Re: Gearbox swop?
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:09 pm
Alex,
Congratulations on your conversion it looks to be an impressive achievement. Like you, I have been looking to move to a five gear box as the elan feels frustratingly under geared these days. Not having your engineering background I went to see Alan Voights in Liverpool, he's not too far away from me. Alan is in his early seventies now but has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things gearbox related, his workshop reminded me of Mr Ollivander's Wand Shop in the Harry Potter films. He has manufactured a bell housing and tail section for the Type 9 which puts the gear stick in exactly the right position. After reading concerns on this forum about the low first gear from the Sierra box Alan fitted the higher BGH first ratio when building the unit at cost price. The advantage for me was that I was able to pick the assembled unit up and plug it straight into my elan with no complications; improvements such as the concentric clutch with remote bleeder which won't get cooked by the exhaust are practical and effective.
The transformation to the car is remarkable, like you I can now cruise at 70mph doing 3000 rpm which feels a lot less stressful to driver and engine; I cannot detect any change in the shift quality between either box. I?ve been following your postings with interest over the past few months and feel a bit of a cheat when I see the creativity and expertise in what you have done. However for those such as myself who have less expertise and time on their hands I feel the Voights conversion is the best money I have spent on my car and will make the driving experience so much more enjoyable. I'm now looking forward to doing some serious mileage this summer.
Regards,
Bob
Congratulations on your conversion it looks to be an impressive achievement. Like you, I have been looking to move to a five gear box as the elan feels frustratingly under geared these days. Not having your engineering background I went to see Alan Voights in Liverpool, he's not too far away from me. Alan is in his early seventies now but has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things gearbox related, his workshop reminded me of Mr Ollivander's Wand Shop in the Harry Potter films. He has manufactured a bell housing and tail section for the Type 9 which puts the gear stick in exactly the right position. After reading concerns on this forum about the low first gear from the Sierra box Alan fitted the higher BGH first ratio when building the unit at cost price. The advantage for me was that I was able to pick the assembled unit up and plug it straight into my elan with no complications; improvements such as the concentric clutch with remote bleeder which won't get cooked by the exhaust are practical and effective.
The transformation to the car is remarkable, like you I can now cruise at 70mph doing 3000 rpm which feels a lot less stressful to driver and engine; I cannot detect any change in the shift quality between either box. I?ve been following your postings with interest over the past few months and feel a bit of a cheat when I see the creativity and expertise in what you have done. However for those such as myself who have less expertise and time on their hands I feel the Voights conversion is the best money I have spent on my car and will make the driving experience so much more enjoyable. I'm now looking forward to doing some serious mileage this summer.
Regards,
Bob