it, now all of the gears are flat with little oomph.... I hate to think what it has done to the low range gearing.... If anybody is considering doing it, don't.

I hope the R7ME conversion gets back a little of the pep that has been lost to the bigger tyres, I know it will be slower anyway, the tyres are heavier and bigger, so will cause more drag.

It is being fitted with a new Exedy clutch, new genuine cable and all new mounts, so will be as good as it can be... Fingers crossed but still nervy...

sniper

Not a good month for the Jimny....

The R7ME gearbox I collected from South Wales was sent to M&T Transmissions for a strip and clean before fitting. When stripped, it had dumped a bearing and had a broken selector.....

Agreed for M&T to supply an R7ME box for full rebuild and they got let down by their supplier....

I had to cancel the scheduled fitting date, messing workshop's about is something I hate to do but there was no alternative...

Still waiting for the rebuilt box which "hopefully" will be with me in a few days....

Just got to cross my fingers that I can still get in to the shop for the conversion in a reasonable time...

On a plus note, I have been to see a local MX5 guru who runs a couple of cars, one of which is a 1600 with 347bhp... He has put a tape across my car and is up for doing the engine / 6 speed box conversion next year.

sniper

I suspect you will end up breaking CVs and bending half shafts with that much power.

That sort of power is way past what I'm looking for Lambert but following my visit to Keith (what is it with engines and guys called Keith...?) and seeing his fresh build on the bench with a very big turbo. That sort of power is readily available with the Mazda platform..... Being a low compression engine with a very solid standard bottom end, Keith says that bolt on chargers can take you safely to 250bhp. His higher output engines are forged and much more expensive than I have budget for.

The engine I am considering is the 1.8 VVT with around 150 bhp as standard, with induction changes and a standalone ecu, 180bhp would be very achievable.....

He has got a low miles accident damaged car coming to him in the next few weeks and that will form the basis of the conversion. Ball park numbers have been agreed and initially it will use standard induction and ecu.

The only negative for me is the fact that he works alone and is talking around six weeks to complete the conversion,

sniper