Norwich Nick
Well-Known Member
Just made me think of my gtt gearbox which has been dry stored for, “ahem”, a few years, I’ve absolutely no idea where it is now, they’re pretty easy to misplace as it’s not like they’re big heavy things 
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How (not) to make your Dauphine Handle
- Thread starter Steve Swan
- Start date
Walk around your garage in flip flops. I use my toes exclusively to find inanimate , solid , large objects without fail.Just made me think of my gtt gearbox which has been dry stored for, “ahem”, a few years, I’ve absolutely no idea where it is now, they’re pretty easy to misplace as it’s not like they’re big heavy things
Norwich Nick
Well-Known Member
There might have to be a what state is my garage photo update on project slow
(Sorry Steve, hijack over)
(Sorry Steve, hijack over)
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Shave and a Haircut.. two bits.
I am Quite good friends with one of our local engine re conditioners, over the years his business has changed from mostly Reconditioning engines, to building specific engines for Road,Race and Rally. He arrived on Fri Afternoon with a set of flat top Accralites for a chambered crossflow needing 60 thou off the top, as his lathe had packed up.
I am never keen on heath Robinson set ups in the Lathe, when 1. it's not my bits that might get damaged and 2. the parts are expensive. However needs must, so here we go.
Piston in Ally saver shim in soft Jaws:
Before we had DRO we had DTI, this ensures the same amount comes off the top of each component.
and away we go light cuts only....
There's also a 5 speed on the go.....so it's all go.....
I am Quite good friends with one of our local engine re conditioners, over the years his business has changed from mostly Reconditioning engines, to building specific engines for Road,Race and Rally. He arrived on Fri Afternoon with a set of flat top Accralites for a chambered crossflow needing 60 thou off the top, as his lathe had packed up.
I am never keen on heath Robinson set ups in the Lathe, when 1. it's not my bits that might get damaged and 2. the parts are expensive. However needs must, so here we go.
Piston in Ally saver shim in soft Jaws:
Before we had DRO we had DTI, this ensures the same amount comes off the top of each component.
and away we go light cuts only....
There's also a 5 speed on the go.....so it's all go.....
Duncan Grier
Well-Known Member
You made that sound and look easy, great work as always 
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Remember this thread???
While waiting to take the Landy for it's MOT on Mon. I have managed to get the Steering damper fitted to the Dauph. Surprised to say it fitted just how I envisaged it would. Just need to make a small lateral adjustment and it could be road test time.
In other news an American customer, while gathering parts for a 5 speed Hybrid, had a late model 4 speed, he located here in the UK, sent to me for casings. A quick look at the ID tag identifies it as a FASA product either an 8 or A110.
Stripping it had me doing a double take. I counted 9 pinion teeth, so assumed it would be a 9x35 or 3.88 as fitted to FASA A110, which was a lucky find. It is actually a 9x34 which must be what was fitted to the last FASA Alps with the 1397 5G motor. Never seen this in 25 years of gearboxes. Given the purchase price, it was the buy of the century for someone looking for good gearing on an 8 or 10 & Alp without going into all the added complexity of a big 4 speed or Hybrid 5 speed.
They are out there.
While waiting to take the Landy for it's MOT on Mon. I have managed to get the Steering damper fitted to the Dauph. Surprised to say it fitted just how I envisaged it would. Just need to make a small lateral adjustment and it could be road test time.
In other news an American customer, while gathering parts for a 5 speed Hybrid, had a late model 4 speed, he located here in the UK, sent to me for casings. A quick look at the ID tag identifies it as a FASA product either an 8 or A110.
Stripping it had me doing a double take. I counted 9 pinion teeth, so assumed it would be a 9x35 or 3.88 as fitted to FASA A110, which was a lucky find. It is actually a 9x34 which must be what was fitted to the last FASA Alps with the 1397 5G motor. Never seen this in 25 years of gearboxes. Given the purchase price, it was the buy of the century for someone looking for good gearing on an 8 or 10 & Alp without going into all the added complexity of a big 4 speed or Hybrid 5 speed.
They are out there.
