KatoKid

Was the price just for engineering cert or to do the actual swap? How much did they quote?

So tempted!

Yep, I'm out.

You look like a drowned rat Gav!

Yep, good choices all around.

........Guv

I'm positively a maybe

Looks good. I reckon that's where the market is for a car like that so will be good to see if it sells.

If you can’t lower the nose of the diff or raise the rear anymore then as you point out the only option is to change the gearbox angle. Are you using the standard diff cross member and mount or an RT type diff mount? May be easier to modify this if so. Dropping the gearbox mount will require some decent spacers to get 2 degrees so you may want to look at spacing the engine mounts to raise the nose of the engine as well if you have room?

If it’s shredding bearings then I would suspect angles are the culprit. Ideally gearbox and diff need to be at the same angle or at least close. The actual angle isn’t really important (no more than 5 preferably) as long as they are the same. Assume it is a conventional tail shaft with slip joint in the gearbox or is the slip joint in the shaft itself?

Not sure why but this does it for me!

Thanks George......waiting for my engine to have a heart attack.....too highly tuned from the factory

I would be keen for rear hatch glass

Choice depends on if you think MTB riding is something you will really get into. Mossy gave me some great advice when I was first looking. Its a balance between what you need and what would be nice to have. Hardtail 29er for sure and spend as much as you can afford. As you've pointed out, the Marlin is a good basic bike but you will be disappointed with it if you do more regular ridding. The X-Caliber 8 is more that you need now but will be a much better deal overall if you get into the sport. Jump on to bike exchange https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/s/hardtail-mountain-bikes?option-value-ids=4005-4015 plenty of good deals on last years models etc. and don't limit yourself to any particular brand as all the big names produce pretty good stuff. There are plenty of Facebook MTB buy sway sell pages as well were you can get really good deals. I've bought 2 bikes this way. Post up any options you are looking at if you want advice.