Who here is actually willing to pay for a box though?
Most people cringe at a rebuild bost of £450, which in the grand scheme of box's and the time they take to build, is nothing. Who here is willing to pay over a grand for a stronger, but still not invincible box?
And who here is willing to live day to day with an 'invincible' box.
I've never had a problem with box's, i've never had a problem with synchros, i've never had a problem with anything. The main problem i find is that people today just cannot treat a box properly. Sure it would be nice if they could stand up to all the abuse thrown at them, but they cant. They survive fine though if you dont rush your changes, if you match engine speed to input shaft speed on EVERY upchange and downchange. So basically its adjusting your style of driving, which is alot cheaper.
Sure, mr.turbo and torque man will have more of an issue, but use it properly and care for it, and it'll last pretty darn well. The amount of people i see who just plain cannot drive a manual is astounding, even moreso when you point it out and they get offended........then go buy another box.
I've been driving around on my dead clutch now for 30k, why? Because the only slipping it gets is when moving from a stop, every change up is timed so that there is no deviation from RPM, and every downchange utilises heel&toe, so there is never any slip. Its stil going fine even when you rag it.
One of the main problems you'll find isnt the gearset strength or the synchos (as you can drive without them), but the helicut gears are always wanting to push eachother away, and the more torque you have, the more you flex the shafts and bearings. Then you slip one tooth and bang, you strip the whole gear. Its also the same reason the diffs pop on older box's that have the retaining circlip.
my first one only lasted me a fortnight!!!!!!