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Not completely sure. I think it was an RCCC member who has some extra bits. There are several people out there with parts they have gathered, who will never use them, but they won't just sell them on, unless they know that they will be helping someone else out. They don't just want to sell parts on. Usually you call round everyone you know and ask them, then they do the same and you get names and numbers you need to follow up. It is very time consuming. Last time this happened to me was a guy in the midlands with an R8 who had Dauph chassis legs and sills. He sold it all to me for sensible money as he knew of me, my car and what had happened to it.I don't think he would have responded to just a wanted ad. He preferred the context that his bits would put my car back on the road. If you find anything, mail me pics and I'll do my best to ID it for you or anyone else for that Matter. There are some profiteers out there, but they don't usually have anything that interesting.
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
The Landy disgraced itself yesterday, by failing it's MOT on a split Track rod end boot, which it had hidden from me at the rear, but an easy fix and pass today. Flushed with success I roadtested the Dauph to try out the steering damper - conclusion - Inconclusive - I didn't set it tight enough, but it did feel better, so need more adjustment.
The main problem with making everything super adjustable is the amount of time you spend Buggering about trying to get it adjusted properly.
The Motor is impressive though, super smooth and pulls strongly. It pulls 4th like the 1400 pulled 3rd, Encouraging.
Got out of the Dauph and into the Landy and thought I had gone Deaf !! Landy feels like a Lexus compared to the Dauph
All things are relative..........
The main problem with making everything super adjustable is the amount of time you spend Buggering about trying to get it adjusted properly.
The Motor is impressive though, super smooth and pulls strongly. It pulls 4th like the 1400 pulled 3rd, Encouraging.
Got out of the Dauph and into the Landy and thought I had gone Deaf !! Landy feels like a Lexus compared to the Dauph
All things are relative..........
Wheelers Workshop
Active Member
Hi Steve,
I must say that looks like a good installation and upgrade, I will be interested as and when you are happy with the set up to read your observations with the input from active steering damper.
Cheers
Dave
I must say that looks like a good installation and upgrade, I will be interested as and when you are happy with the set up to read your observations with the input from active steering damper.
Cheers
Dave
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Just when I thought I would be able to hibernate for the winter it's got busy in the workshop... A Ghost of Christmas past to kick off with, none other than the gearbox out of Liz's 8 for a refresh. Funny to take it apart and see your own handiwork from nearly 30 years ago. I'm going to bring it up to current spec, so I'll kick off by machining the cases for the Diff, as they had been done with a Grinder before I had a Proper workshop.
What has not been so helpful is that 1st gear had picked up on the Mainshaft. This is more common on 5 speeds and is aggravated by low oil levels and sustained high speeds, what happens is that the mainshaft is turning at say 4000 rpm, but 1st gear which is freewheeling on the shaft is going at 1108 rpm, so there is a big speed differential between the 2 spinning parts, which must be well lubricated. It's usually worse on a 5 speed as the differential is even worse with the motor and input doing 4000 rpm, the mainshaft is doing 4651 rpm and the gear is 1108rpm.
As this car is still competing, I needed to find a solution
It has damaged the bore of the spinning 1st gear which had to be pulled off the shaft, normally they have about 4 thou of clearance.
After some debate with our Local precision Engineering company (Agra Engineering) The Shaft was undercut, metal sprayed and ground back to size.
I need to speak to the owner as I think the original set of gears is at least 50 years old and has been getting thrashed for more than 25, it's time to change them for a later style set with a more truncated toothform which is theoretically stronger.
The original early style is on the left and the later style '72 until end of production mid/late 80's you can see the different tooth forms.
I have managed to get some dirt/ condensation on the inside of my phone camera lens. Yet another job.......... FFS.
In other news and a big part of why it's been quiet. Malcolm and Leeann got a pup, but as they work I foolishly agreed to provide daycare facilities. Its mostly fun, but there have been a few moments.
This is Stella a 6 month old Labsky, who is mostly good, except when she's not, must be her Husky side........
The things I get into ......
What has not been so helpful is that 1st gear had picked up on the Mainshaft. This is more common on 5 speeds and is aggravated by low oil levels and sustained high speeds, what happens is that the mainshaft is turning at say 4000 rpm, but 1st gear which is freewheeling on the shaft is going at 1108 rpm, so there is a big speed differential between the 2 spinning parts, which must be well lubricated. It's usually worse on a 5 speed as the differential is even worse with the motor and input doing 4000 rpm, the mainshaft is doing 4651 rpm and the gear is 1108rpm.
