A friend has been told by a couple of garages that he needs a new gearbox for his 'J' reg 1600 MK4 Escort Cabriolet.
They've quoted him £600-£800 for the job which he can't afford to pay.

Firstly, does anyone know if it's the same gearbox as any other 1600MK4? I doubt there's anything special about a cabbie one but just in case!
Also, what sort of money would one expect to pay for a scrappie gearbox of this type? £50, £100, more?

And finally () how long would the guys here who are mechanics etc. expect to take?

Thanks,

James

It's the same box as fitted to any CVH cars except the Sierra (being RWD) and the RS Turbo which has an LSD. A 1600 Escort box should do the job fine. The turbo box helps traction a lot but you're looking at £100-150. For a standard box I'd pay £50 or so.

Chris

[Edited on 7/8/03 by ChrisW]

james,

do you know what's wrong with the box? it could just be repaired. my 306 gearbox broke when it was under warranty and it had new synchromesh hubs, selector fork and other bits put into it and touch wood has been fine ever since...
apart from when 5th gear went again and it turned out to be something they didn't (but should have) fix the first time

Ned.

Try Autotrader small ads. you can get a reasonably priced recon for the mk4. If you get one from a scrapyard put some dummy shafts in when you remove it as the diff bearings can wander if you knock it about and you can't get the shafts back in. It's not a bad job to do the swap but you will need to support the engine and get the front end about 2 feet off the ground on ramps.

yours, Pete.

Try sites like fiestaturbo.com or forum.xrtwo.com to get an old XR2 box for it. Just watch out for the 17 year old idiots asking stupid questions!

Chris

No idea about pricing for an escort gearbox but I just got one for a Rover 800 for £130, and that is for one with the Torsen diff.

Been quoted £150 to fit it, can't imagine and Escort would be any more complex.

i broke a vectra V6 gear box twice, that was 250ish to fix each time. Either i'm a crap driver or the boxes are chocolate.

recon box should be abot 3-400 squid,2 hours labour unless its got abs then its 10 hours labour plus cream cake surcharge,is it diff bearings?

1600 CVH FWD gearboxes are NOT all the same, they use different mounting arrangements according to age. Mk3's are different to Mk4's, Mk5's etc, but as long as it comes out of an Escort of the same year it should fit.


HTH Stu.

Thanks for the advice guys!

I'll phone round a few breakers first and see what sort of money they're wanting and go from there.

Thanks,

James

Either that or sell the car to my mrs?

Chris