ZFQ Upgrade Yes or No

Regarding some potential issues with the ZFQ gearbox I did speak to Quiafe and the following upgrade is available, some say they have driven the car hard and had no problems. Do I have the upgrade, at this moment the box is not in the car so now's the time to decide.
What say others and has anyone had any issues with there ZFQ's ?

I'm not saying there's problem but the opinion of others may help in deciding to spend £ 800. I probably will !


Dear Keith,



Sorry for delay in response, The upgrade options are,

1) Billet tailcase conversion kit including billet tailcase and new forged shaft bolt @ £250.00 gbp each

Labour to fit above to gearboxes returned to us @ £395.00 gbp each

2) To do the front bearing update instead would be £550.00 gbp (including labour and upgrade parts)

3) To fit the uprated tailcase at the same time for a total of £800.00 gbp

All prices are + delivery + VAT

There is no real reason these mods need doing, but the higher the power/torque output and the more aggressively

it is being used (i.e. track days or racing) to more it would be sensible to do so.



Kind regards

Matt Simmons

Quaife Technical Sales

 

[Jon Briggs]

For the sake of £800 in a £70k+ car, it seems like a no brainer. You have spent more than that on fuel pumps.

 

[Mark]

Keith,

I spoke with John Wisher recently and he advised I have this done. As Jon said above, it's small chips compared the either the cost of the car/trans or future more expensive repairs if not done.

However, I have to fund the rest of my build atm, so this is not a priority. Plus they need the box on site to make the chassis etc, so I don't want to send it off to Quaiffe right now.

I wonder if a few of us want this doing, would it be cheaper/any discount available for a multiple order?

 

[andy loveday]

Regarding some potential issues with the ZFQ gearbox I did speak to Quiafe and the following upgrade is available, some say they have driven the car hard and had no problems. Do I have the upgrade, at this moment the box is not in the car so now's the time to decide.
What say others and has anyone had any issues with there ZFQ's ?

I'm not saying there's problem but the opinion of others may help in deciding to spend £ 800. I probably will !


Dear Keith,



Sorry for delay in response, The upgrade options are,

1) Billet tailcase conversion kit including billet tailcase and new forged shaft bolt @ £250.00 gbp each

Labour to fit above to gearboxes returned to us @ £395.00 gbp each

2) To do the front bearing update instead would be £550.00 gbp (including labour and upgrade parts)

3) To fit the uprated tailcase at the same time for a total of £800.00 gbp

All prices are + delivery + VAT

There is no real reason these mods need doing, but the higher the power/torque output and the more aggressively

it is being used (i.e. track days or racing) to more it would be sensible to do so.



Kind regards

Matt Simmons

Quaife Technical Sales

Hi KEITH
See in the ouote from Quaife item 2, do front bearing update instead, did not know of problems their also, thought it was just the rear case and shaft bolt,
i dont mind paying for the parts, but you would think they would fit these items free, Andy

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Hi KEITH
See in the ouote from Quaife item 2, do front bearing update instead, did not know of problems their also, thought it was just the rear case and shaft bolt,
i dont mind paying for the parts, but you would think they would fit these items free, Andy

My understanding from Chris Melia and from Dennis Olthoff was that the front bearing update is in lieu of the rear cover; they are to solve the same problem but in a different way and to a different degree. The front bearing update moves the axial thrust load forward in the case so that the rear cover is relieved of it. The rear case replacement leaves the thrust where it is but provides a stronger rear case to deal with it.

The bolt update is independent of those and is necessary only in earlier versions of the gearbox. You can check whether you need it by removing a smaller cover on the rear cover and checking whether the screw is machined or forged. If you have the machined one, you want to replace it.

So, why Matt at Quaife offers both thrust solutions is unclear to me, especially in light of the internally contradictory sentence he closes with which starts out asserting that you don't need to do any of it. (Huh?)

Furthermore, why is it that I, who just happen to be a ZFQ owner and discovered all this by accident or by asking, am the one explaining it is also a mystery. It would sure be nice if Quaife would come up with the gumption to communicate with all 80 or so of us owners about this rather than waiting for us to stumble on the information by rumor.

 

[andy loveday]

Alan
Thanks for clearing that up :thumbsup:, which as you say, it should not be your job, i dont understand why they have not contacted owners also, just cant decide which way to go, upgrade or not, and after his last statemen :huh:, Andy

 

Thankyou Alan for a clearer view.
My knowledge of gearboxes is similar to one of Einsteins theories.
I will contact them again shortly and then decide what way to go.
Probably will get done what quiafe reccomend then perhaps every aspect is covered.
Cheers

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Probably will get done what quiafe reccomend then perhaps every aspect is covered.

FWIW the only failures I "know of" were the one elsewhere on this forum in a GT40 with slicks and a history of being used hard. There was also strong evidence that it had the earlier bolt (see pictures). The bolt upgrade, BTW, you can do yourself. I also believe Dennis Olthoff had a similar failure. So in both cases I think we're talking about cars with both the inpute torque and the traction to really strain the transaxle. In my case, running a ~550 ft/lb FE, I don't plan to worry about it as long as I'm running street tires.

If I were in the UK and thus wouldn't suffer the shipping cost, I would probalby just do all of it for the sake of peace of mine and resale. But that's one of those risk/reward calculations everyone has to do on his own. It would be nice if Quaife would be a little more proactive and quantitative in providing technical data to support the decision-making. I assume there is profit built into those prices, so why so coy?

 

Spoke to another guy at Quaife today and he quoted me 4 weeks.
But if I get the box to him it could be done in a week depending on there work load.
I have decided to get it done as it's a small percentage of the build cost and as you say Peace of Mind.
Also Quaife are just 10 minutes from me and the box is not in the car yet.

It will go in this week, I'll keep you posted with time scales etc.
Cheers all for you comments

 

[Tom]

An outsider's guess as to why they are doing things this way - concerns about liability.