As this car is still competing, I needed to find a solution
It has damaged the bore of the spinning 1st gear which had to be pulled off the shaft, normally they have about 4 thou of clearance.
After some debate with our Local precision Engineering company (Agra Engineering) The Shaft was undercut, metal sprayed and ground back to size.
I need to speak to the owner as I think the original set of gears is at least 50 years old and has been getting thrashed for more than 25, it's time to change them for a later style set with a more truncated toothform which is theoretically stronger.
The original early style is on the left and the later style '72 until end of production mid/late 80's you can see the different tooth forms.
I have managed to get some dirt/ condensation on the inside of my phone camera lens. Yet another job.......... FFS.
In other news and a big part of why it's been quiet. Malcolm and Leeann got a pup, but as they work I foolishly agreed to provide daycare facilities. Its mostly fun, but there have been a few moments.
This is Stella a 6 month old Labsky, who is mostly good, except when she's not, must be her Husky side........
The things I get into ......
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Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
What a Difference a Weekend makes with no 4 legged interruptions
Machined the case
That's better
Sat the Diff in and the new pinion bearing to check there is no touching there are Mk1,1.5,2&3 pinion bearings. It Had a Mk 1.5 and is now getting a Mk2. You can go from old to new, but you can't go backwards. It's all to do with different sized bits and re-arranged centres, but cleverly the later parts supersede the early bits, sometimes Designers can be quite clever......
I have dummy built it with a better condition set of gears. The hubs were a better fit on the mainshaft than the ones that were on it, which was nice.......
Shift Mech in.
Guts in next, it's as sweet as a nut, so going to button it up and run it through the gears to check it's quiet while I await the Diff bearings putting in an appearance.
The wife's visiting her Pal next weekend, so no Wife,Dug or other distractions, should see it finished...
Ever the Optimist
Machined the case
That's better
Sat the Diff in and the new pinion bearing to check there is no touching there are Mk1,1.5,2&3 pinion bearings. It Had a Mk 1.5 and is now getting a Mk2. You can go from old to new, but you can't go backwards. It's all to do with different sized bits and re-arranged centres, but cleverly the later parts supersede the early bits, sometimes Designers can be quite clever......
I have dummy built it with a better condition set of gears. The hubs were a better fit on the mainshaft than the ones that were on it, which was nice.......
Shift Mech in.
Guts in next, it's as sweet as a nut, so going to button it up and run it through the gears to check it's quiet while I await the Diff bearings putting in an appearance.
The wife's visiting her Pal next weekend, so no Wife,Dug or other distractions, should see it finished...
Ever the Optimist
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Hibernation aside. Other than Dog walking I've been keeping a low profile. There has been a 4 speed big box to build, but as I've covered it several times before, I haven't put it here.
Today something unusual turned up in the form of a Gr4 Detomaso Pantera front hub with a squint caliper, easy enough to measure and machine, so here's a couple of pictures of something unusual.
And the other side
Big 4 speed in the background for scale as I don't like Bananas.
Today something unusual turned up in the form of a Gr4 Detomaso Pantera front hub with a squint caliper, easy enough to measure and machine, so here's a couple of pictures of something unusual.
And the other side
Big 4 speed in the background for scale as I don't like Bananas.
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Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
Another conundrum that arrived is to make a conversion piece to fit a Ford needle spigot bearing into a Rover V8 crank. Think it's Rover to Cossie T5 sort of thing
Never a Dull moment
More soon if I'm spared.
Never a Dull moment
More soon if I'm spared.
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
An offset caliper is more accurate. The other side was fine, but this one was about 45 thou to one side, so the pad didn't slide in . Skimmed the mounting face of the carrier to move it all back to centre.
Steve Swan
Well-Known Member
I don't know if this should be in a thread of it's own, not a lot of point as it is only one post, so I'll leave it here. If the Mods think different they can move it.
AVP Bellhousing conversion kit.
Early R8 (most production) used a carbon thrust Release bearing, which on the tiny 160mm clutch and about 4000rpm is fine. Late cars and all 1300cc R10 used a Guided ball type release which was also used with a stronger 180mm clutch.
If you are uprating an 8, 10 or early small engined Alp finding a Late Bellhousing is one of your tasks. These are getting harder to find and years ago Colombo the R8G specialist in France (now retired) did a conversion kit to adapt the early Bellhousing to the later type. These are now available through AVP in France.
