Six speed gearbox for my S2 111s: effects?

[TonyHetherington]

Hi all

An opportunity has come up for me to exchange my 5-speeder in my car for a (used) 6-speed close ratio gearbox.

I'll get the final details a little later - age, mileage etc of the new gearbox, but the purpose for my post is to ask a couple of questions.

(obviously without me having said the ratios yet); will it be beneficial driving wise? It is so frustrating that the gearbox is so long and often I find myself dropping "out" of the power, specifically 2nd to 3rd.

Warranty wise; it would be installed by maidstone sports cars (who are NOT a lotus dealer, but are lotus approved according to their website). Obviously this would affect my warranty on the gearbox, but for the rest of the car?!

Apprecaite your thoughts people. Oh, and also, assuming gearboxes are of a similar age/mileage - what would be the cost towards the 6 speed?!

Thanks all
Tony

[shnozz]

quality idea! Now the irksome PHers can criticise 6 gear changes on your Eurohoon videos.

[TonyHetherington]

[bogie]

depends on what the ratios are really - it could liven the car up a bit...but also some 6 speeders are designed for racing so it may have a really long first, but still top out at lower speed than the one you have.

Personally I like the S2111S box as an all round road gearbox - the longer 5th is really useful if you use it daily

[beachbum]

Not sure for certain how the warranty issue would work out, but my assumption would be that anything that in would have been affected by the gear box would also fall outside of the existing warranty, unless YOU could catagorically prove that the issue was not as a result of the new gearbox.

Its a dodgy one. Induction kits have the same proviso. The engine requires air, therefore any issue with the engine could be blamed on the induction kit and it would be down to the owner to prove otherwise

[TonyHetherington]

The warranty is the biggest issue for me; I think it may just be a case of giving B&C a ring and getting their views.

I'll get the ratios this afternoon and post and let you know. Thanks everyone!

[TonyHetherington]

showing my mechanical ignorance:

what, if anything, needs to be done if the gearboxes are changed over? i.e. anything to the linkage, the gear stick itself etc. etc?!

[MJK 24]

Have you tried the CR box? My Elise has one and I think it's great. You're always 'on cam' after changing up a gear.

People say they make cruising a pain but it's not bothered me. It does 20mph per 1,000rpm in 5th which is the same as my other 2 cars.

[TonyHetherington]

No I've not tried the CR box - but it's just it really does bug me, especially 2nd-3rd, when you slightly go 'off the boil'...it's really noticeable on windy roads (which I like to do on my Euorpean trips quite a bit).

[anonymous-user]

TonyHetherington said:

Hi all An opportunity has come up for me to exchange my 5-speeder in my car for a (used) 6-speed close ratio gearbox. I'll get the final details a little later - age, mileage etc of the new gearbox

What's the gearbox from?

Given you're using MSC does it come attached to a Honda engine?

[TonyHetherington]

It's currently in an S2 111S (so it will be used)

[anonymous-user]

TonyHetherington said:

It's currently in an S2 111S (so it will be used)

Thanks, but do you know the original source, i.e. was it something designed for the K series (Quaife etc) or has it been modified from another engine?

Cheers

[TonyHetherington]

oh i see sorry, no i don't know the original source. I've decided against it now though; mainly the difficulty to fit (and as such, cost) but also the revs that would result at (my) motorway cruising speeds (which I tend to do alot of!).

It was a guy advertising it on SELOC in the classifieds if anyone else is interested.

Thanks for your thoughts nevertheless though people; without informed decisions such as this we do not know whether to go forward or not, so even though I didn't go ahead; I still appreciate your comments

Thanks
Tony