DIY ratio change

[Period Look]

I bought a fairy overdrive for my series 2a couple of days ago.

Thought this would be a simple fit and would have been except:

at some point in the past someone had fitted a larger output gear to the end of the gear shaft, the one you take off to replace with the overdrive gear.
It had been drilled out in the centre and the original dog gear welded into it. An amazing feat of engineering.

Of course this meant that where it connected to the gear in the transfer box was too tight so they completely off set the transfer box by 10mm slotting the 5 mounting holes on the outside and the 2 inside the transfer box itself (including the one you can't get at without taking the whole gear assembly apart) and, had welded little brass plugs into the slots inside the box so it wouldn't leak.

So now that the transfer box had been pushed over 10mm the rear power take off cover wasn't centre on the main gear shaft. (you can see how much the case is out of line with the main gear shaft in picture 3 looking through the inspection cover) That didn't put them off, they cut the centre out of it and welded it back in the exact perfect position, off set, to match the case making it work. (you can see in the picture how its not in the centre.

Net result: A higher ratio running machine. No chance of fitting overdrive as everything is off set.

Solution: New transfer box or don't bother, as existing higher ratio is probably the same as overdrive.

A bit of a pain in the ass to discover after 5 hrs of stripping and trying to figure out why shaft wouldn't line up with overdrive, but I take my hat off to who ever did it.
It is a beautiful piece of "number 8 wire" work.

[slidenyo]

I've got 3 2a boxes here at the moment that i'll happily part with,
otherwise I'm going to try trade them in at mamaku for some springs