I have only ever seen one of these on a Gearbox I overhauled years ago, it did not have the Clutch release lever and spring, so I noted it and left it at that.
The Latest 4 speed big box I have just completed had a damaged Bellhousing, which I think I have successfully repaired, but the customer had acquired an early bellhousing and an AVP kit to Fit if Necessary.
It became obvious to the customer that the rearward travel of the mechanism would be severely compromised by the kit and was looking into options for modifying it.
Once the box was built I had a look and a think and have come up with a solution that works.
The Issue
Better shown in the next pic
The mounting flange sits off the bellhousing face on a small raised pedestal which contacts the release fork holding it at Half Cocked position, now you could take a grinder to the fork, but it would be so weakened it would not have a long service life.
Solution:
I made up a reinforcing piece of Ally plate and had it welded to the bellhousing rear face, this is where the oil seal sits on Later types I left a register to centre it up through the hole for the input shaft.
Making a rudimentary Plug Gauge centres it all up on the Mill and the relevant diameters bored with the boring head I went in about 8mm deeper than standard, this then allowed me to take 7mm off the pedestal face.
That means you drill through as originally intended to fix the combined tube and seal carrier. The tube height to the bellhousing face is now the same as the original late type.
I trial fitted it to the box and it gives the same operating dimensions as the original.
The kit is clever as it requires no special tools, but there is a real chance it will not work properly, so what's the use.
If you are using the Gordini Turbo flywheel it is 5mm shallower than the non turbo versions, so in that case it may work ...
Having done it, I think it would be easier to fit a thicker smaller diameter reinforcing piece, so you could put the oilseal in the back ,as the original late type. Then you could pressfit a piece of tube into the now thick alloy plate to carry the bearing. This is in essence what Renault Did with the MK1 to Mk2 castings.
There will be more of these in the future, so it has been a good learning experience...
More Soon.
AVP Bellhousing conversion kit.
Early R8 (most production) used a carbon thrust Release bearing, which on the tiny 160mm clutch and about 4000rpm is fine. Late cars and all 1300cc R10 used a Guided ball type release which was also used with a stronger 180mm clutch.
If you are uprating an 8, 10 or early small engined Alp finding a Late Bellhousing is one of your tasks. These are getting harder to find and years ago Colombo the R8G specialist in France (now retired) did a conversion kit to adapt the early Bellhousing to the later type. These are now available through AVP in France.
I have only ever seen one of these on a Gearbox I overhauled years ago, it did not have the Clutch release lever and spring, so I noted it and left it at that.
The Latest 4 speed big box I have just completed had a damaged Bellhousing, which I think I have successfully repaired, but the customer had acquired an early bellhousing and an AVP kit to Fit if Necessary.
It became obvious to the customer that the rearward travel of the mechanism would be severely compromised by the kit and was looking into options for modifying it.
Once the box was built I had a look and a think and have come up with a solution that works.
The Issue
Better shown in the next pic
The mounting flange sits off the bellhousing face on a small raised pedestal which contacts the release fork holding it at Half Cocked position, now you could take a grinder to the fork, but it would be so weakened it would not have a long service life.
Solution:
I made up a reinforcing piece of Ally plate and had it welded to the bellhousing rear face, this is where the oil seal sits on Later types I left a register to centre it up through the hole for the input shaft.
Making a rudimentary Plug Gauge centres it all up on the Mill and the relevant diameters bored with the boring head I went in about 8mm deeper than standard, this then allowed me to take 7mm off the pedestal face.
That means you drill through as originally intended to fix the combined tube and seal carrier. The tube height to the bellhousing face is now the same as the original late type.
I trial fitted it to the box and it gives the same operating dimensions as the original.
The kit is clever as it requires no special tools, but there is a real chance it will not work properly, so what's the use.
If you are using the Gordini Turbo flywheel it is 5mm shallower than the non turbo versions, so in that case it may work ...
Having done it, I think it would be easier to fit a thicker smaller diameter reinforcing piece, so you could put the oilseal in the back ,as the original late type. Then you could pressfit a piece of tube into the now thick alloy plate to carry the bearing. This is in essence what Renault Did with the MK1 to Mk2 castings.
There will be more of these in the future, so it has been a good learning experience...
More Soon.
DaveL485
Staff member
Fascinating.
