QUAIFE 1st, 2nd Gear & Main Shaft Kits !

For those who know there are none of these kits left, they were originally designed for the Renault 21 Turbo box. It's an established fact that this kit will handle 500HP!

Today I have contacted Quaife about making another batch. The price of the kit was approx £1500(not 100% sure on price,neither are Quaife until they find the original paper work.) I understand that the kit was designed by Derek Bell, and that he owns the rights to the design.

To get the ball rolling I need to know how many people would like a kit, so please if you are interested post below.

Regards,

J.P
 
I'm interested to know more, ie ratios & what machining (if any) is required for fitting.

I do not wish to commit to a purchase as yet.
 
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I'm in the same position as Julian as this is the first I've heard of this kit.

Ben
 
More detail:

The main shaft and input shaft are replaced with much stronger, re-designed shafts.

1st & 2nd gears are replaced with straight cut gears which increase their ratios by about 15%.

The spline is changed to Ford.

An overhaul will be needed on the gearbox because the parts do not just fit straight in.

Malcom M, Roy Smart, Derek Bell and Dave Parker of the GTD Club have all this mod.

My knowledge of how to fit the bits and more technical info. is limited. If Malcom M reads this thread perhaps he could shed some light on the matter, he recently fit the parts to his gearbox.

Regards,

J.P

P.S As soon as I have more info I will post it.

[ October 29, 2002: Message edited by: JP ]
 
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I think that JP has covered most of the points although I would say that the parts do pretty much just fit in. You need to fit the gears as though you were changing gears in the normal manner. I got help from Dave as I am not a gear box man as a rule.

The only item I remember as awkward is that a tiny spacer is required behind the fifth gear. I (Dave!) used a circlip as it was the right thickness. The two big 5th gear nuts are a bit awkward to undo and do up but just make sure you do them up ok as they can otherwise come off. Glue, peg, lock into place well!

The clutch master cylinder needs changing to a larger bore as for some reason, even though the clutch cover is the same one, and the friction plate is the same thickness as the one I replaced, the clutch pedal bite point all changed. Most odd but true!

Other than that I have no comments.

The second batch of Quaife LSD have been slightly changed to allow standard fitment of the usual speedo drive etc and there is no longer a need for the 3mm spacer as the drawings were modified to remove this problem experienced on the first batch made.

When choosing to go to the Quaife LSD, you need to measure the diameter of the drive shaft splines where they exit the box casing. They are either 30mm or 32mm dependiong on exactly which box you have. You then need to order the right diff.

Kevin Jones of GTO Engineering supplies the LSD and his number is 0118 940 1101. He knows what he is on about and is a really nice guy.

Kevin also happens to be working on a full set of Quaife gears to fit inside the renault casing. Before you commit to Quaife 1st and 2nd gears, it may be worth talking to Kevin about his plans for a full set of quaife gears instead although your budget will need to be even bigger, but still cheaper than other options such as Quaife box complete or ZF box. But then you don't need to change adapter plates, drive shafts etc etc with Kevin's plans.

From my initial driving impressions, 1st gear is great. I am not so keen on the 2nd gear as I think my engine may not have enough torque to drive the ratio as it is quite tall. In competition, in the limited amount that I have done since fitting these parts, I have found that unless I scream the engine to high RPM (over 6000), it bogs a bit in 2nd. If I dropped my final ratio from 3.44 to 3.88 this would cure the problem I am sure. Further use may show better results as driving has been limited.

I have not used the car on the road so cannot comment on experiences there as I have none. I would have thought though that it should be ok as you are not then trying to maximise everything for a better time.

The Quaife LSD is great and many people have these and I have yet to hear a bad comment. The LSD really is whip one out, bung another in job.

Malcolm
 
Malcolm, Thanks for the info. I love the way you guys talk. Could you please translate that last sentence for us Yanks.
Best regards, Blue
 
Translate into what language !

Spanish Creole Inuit Yiddish ?

Have I left any out ?

