hens teeth i know but......

[greenflash]

Looking for a Hewland 5 speed gearbox for a mk1 lotus Cortina, I spoke recently to the son of the man who bought my car new in 65, he told me that his dad fitted this gearbox to the car back in the day so I would like to try and find one for it now, would make the car a lot more driveable for me.
Also does anyone know if an elan 5 speed would go in without to much messing about ?

Any info / guidance much appreciated ...Thanks

[jith]

greenflash said:

Looking for a Hewland 5 speed gearbox for a mk1 lotus Cortina, I spoke recently to the son of the man who bought my car new in 65, he told me that his dad fitted this gearbox to the car back in the day so I would like to try and find one for it now, would make the car a lot more driveable for me.
Also does anyone know if an elan 5 speed would go in without to much messing about ?

Any info / guidance much appreciated ...Thanks

Be careful.. The Hewland 'box is out and out competition. It's noisy, brutally expensive to repair and is a dog leg change. It is seriously hard work in a road car.

The best 'box for a classic conversion is the Borg Warner T5. An absolutely beautiful 'box with overdrive top, a slick easy change and very silent gears. It is light and compact and easy to install and won't empty your bank account!

I have a customer with one in his V12 E Type and the transformation has to be tried to be believed, tremendous difference over the old Jag 4 speed.

J

[greenflash]

cheer for the tip , I will look into that .#

[S47]

Sierra type 9 - 5speed will bolt straight on, its available with 'Rocket' ratios similar to genuine original Lotus 4 speed box, plus it has 5th for overdrive cruising,[perfect for motorways.]
I Bolted one straight into my 1970 L7, You can also get it with straight cut gears[I did] which sounds amazing - just like the Hewland in fact!!

[greenflash]

Like the sound of that , where did you get your bellousing / prop from ?
thanks

[RicksAlfas]

Caterham used to use the Type-9 box but with the 2.8i V6 ratios in it. Can't remember what the difference was - longer first gear maybe? I had one for my Westfield. Think it was from a company called Flowtech. It had an alloy bellhousing and a lovely anodised remote shift on it. The prop I had made up at a local prop shop.

These guys might be able to help:
http://www.alanvoigtsgearboxes.co.uk/index.php/pro...

http://www.burtonpower.com/parts-by-fitment-type/p...

[greenflash]

thanks for the links, I will check them out.

[S47]

Greenflash
Type 9 bellhousings can be got in cast iron, [standard sierra fitting], alloy,[mk2 RS2000 standard fitting] or Magnesium [Ford works Escorts used these] but are also available from aftermarket specialists such as [Burton power etc].
One important point make sure you get the bellhousing to match the box, there are 2 different gearbox input shaft length's, standard sierra and RS2000 use the shorter shaft, V6 Sierras [and Caterhams use long input shaft. apart from shaft length boxes are identical.
I got my box from BGH gearboxes they offer a range of ratios checkout their website.
othert suppliers are Burton, Quaife, or TranX.
Your propshaft may need modifying, there were several different PCD flanges fitted to the diff, and different number of teeeth on gearbox output shaft, you'll need to check, a local propshaft place will be able to fit the required parts [if they need changing]
Hope this helps.

[greenflash]

Thanks for all the info, most helpful to me, a mate of mine has a couple of type 9s so I think this may be the easiest route, may only have to move the gear stick hole and no other tunnel mods ,

cheers

[aeropilot]

greenflash said:

Thanks for all the info, most helpful to me, a mate of mine has a couple of type 9s so I think this may be the easiest route, may only have to move the gear stick hole and no other tunnel mods ,

Probably need to weld/drill and tap mounts for the gearbox crossmember IIRC from my Escort days, as the mount for the 5-speed sits further aft than the original...??
But, I am dragging up 35 year old memories on that....

I would have thought someone in the LC Register would have already done this by now...or given the value of them now, maybe not?

I hate to think how much one of those Hewland's go for now, if you could find one.....as even back in the early 80's when I was involved with AVOOC/LCR I don't even recall the Hewland box even being mentioned!!

[jith]

aeropilot said:

greenflash said:

Thanks for all the info, most helpful to me, a mate of mine has a couple of type 9s so I think this may be the easiest route, may only have to move the gear stick hole and no other tunnel mods ,

Probably need to weld/drill and tap mounts for the gearbox crossmember IIRC from my Escort days, as the mount for the 5-speed sits further aft than the original...??
But, I am dragging up 35 year old memories on that....

I would have thought someone in the LC Register would have already done this by now...or given the value of them now, maybe not?

I hate to think how much one of those Hewland's go for now, if you could find one.....as even back in the early 80's when I was involved with AVOOC/LCR I don't even recall the Hewland box even being mentioned!!

Your memory serves you well aeropilot. I'm restoring a MK 2 Escort at the moment and it has a Sierra 5 speed fitted. The rear mounting is around 4 inches further back in relation to the original. To do this properly you need to redrill the floor and weld on some stiffening at the mount area to ensure the floor is strong enough.

J

Edited by jith on Wednesday 8th February 10:14

[S0 What]

There's a lot of (or was when i last visited) good info in buysellcortina, there's a few lotuses on there with MT75s behind them, they are stronger than the type 9, lighter than the T5 and you have a choice of ratios that may suit the twink better ? pluss they are easyer to shorten the gear linkage so no new holes in the floor for the gear lever to come though ?
Not been on there for a while but the member "doitsideways" was doing the conversions (steve taylor, of performance conversions) based in essex, could be worth a look ?`