I bought this car as a non-runner, it was a pensioner owned car in good condition, but the cam belt had snapped.
Originally it was a 1.7 ohc engine, I fitted the 2 litre twin carb engine from a rover sd1 2000 and matching 5 speed box.
In this form I had 2 years of trouble free motoring- pretty quick too.
Okay, it wasnt standard, but in general the car was reliable. I had to replace the front trunnions twice and the body was starting to get a bit scabby when I sold it. Averaged about 25mpg, but it was a fast car and great fun, although the handling was not up to the extra power.
Interesting...I'm having fun with a '72 marina 1.8 at the moment... how easy was it to fit that 5-speed box?
It wasn't easy. The SD1 box won't fit the transmission tunnel, I had to cut it out and completely fabricate a new one, also had a hybrid prop made up. The standard Marina box was always on the limit with the standard car, so I had to use the 5 speed. If you have an 1800 Marina, be warned the O series won't fit straight in, as there are no holes in the chassis for the engine mounts. An MGB overdrive box should fit tho.
The ital was built at the factory with the 2.0 o series, but only as an automatic, they didn't have a box to fit that would handle the power.
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