Well the time has come to upgrade the gearbox behind the humble A series.

5spds are too stupidly expencive
T50s with Dellow conversions are too expencive.

Im on a budget. So im gettin a auto bellhousing and making an adapter to suit the box i find.

Here are my requirements.

-can handle 200rwhp (not that im gonna make that)
-5spd with overdrive would be nice
-unboltable bellhousing
-compactish
-common enough to replace/get from wreckers cheap

And exchange for your wisdom ill share the adapter plate plans and everything else i did to make it work! Doing it at the same time as a diff upgrade so ill get a d/shaft made to suit.


Cheers guys and gals!

Funny you should bring this up as I've been doing some research and have come up with a possibility.

D's gonna hate this... VK Commodore 5 speed.

It's a Borg Warner M76 (T-5) and Here's some specs.

It's short enough for an adapter plate for the bellhousing, it's compact, but I haven't checked it for fit in a 1000 trans tunnel - could be tight.

It's also a cable clutch and the fork is on the same side as our Datto's only lower down (starter fouling problem?).

I've put feelers out for a clutch and Adelaide Clutch Service can do an A15 Clutch with the Commodore spline centre in a sprung 4 puck along with a modified pressure plate (for a bit more grip) for about $600. There's gotta be a cheaper option though... Commodores clutch disk is 230mm across. The Datto's is about 210 I think...

There's a few teething problems I can see but it's got potential at least...

TC

I was gonna get our good mate Neil to sort out the clutch side of it After all he does call himself a specialest in the area now-a-days!

Cant see the clutch leaver being too much of a issue with the starter?

-edit-
Thought it sounded familer, i was searching gearboxes on ebay the other night. $100. Im sure i can find a whole unlic 5spd VK for that and sell it minus box for $100??? Who was it that set me the $150 5spd chellenge?

Yeah I think the levers the least of the problems. Besides, it could be rotated anywhere round the auto bellhousing.

Here's another pic of one:




I estimate the distance from the mating surface of the case to the bellhousing back to the shifter is about 450mm

The A series auto bellhousing is 150mm deep.

A 56a 4 speed is about 620mm from the gearstick to the front of the bellhousing...

Therefore I calculate that we have 20mm for an adapter plate, which is plenty.

Here's one I made for a Toyota T50 to A series auto:











It's stalled due to clutch problems... I'll get back on it one day

I would think that even the vk 5 speed, which are on the rareish side of things anyways would have trouble fitting into a manual tunnel without some massaging.

The pics of the t50 box to auto belhousing looks very professional Did it fit into a 1000 tunnel without massaging?

Quote:


um... me


Reuby - yeah and a 1000 is even worse off than a 1200. I haven't got my grubby mitts on one of these boxes yet (I know where one is), but...


I think by memory these boxes are about 200mm wide at the main gearcase...

Thought it was... And i forgot your Mr Autocad so you can make a adapter up and get it mass produced! Its all falling into place!


Any other box suggestions anybody? VK 5spds are ment to be nothcy and horrible? Wouldnt be surprising really...

Quote:

Yep! I just had to cut off the two humps on the inside of the transtunnel which had the original gearbox mounts.

Quote:

Yeah I'm hearing ya, but we've copped the wrong end of the stick when it comes to 5 speeds and you gotta take what you can get, hey...

hmm and a worthy challange it is...

So far though, it all looks promising.

I think that I will stick with my 60a that i have lying around somewhere in the shed.

edit :
this all sounds promising, and i hope that it all works out, but beattie remember the p411 diff housing saga.....

haha i do, that blew thru. P411 diffs are not boltupable. Found out some measurments and nahh... it'll be cheaper to get a R31/pinny/sigma etc b/w cut down (free diff and $550 to shorten). Then LSD isnt too hard to get in the future.

T50 sounds promising, just need to find one cheap enough!!! I have a mate willing to part woth a apparently good one for $250