Can you tell how much life a gearbox has left? Which clutch?

[Kimmo]

Gotta swap my engine in the next fortnight, and I'm not sure which box to use... my old one has stripped threads and cracks and shit in the housing, but the internals are still pretty good IIRC... and the other one is an unknown quantity, except I think the housing's much better... can I tell if that box is any good just by taking a squiz at the internals?

How hard is it to swap the guts out, does it require any special tools? Maybe I could just use the new box, keeping my old internals in a cardboard box just in case, and scrap the housing...?

[Damo]

No special tools needed Kimmo. The guts can be swapped fairly straight-forward. I reckon you would get a kick out of seeing how the whole show works together.
Just take your time, and be gentle with the plastic oil channels.

Damo

[Kimmo]

Cool... reckon I'll try out the other box then.

I'm sure interested to check it out...

Besides, if I can manage this, I guess I shouldn't be scared.

I need a new clutch anyway - recommendations? I don't think I'll go above 15psi with a FMIC... can't see changing the ECU anytime soon. Will a standard clutch cut it?

[Kimmo]

Once I pulled the drain plug on one of the boxes, I had a thought - I was careful to leave the shreds of steel untouched on the magnet, and put the drain plug aside; when I pull the other one I'll compare em.

[tassuperkart]

15psi? Oh just somnething a bit above stock will be fine for that unless you plan on repeated high rpm launches and clutch kicks!!!

Exedy make a popular one I believe (Sports Tuff?) along with NPC.
Otherwise just use anything HD.
F1Racing make a range of clutches from Stage 1 thu to 5 (1 and 2 are organic) but you need to order one for an e16ei I think. 200mm DIA.
I bought mine (Stage 2) thru Gripforce Clutches on Egay. About half the price of an NPC clutch DELIVERED.
Im using an organic Stage 2 version on my VG30det and altho the clutch action is lightning fast (barely 25mm pedal travel from fully in to fully out), its smooth and progressive with minimal shuddering.

I set up a deal with Gripforce and then offered a group buy on these clutches some time back but got no interest at all.


Youll find all manner of gunge attached to those magplugs.
Dont sweat it too much. Its quite normal to have slivers of metal in there. Happens from brand new.

Pay particular attention to the 2 shaft bearings located in the main casing. The tapered roller type is very small. Not much different to a rear wheel bearing. In my view too small for the job.

In just about every box Ive pulled these bearings have shown signs of distress. Particularly the input shaft.
A tinkling rattle in neutral with the clutch out is one of the obvious telltale sign of a slogged or incorrectly preloaded input shaft.
You will need some basic bearing pulling goodies to R&R them tho or get it done for a few bucks.
Please avoid levering the races out of the case and off the shafts with screwdrivers and other such bollocks....FAIL.

You also need to set the bearing pre-load using shims under that funky little round metal plate on the end of the casing.
Its easy and you can just buy some shimstock and cut out your own if you have to.
0.008" is the preload on both the gearsets and the diff.

The boxes are fairly straightforward and the only thing youll have any drama with at all is the reverse gear thingy possibly dropping off when you lift the gearcase away from the bellhousing.

There is no real need to dissassemble the gear clusters unless the synchros are crunching or other issues are found (see below)

Look for signs of galling and unever wear on the shifter forks and their matching selector rings indicating a possibly bent shifter fork.
Also pay close attention to where the shifter fork shafts locate into each half of the gearcases.
The ET gearboxes should have a steel sleeve inserted into the ally casings but these bushes, and the selector shafts can slog out. The entire selector assembly can cock away at an angle due to side thrust from the hellically cut gears which leads to uneven wear on the selector forks and rings and ultimately ends up with the gears jumping out under power.

Lastly pay close attention to the diff pinion and crownwheel teeth for flaking and cracks at the base of the teeth.
The teeth are quite light and its what usually fails after repeated clutch kicking, dumps, flat-changes and other nafarious gearbox abuse.

Youll suss it out M8.

L8r
E

[Kimmo]

Thanks for all the info, Evan : D

I'll prolly have a squiz in the supposedly good box for the signs of wear you mention... hopefully it really is still good.

The box I've been using didn't exhibit any of those external signs of wear though, so I'll hang onto it... if the other one turns out to be fucked I might muster the gumption to swap the internals.

[tassuperkart]

easy as!