Five Gears or Four and an Overdrive

[244T]

Well I am"doing" my Volvo 244 as some of you are aware, The Clutch is giving grief in so much as the pedal will not go down, something is amiss and i need to have a look, just wondering........

If the box does need to come out would you stick with the four cogs and an overdrive or do we put a five "speed" box in?

[Clifford Pope]

It's down to personal preference. I don't think there is much difference in the gearing.
Personally I love overdrives, and even retrospectively fitted one in my Torslanda. I like the effortless clutchless flick between 4 and "5", without that rather awkward staggered change on the lever gate.

It's an easy conversion, but you need to consider speedo drive, prop shaft, wiring and relay, and clutch spline compatibility.

I think the M46 overdrive gearbox is reckoned to be longer-living than the M47 5 speed. My spare one in the now-defunct Torslanda did 430,000 miles, and I'd swap it back into my present car if the clutch ever needed doing.

[heckflosse]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

It's down to personal preference. I don't think there is much difference in the gearing.
Personally I love overdrives, and even retrospectively fitted one in my Torslanda. I like the effortless clutchless flick between 4 and "5", without that rather awkward staggered change on the lever gate.

It's an easy conversion, but you need to consider speedo drive, prop shaft, wiring and relay, and clutch spline compatibility.

I think the M46 overdrive gearbox is reckoned to be longer-living than the M47 5 speed. My spare one in the now-defunct Torslanda did 430,000 miles, and I'd swap it back into my present car if the clutch ever needed doing.

If you have a cable speedo this decdes it for you. M47s are usually fitted to later cars with the electronic speedo sensor in the back axle, and no provision on the box.
I'd go for O/D any day, but then I'm old fashioned!
Cheers,
James

[wooble]

Fitting a 5-speed M47 could be difficult, as your 244 will have a cable-drive speedo from the gearbox, and only very early M47 gearboxes have the attachment for a speedo cable as the cable-drive speedo was dropped for an electronic one.

[244T]

You guys know everything!!!

430000 Miles!!!! thats some going!

And vthanks for the heads up about the speedo drive!

It has overdrive, fitted by the first owner so I guess it was a good choice!

Thanks again

[Clifford Pope]

[QUOTE=244T;1166187]

430000 Miles!!!! thats some going!

/QUOTE]

Not really. I was disappointed not to make the half-million.
My local Volvo agent has two customers with 240s with much higher mileages. One has done over 800,000 miles.

[LankyTim]

4+OD everytime for me! I loved thr box in my 940. One day I hope to fit one to my 240.

[faithful tank]

Sorry for striking up an old thread but its got me thinking; I'm running a 93 (k) 240 torslanda and the clutch is showing its age. I also have a 940 2 litre lpt (j reg) with no mot. The 940 has a 4 speed with overdrive and a good clutch. Just wondering if anyone knows if i've got all the right bits, between the two cars, to fit the 4+o/d into my torslanda?
Many thanks.