Gearbox Swap

[andyf]

After the C2C run the old gearbox was making a lot of noise and I was finding that the gearing was too low for a long trip so I decided to upgrade it to a type 9 box. I've got hold of one so since the weather is going to be crap for a while I've decided it's a good time to get them swapped :-)

[wingman]

Re: Gearbox Swap

Hi, i'm french, and since few weeks i have a Marlin roadster based on a marina 1300 (70's) engine. infortunately my gearbox after sher was making lot of noise it was blocked and clutch to. with a friend we strat to change the gearbox...
What aventure !!!
after extraction of the engine and the old gearbox, we have a problem...the ''Gearbox silent bloc'' is unusable, and i can't find it in France, even with a similar.
Like you are in the same process have you an information to give me to find one in your country? (nothing on Ebay until this day).
Thank you for your information and help. Regards. Marc

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

Hi, i'm french, and since few weeks i have a Marlin roadster based on a marina 1300 (70's) engine. infortunately my gearbox after sher was making lot of noise it was blocked and clutch to. with a friend we strat to change the gearbox...
What aventure !!!
after extraction of the engine and the old gearbox, we have a problem...the ''Gearbox silent bloc'' is unusable, and i can't find it in France, even with a similar.
Like you are in the same process have you an information to give me to find one in your country? (nothing on Ebay until this day).
Thank you for your information and help. Regards. Marc

I'm on a slightly different adventure since I have a Ford engine and gearbox to deal with I find that the easiest way is to drop the engine and box out the bottom of the car. Since I only need to get the gearbox out and I don't want to go to the bother of removing the exhaust and inlet manifolds I'm going to try just taking the gearbox out on it's own.

There are lots of people on here who have experience with the 1300 models so I'm sure someone can help. Earlpart is very good for marina spares apparently.

[stevejgreen]

Re: Gearbox Swap

Did you have the original 4speed ford and are swapping in for a type 9?
Could not be easier, hopefully.

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

Did you have the original 4speed ford and are swapping in for a type 9?
Could not be easier, hopefully.

Yes that's right, it shoul be a straight swap... I hope ;-)

[lil_red_roadster]

Re: Gearbox Swap

T9 has a spacer added between the gearcase and rear-extension to accommodate the 5th cog, so you may need to fiddle about with xmember/mounting & gearstick a little, plus the propshaft could now be too long...unless Ford shortened the extension on the T9 to compensate. Never seen 4 & 5 speed boxes side by side so just musing aloud..!

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

T9 has a spacer added between the gearcase and rear-extension to accommodate the 5th cog, so you may need to fiddle about with xmember/mounting & gearstick a little, plus the propshaft could now be too long...unless Ford shortened the extension on the T9 to compensate. Never seen 4 & 5 speed boxes side by side so just musing aloud..!

I had to do a lot of research but the conclusion is that they are very close in terms of fitting. The tail piece was redesigned and is shorter than on the type-e box so overall it is about 6mm longer and I have more slack than that in the propshaft length. Also the gearbox mount and the gearstick are out by a few mm but I suspect that the dimensions that Marlin used for the Ford variant were based on using a type-9 box because the slack looks like it's in the right direction. I'll find out when I come to fit it though

The main problem that I can foresee is the speedo cable which seems to be a bit tight... Judging by what I have read it may require a hole in the tunnel so that I can route it through the car rather than under it.

[stevejgreen]

Re: Gearbox Swap

With my type 9 I ended up with a 90deg drive. Not necessarily ideal but it works. I did not like the idea of routing the cable through the cockpit, and as it was a custom cable I had to have one made up anyway.

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

On the plus side we managed to get the old gearbox out and the new one in without removing the engine, which is a bonus. It all seems to fit ok, including the prop the big problem is that the gearbox mount is a long way further back than on the type-e box so I'm going to have to fabricate a new cradle for the mount to sit in. In fact it's now in the narrower part of the tunnel so the Ford mount will not fit, I'm going to have to reduce it's width to about half way through the bolt holes. Has anyone else seen this problem on a roadster? Got any ideas for a novel solution?

[stevejgreen]

Re: Gearbox Swap

When I fitted my type 9, right now I can't remember if I used a Capri or an Escort standard cross member but folded its wings up to fit inside the transmission tunnel.
Using dome headed bolts, to minimise carpet interference, I made up a couple of short plates with nuts at either end. In the narrow gap between tunnel, bracket and gearbox it made it easier to attach. Especially after I had dropped a couple of nuts into the mount hollow. Somewhere I have a pic, I will look it up, hopefully.

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

This may take a while! I've decided to make one of these so I spent last night removing the metal insert from the gearbox mount so that I can weld it to a piece of bar to make a similar setup. The mistake I made was to start with the Sierra one as it's insert is aluminium! Then I had some 6mm plate lying around to I cut a 25mm strip off it. When I gave up rallying I sent the gas bottles back so I'll have to drip it off at my dad't to get him to weld it up for me. Once that's done I can fabricate a new cross-member. In the middle of all this I need to change the cam belt on the Focus, when it stops raining!!!

[stevejgreen]

Re: Gearbox Swap

This may take a while! I've decided to make one of these so I spent last night removing the metal insert from the gearbox mount so that I can weld it to a piece of bar to make a similar setup. The mistake I made was to start with the Sierra one as it's insert is aluminium! Then I had some 6mm plate lying around to I cut a 25mm strip off it. When I gave up rallying I sent the gas bottles back so I'll have to drip it off at my dad't to get him to weld it up for me. Once that's done I can fabricate a new cross-member. In the middle of all this I need to change the cam belt on the Focus, when it stops raining!!!

Sounds like it might have been easier to buy 'one of these' but then you would not have so much satisfaction of doing the job your way.

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

Sounds like it might have been easier to buy 'one of these' but then you would not have so much satisfaction of doing the job your way.

It would have been 100% easier, especially having now found out that the MK1 Cortina mount would have been small enough to fit in the tunnel!

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

Building the mount was easy, making the crossmember to go with it has been a bit more time consuming. Anyway this is what it looks like at the moment.

20150916_104945.jpg20150916_105007.jpg

The paint has taken ages to dry even in the airing cupboard! I'll post some more pictures when I've got it fitted. Hopefully before the weekend.

[andyf]

Re: Gearbox Swap

Perhaps I was being optimistic! Anyway at this point I have it all adjusted so now all I need to do is drill the new holes through the floor! This is it in position. My intention is to have a piece of angle iron on the inside bolted to the tunnel to take the weight.

20150919_165045.jpg