1303s box into a '68

Early Bay Forum

Help Support Early Bay Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

giraffeinbath

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2007
Messages
618
Reaction score
70
Location
Bath
I know this is a common upgrade for the split boys so assumed that it would be fairly straight forward on the bay but apparently not.

I guess one of you guys must have done this, can you tell me what's involved......
 
I'm having this done on my 70 bay soon. You'll need a conversion kit - mine is coming over from the states at the moment. Not sure what the kit consists of - Monkeyspinner on here has already done it to his so he's your best bet for some info.
 
I'd have thought that it would be easier and more reliable to use a Bay box that has been converted to the taller gearing of the 1303s box. The 1303s box was designed to propel the weight of a bug and not a lardy old bus, also the drive shafts are well different as are the hubs. It has been suggested to me that using a Bay 2L box would be better as you'd only have to change the bell housing and front gearbox mount.
 
speedwell68 said:
I'd have thought that it would be easier and more reliable to use a Bay box that has been converted to the taller gearing of the 1303s box.

Problem is that I've already bought the 03s box and it's sitting in the back room because I thought it was a straight fit into a Split/early Bay so I kind of need to use it. Take your point about the weight thing though.

Is the gearbox in an Early Bay that much different to a Beetle box?

From my recollection of crawling around underneath the van the cv joints looked like they fitted the same, so I was thinking I would be able to bolt the present bus drive shafts straight up to the 03s box, looks like the same 6 bolt pattern?
 
I'm also buying a kit form Monkeyspinner, it just seems the most sensible and cost effective route. In order to fit the 1303s box you would need the fitting kit and driveshafts with one bay CV and one bug CV. And from what monkeyspinner says a more powerful engine for Hills :lol:

I spoke to Cogbox and they said they would do a 2L bay gearbox fitted with a longer 4th for £980. Even though I know I would get quality it is a bit too steep for me.

This is what I understand from what I have been told.
 
Cheers faux,

That sounds good, I'm relieved at least that I haven't wasted my money on the 03s box, and thanks for the tip on the cv/drive shaft thing, got all the parts I need to accomplish that so no problem there.

I'm expecting that hills will be a bit more of a grind as it's only a 1641, but easy freeway cruising is more appealing and it's a good excuse for a bigger motor (turbo?) later on :wink:

How much was the kit?
 
No Problem!

Speak to Tim at Roadhouse, I think it is about £300, not cheap but there is no one making them here in the UK. And including a 1303s box not as much as a 2L box on its own.

http://www.roadhouseretro.com/

Tim has done this to his own bus aswell so it is tried and tested.
 
Crikey, :shock: £300! :shock:

I've just pm'ed him actually, may give him a bell on his business number tomorrow. Given the option of £300 to fit and forget, or half a years worth of weekends trying to whittle brackets out of tin and gaffa tape to make it fit I'm sure £300 will be worth every penny!
 
speedwell68 said:
I'd have thought that it would be easier and more reliable to use a Bay box that has been converted to the taller gearing of the 1303s box. The 1303s box was designed to propel the weight of a bug and not a lardy old bus, also the drive shafts are well different as are the hubs. It has been suggested to me that using a Bay 2L box would be better as you'd only have to change the bell housing and front gearbox mount.

That is a fair point but after seeing my mate do hardcore burnouts time and time again plus hard launches of the startline at at Action(Santa pod) in his bus with a standard 03s box in then i don't think it'll be a problem. one thing that might be worth considering is changing the CV joint flanges to Bay ones so you can use bigger CV joints but it all depends what motor you have and how you drive it...

are 2L bay boxes readily available? when i and other people looked into it they don't seam to be and were crazy prices...

there's always arguements for everything, i've done this conversion and i'm happy to do it on my other Bay so i'd recomend it to anyone else.

the kit is available through me and there is currently a 6 week waiting time. it's £295 and includes the front craddle which bolts to the front of the gearbox and uses the original Bay mount, 2 new custom built new driveshafts, modified clutch cable, gear selecta shaft extension and bowden tube extension. it all depends on how cheap you can find a decent 03s box as to whether it's worth it over a 2L bay box i guess,. you can still get them for £150 but can easily pay £250-300 from the wrong person...
 
giraffeinbath said:
Cheers faux,


I'm expecting that hills will be a bit more of a grind as it's only a 1641, but easy freeway cruising is more appealing and it's a good excuse for a bigger motor (turbo?) later on :wink:

How much was the kit?

I have a standard 1600single port in my full weight westy tintop and it cruised round Europe just fine although hills are a bit of a pain in the arse! MPG was really much better than i expected tough, everyone else seamed to fill up twice to my once which was nice...

I think if you have a 1641 with decent twin carbs you'll be fine. also depends what tyre size you use obviously, i have 175/55 15" which make the rear end sit nice and low and still the gearing is great...


giraffeinbath said:
Crikey, :shock: £300! :shock:

I've just pm'ed him actually, may give him a bell on his business number tomorrow. Given the option of £300 to fit and forget, or half a years worth of weekends trying to whittle brackets out of tin and gaffa tape to make it fit I'm sure £300 will be worth every penny!

When you see how complicated the bracket is you wouldn't want to copy it... it's a nice bit of engineering too and so are the driveshafts. well the whole kit is well made by a small custom shop in LA who have a great reputation for their work and products in the area. i really don't make that much on the kits by the time they are shipped, if they were mass produced in china i could but they are not so labour costs etc are high...
 
Thanks for the info, knowing now what is contained in the kit that actually sounds pretty good value for money.

Reassured by the fact your mate hasn't broken his '03 box yet if that's what he's doing with it, should be well up to general daily use, with a little bit of abuse perhaps one day at the drag strip :D

At some point in the very near future I'll be giving you a bell with my credit card number.....
 

Latest posts

Top