Cool looking gearbox
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Fran Hall RCR
GT40s Sponsor
No likely about it...last I talked to them it was $50k plus associated required parts
Fran Hall RCR
GT40s Sponsor
Fran Hall RCR
GT40s Sponsor
Mike who?
Endean - the Boss.
About the time he was leaving Hewland and before he set up Xtrac, he had some amazing machine tools in his garage at home and he straightened an axle from my narrowed 12 bolt that got bent when the car got rolled on an exhibition run.....
Charged me £40 - a real gent. The boy has done good!
About the time he was leaving Hewland and before he set up Xtrac, he had some amazing machine tools in his garage at home and he straightened an axle from my narrowed 12 bolt that got bent when the car got rolled on an exhibition run.....
Charged me £40 - a real gent. The boy has done good!
Fran Hall RCR
GT40s Sponsor
I too have had good experiences with Xtrac service but the prices...well....I didnt realise I was buying the full production run when I only needed one part...
Fran:
I am actually kind of surprized that you have not completely built a transaxle. There is more specialized machine job shops near your business than any other place I have ever been. Let alone the engineering base that is available. It was a whole lot easier to get parts machined up in the Detroit metro area when I lived up there than it is here in the Charlotte area. There used to be a ton of used equipment dealers that had machines for pennies on the dollar to hob,spline and shape gears. Maybe it has changed now,but I remember driving down 9 and 10 mile and seeing nothing but OD, ID,Grinding shops thread grinding shops and screw machine shops one next to the other.
I am actually kind of surprized that you have not completely built a transaxle. There is more specialized machine job shops near your business than any other place I have ever been. Let alone the engineering base that is available. It was a whole lot easier to get parts machined up in the Detroit metro area when I lived up there than it is here in the Charlotte area. There used to be a ton of used equipment dealers that had machines for pennies on the dollar to hob,spline and shape gears. Maybe it has changed now,but I remember driving down 9 and 10 mile and seeing nothing but OD, ID,Grinding shops thread grinding shops and screw machine shops one next to the other.
Fran Hall RCR
GT40s Sponsor
You are right but even being Detroit with all the capabilities we have in town, its not quite as easy as one may think..
With all the potential pitfalls and time needed to develop a project like a transaxle, it becomes a full time job with very little return on your investment...look at how many threads there are complaining about the cost of a transaxle..
This is the reason that Emco, Xtrac, Sadev , Albins etc all charge what they do...even gearsets for a seq. conversion to an existing transmission, not even a transaxle such as Hollinger are well over $20k....
Nice thought but I will stick to what we do for a while...
With all the potential pitfalls and time needed to develop a project like a transaxle, it becomes a full time job with very little return on your investment...look at how many threads there are complaining about the cost of a transaxle..
This is the reason that Emco, Xtrac, Sadev , Albins etc all charge what they do...even gearsets for a seq. conversion to an existing transmission, not even a transaxle such as Hollinger are well over $20k....
Nice thought but I will stick to what we do for a while...
Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
Ferrari did something vaguely like this with the 348 and Mondial t. I think, though, that their first transverse transaxle was in one of their race cars, maybe the 312? I remember hearing about it at that time; I had a Mondial t and was very interested in how they packaged all that equipment.
Basically, the driveshaft ran straight back from the engine rear crank flange to the back of the unit, where it ended in the flywheel and clutch assembly. The driven plate of the clutch was bolted to a hollow tube driveshaft which was concentric to the first driveshaft- so the clutch and flywheel assembly was on the very back of the entire unit. Next, going forward, was a set of right angle gears, and then the various transmission shafts and countershafts, ending in a set of helical gears that drove the differential assembly (limited slip, as I recall) I think that was how they did it.
Shifting was by cable,and was balky when cold and much better when warm; but cable shifting is never as good as a hard linkage IMHO. Having the clutch out back and easy to replace and service was a good thing since it was the only car that I've ever owned that decided to dump all its clutch fluid on the garage floor one day after it hadn't been driven for a couple of weeks. At least it did it in the garage. To be fair, that was a problem with the hydraulics, not the clutch itself, which always worked fine.
I don't know how long they kept this arrangement. The engine, a 3.4 liter V8 in my car, was mounted longitudinally; it had been transverse in prior V8 Ferraris. The entire package was VERY compact and light- all the cases were light alloy, naturally, and because of the timing belt change every 30K requiring removal of the entire driveline, the whole unit was light and easily removed. Leaving aside how much everything cost to do a major service, it was a nice piece of design and packaging.
I find it amusing, though, that when Ferrari hot-rodders are building old 308s into 288s, they seem to go with transaxles that look remarkably like the ancient ZF that we all know and love from GT40s and deTomasos. Maybe the most underappreciated piece of equipment in 20th century mid-engine supercar design. What other gearbox/rear axle was used in Fords, Maseratis, BMWs, deTomasos and I don't know what else?
Basically, the driveshaft ran straight back from the engine rear crank flange to the back of the unit, where it ended in the flywheel and clutch assembly. The driven plate of the clutch was bolted to a hollow tube driveshaft which was concentric to the first driveshaft- so the clutch and flywheel assembly was on the very back of the entire unit. Next, going forward, was a set of right angle gears, and then the various transmission shafts and countershafts, ending in a set of helical gears that drove the differential assembly (limited slip, as I recall) I think that was how they did it.
Shifting was by cable,and was balky when cold and much better when warm; but cable shifting is never as good as a hard linkage IMHO. Having the clutch out back and easy to replace and service was a good thing since it was the only car that I've ever owned that decided to dump all its clutch fluid on the garage floor one day after it hadn't been driven for a couple of weeks. At least it did it in the garage. To be fair, that was a problem with the hydraulics, not the clutch itself, which always worked fine.
I don't know how long they kept this arrangement. The engine, a 3.4 liter V8 in my car, was mounted longitudinally; it had been transverse in prior V8 Ferraris. The entire package was VERY compact and light- all the cases were light alloy, naturally, and because of the timing belt change every 30K requiring removal of the entire driveline, the whole unit was light and easily removed. Leaving aside how much everything cost to do a major service, it was a nice piece of design and packaging.
I find it amusing, though, that when Ferrari hot-rodders are building old 308s into 288s, they seem to go with transaxles that look remarkably like the ancient ZF that we all know and love from GT40s and deTomasos. Maybe the most underappreciated piece of equipment in 20th century mid-engine supercar design. What other gearbox/rear axle was used in Fords, Maseratis, BMWs, deTomasos and I don't know what else?
It's too bad that Weismann doesn't get the credit they deserve for that box...Xtrac stole the design from the McLaren F1...which was originally designed by the Weismanns, then the design "transferred" to Formula Ferguson, which was conveniently swallowed up by Ricardo at the time of manufacture. Xtrac didn't come into the game until the McLaren F1 GTRs were being developed for competition.
This gearbox looks pretty similar to the one used the the Carrera GT as well. VERY Expensive. Pretty cool design though I would think it would work quite well in a GT40 as these are pretty space limited.
