renault transaxles

T

Toby Hunt

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Fellow Frogger
Joined
Apr 10, 2001
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5
Location
Aus
guy's,
i'm new to playing with french cars, as i typically play with toyotas. anyway, i'm looking for any info regarding the 5 speed transaxle as fitted to just about every type of renault it would appear. I have a project to build a lotus seven type replica, running a transaxle in the rear (the renault one is somewhat cheaper than a hewland one..)

I've gathered up some info on the supposed gear ratios (seems to be alot of variation), does anyone know how easy/difficult it would be to change the final drive ratio? does renault or anyone make a ratio lower than 4.1:1? (like 4.3)?
how about lsd's? anything factory or that can be retrofitted? Gear sets?
lots of unusual questions here i guess, but it's kind of hard to find this sort of info.

thanks

T
 
Sounds like an odd Lotus 7 replica, is it more a Lotus Europa replica??

Back to basics, what motor are you using and what is the horsepower and weight? The most common gearbox used in Europas is the 352 (R12,15,17), 365(17TS/G, really rare), 395 (18, Fuego) and NG (Fuego, 25)type box. The 365, NG3 and some 395 gearboxes have 4 spider gears and are much stronger. But their diff ratios are all in the order of 3.44-3.77:1, nothing as low as 4.1:1 for these type gearboxes.

There is a place in Ballarat VIC that cuts gears for Renault 5 speed boxes for use in off road buggies. I'll check on their details and post them up here. They would have more details on what is available custom made.

Simon

i'm new to playing with french cars, as i typically play with toyotas. anyway, i'm looking for any info regarding the 5 speed transaxle as fitted to just about every type of renault it would appear. I have a project to build a lotus seven type replica, running a transaxle in the rear (the renault one is somewhat cheaper than a hewland one..)

I've gathered up some info on the supposed gear ratios (seems to be alot of variation), does anyone know how easy/difficult it would be to change the final drive ratio? does renault or anyone make a ratio lower than 4.1:1? (like 4.3)?
how about lsd's? anything factory or that can be retrofitted? Gear sets?
lots of unusual questions here i guess, but it's kind of hard to find this sort of info.

thanks

T[/B][/QUOTE]
 
thanks for replying simon,
the car will sort of be a lotus 7 (friend has a caterham we will be taking the measurements off) plan will be to run a front engine, rear tranny - same as the westfield fw400.
motor will be either a gen 3 3sge (2L twin-cam out of late toyota mr2), or a mazda v6 - prob the 2L version. lots of fabrication I know! motor should be realistically producing 250hp. car weight should be around 500-550kg. acceleration should be downright dangerous!
i've got a list of gear-ratios, and it shows several types of box's with 4.1:1 final drive - one of the fuego box's (ng1.04) and the 20 (one of the 369 types) any idea if this is correct? obviously with the shape of a "7" top speed is not a feature. 0-100 or 0-200 odd is the aim here - so short gears are required.
is the place in ballarat Albins by any chance?

ta

T
 
With that amount of power, even with the light weight, I really think the Renault transaxles here would be unsuitable. Both the NG1 and 369 have only two spider gears in the diff. The NG3 fitted to the AUS spec Fuego has 4, but with only 110bhp running through it.

What you need at least is a type UN 5 speed gearbox as fitted to the 25 V6, 21 Turbo, various late model Alpines (with flipped over diff) and the Lotus Esprit. None of the Renault models came to AUS, so the boxes are quite rare. But some seem to have come in for the off road buggy crowd. The place in Ballarat is Albins, but I have no idea what they are like or if they will be able to help at all.

http://www.albinsgear.com.au/index.html

Another source is from the De Lorean, even if you don't buy the site is just worth a look by itself.

www.delorean.com

They list complete new transmissions at US$2750 or therabouts. Take the warehouse tour and see the racks of gearboxes!
 
guys,

reply from albins on custom gear-ratios:

There are many variations of Renault transaxles most of which are imported. We can do almost any ratio that is required and have some 4 speed and 5 speed ratios on the shelf. Custom ratios are about 16 weeks delivery and we would need your old gears to make sure we supply the right ones - these will be returned to you. I don't know about diff ratios or LSD's.


T
 
The NG3 should be strong enough for your application, as it's a light car and those toyota engines aren't especially torquey. Otherwise you could use a Kombi box, you lose a gear but they're really tough. For the performance you're after the 4.11 diff should be short enough, this seems to be about the norm for clubmans. You could get Albins to do a custom gear set with a tall first and close ratio from there - road use you'll still want the overdrive 5th.

I'm still a bit puzzled why you'd go to such complexity in a clubman-style vehicle - I never liked the gearshift in Alfa GTV's which is a similar setup to what you've proposed. It's also a big chunk of weight to put behind the rear axle line, I'd be interested to know what that will do for the handling.
 
Phil,

the idea of using the renault box was to get a better weight distribution in the car - closer to a 50:50 split.
the alfa box has the diff in relation to the gears set in the wrong place - that is, the diff is at the back of the gearbox, so that you would actually be sitting on the gearbox, which would stuff up the driver/passenger space. vw gearbox does not excite me too much i must say (hewland is a different story, but i just don't happen to have the ~$8k required), so probably a rather modified renault box might be the go. by the way i'm now looking at using a small suzuki v6 in place of the toyota 3sge.
prices from albins for doing a custom gear set (still don't know who does final drive/lsd's for them):
RENAULT 4 SPEED RENAULT 5 SPEED
1ST
$140.00 $140.00
2ND $140.00 $140.00
MAINSHAFT $540.00 $540.00
3RD $400.00 $440.00
4TH $400.00 $440.00
5TH N/A $520.00
TOTAL $1,620.00 $2,220.00
 
Howdy. Sorry to change direction a bit... I have a problem with the 352 unit on my R12. After replacing the the driveshaft oil seals in the side of the diff carrier, and taking all due precautions to replace the threaded collars back the same number of turns, doing one side at a time, etc etc. I have ended up with a definite whine in the first three gears, worst at about 3200 rpm in third. I'm particularly fussy when I do work, and was very careful, but is the only explanation that I've replaced the collars slightly 'out' from their original position?

I would have thought that a whine from diff preload being 'out' would have occurred in all gears too. Anyone reset their diff clearances/preload themselves? If so, how hard is it (is the spring balance method good enough?) Any comments would be most appreciated, so I can stop gritting my teeth at 3200 rpm...

Cheers

Stuey
 
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