Renault transaxle questions

[Chris Hale]

This is my first post on here as I have only just bought an unfinished Tornado kit, and I would be grateful for some good advice from you guy’s to point me in the right direction.

As mentioned before the car is a Tornado 40 and it comes with a part built Ford 302, I have read the build manual and Tornado recommend using a Renault 21 Turbo gear box for the best gear ratio’s, the only problem is that I cannot find a Renault 21 Turbo gearbox, but I can find plenty on other Renault 21 gearbox’s and I have spoken with a local company that recon they can rebuild the gearbox to match the gear ratio’s to the Turbo version, has anyone else had this done and will the gearbox stand up to the engine ? also does anyone know of a company that make a bellhousing to join the Renault box to the engine that does not cost the earth, I do know about using a Renault 30 bellhousing and making an adaptor plate but I cannot find any of these box’s either.

Chris

[Bigend]

Speak to Chris Cole of Mach One Transmissions, 01952 222155.
Tell him your contact was Mike Inglis.
Good Luck

[Chris Hale]

Thanks Mike, I will do that.

[Julian West]

Chris,

Congrats on the purchase of the Tornado! I'll second Jaspers advice, Mach 1 is the place to go for transaxle parts & services.

FWIW There are two ways to mate a R21T to a 302;

Either use a R30 bellhousing (now pretty rare) & an adapter plate (GTD or similar), combined with a smaller (V6 capri?) flywheel, Renault or AP clutch cover & plate & I'm not sure which release arm & CRB or Starter motor. This system works OK & has the advantage of a light flywheel & is pretty compact.

OR: You can buy a specially cast 302/R21 bellhousing from Mach 1 that retains the 302 flywheel/clutch & starter. This has advantages of a more suitable clutch & starter motor, but is a little larger in overall size.

Both systems work out at a similar cost. It's probably worth contacting either Tornado or MDA for parts supply.

Hope this helps!

[Tony Jasper]

Hi,
There is an entry on R21T gearboxes in the Forsale file, though its not clear whether they are in fact Turbo versions. If you are interested, I have for sale a secondhand R25 gearbox. This is the same as the R21T except for the diff ratio- it will be slightly lower geared ( 3.87 instead of 3.44) approx. You'll need an adaptor bellhousing ( from Chris Cole amongst others) then you can use standard Ford clutch/flywheel or Tornado's adaptor + V6 flywheel + AP Racing clutch ( I can give you the details if you take this route). Personally, I wouldn't bother with the renault clutch- past copies of Fortification reveal a litany of falures under pressure. The R25 gearbox will probably limit your top speed to about 145mph, but as far as I know, all ratios for the R21T & R25-all-variants are interchangeable.
Mach-1 transmissions can supply all the parts/labour should you find the ratios not to your liking. £200 and its yours.
Tony
tel. 01189 661 909

[Chris Hale]

Hi Tony,
Sounds interesting what are the markings on the tag near the 5th gear housing i.e. are they UN1?

Chris.