Greetings from Multi-Cultural London
 
Malcolm is simply saying it's very easy to fit.
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Whip it out, bung another in = Bish Bash Bosh, new gearbox for you, Sir!

Simple is a relative word if you are scared of transmission reconstruction! However to a transmission minded person it is an easy job. I know my limits so I got a top fellow to do it for me. But it really is simple! Dave made it look like a walk in the park. Obviously taking great care and being totally safety minded....

Malcolm
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Hi Guys, Can anyone confirm why the input shaft spline was changed from fine renault 21 to the Ford cosy clutch variety. Other than the fact that you would be using a Ford clutch on a bigger flyweel perhaps? I dont see why the Renault spline cant be retained on the shaft and still use the AP Racing clutch we all know and love. Unless quaife only had the tooling for the Ford spline and didnt want the expense of retooling the Renault fine spline. Food for thought.

I am looking into the Gearbox mysteries at present. Ive found a local supplier of gear manufacturers. Im evaluating some parts with them at present. if it comes to anything, I will let all know what can be done. I have plenty of stock of reanult rans, but everyone wants them bullet proof nowadays. Its funny, You would have thought someone would have redesigned a tansaxle for all the rear engined component built guys like us by now. I know they could have sold way into a thousand units had they done it ten years ago. I personally have sold over 400 reanult gearboxes (both while i was at GTD and since)And thats just one supplier. Imagine Ultima, Roaring forties, CAV, etc etc. There was big business there at one point. The tooling put anyone interested off though.

Enough of my waffling, i still like the Renault, it looks the part and many guys are still firing round the track ok. Well back to the grind.

All the best

Mark Sibley
 
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The quaife shaft has a larger spline but uses the same size friction plate in all other respects. Therefore for the same size one can only assume it is stronger for it being a larger diameter spline. The friction plate diameter is 9.25 inches, off the top of my head. Maybe it is also because it is a standard AP part?

Malcolm
 
Hello all,
A number of people have shown interest in the Quaife conversion kit to fit the Renault 21 Turbo transaxle. The kit was designed by GTD Club member Derek Bell who developed it for use in his Chevy powered GTD Lola T70.

A beast of a car powered by a dry-sumped 350 Chevrolet that can make good use of the improved properties of the DB Quaife conversion.

The kit comprises a new one-piece main shaft with its diameter increased to a full one inch, is made of superior material and has a standard Ford Spline cut to accept for example Cosworth or Mustang clutch assemblies. This replaces the standard smaller two-piece shaft that necks down still further where the quill shaft joins. (a common breakage in more powerful cars)

Onto this shaft are cut new gears with a straight cut first and longer ratios on both first and second. New replacement matching gears for first and second are provided for the lay shaft. A complete kit of modified bearings to fit the larger diameter shaft are included together with new seals for shaft entry and exit points.

As a kit, Derek also includes a set of instructions detailing the assembly process of the new components, including ratio charts and exploded diagram of each shaft assembly.

The kits really are state of the art as far as the Renault 21 box is concerned and when combined with a Quaife ATB can transform the driving characteristics of most cars, whilst affording bomb-proof reliability (thus far) to the more powerful cars.

To be viable, a run of at least five kits needs to be ordered with the likely cost being approximately £1600 to £1800 each (excluding the ATB diff). So if you are genuinely interested, (deposits would be required upon ordering), please post on this thread and mail me so the details can be forwarded to Derek. Further details can then be provided by return.

This kit has been fitted to four cars to date, three of which have in excess of 500BHP and all have proven 100% reliable thus far after several seasons of competition including many track days, sprints and hill climbs. The two car’s fitted with this conversion that competed this season in the friendly Club Championship, took 9 first places and 7 second places of the ten rounds contested. Cheer’s Derek!

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Julian,

I'm not getting very far with this one.(the Quaife conversion). However, I know a man who is heading in a similar direction with the 21 box. i.e strengthened primary shaft etc. It's not definate yet, but it could well be a cheaper and very viable alternative.

Regards,

J.P
 
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