Porsche 5 speed into a 68

[bottom rung]

Hi all
I have been offered a 901 five speed and an early 911 five speed gearshift assembly; any pointers on fitting it? I used to own the box but sold it on with a job lot of beetle parts last year. Has anyone got a pictorial guide on how to fit one into an early bay? I'm happyish about mounting the box into the van, but a bit bemused about the linkage. I am intending to fit a 1776 at the moment, although it would be nice to future proof the transmission in case I ever finish the subaru closed deck block engine thats cluttering up my garage.

 

[bobley]

Just beware that 1st will be very tall and you'll need to be clever with the shifter as the VW shifter has no spring/detent to help you find 2-3 gears. Using the Porsche shifter is def a good idea.

 

[bottom rung]

Just the job, thanks! Has anyone on the forum got one fitted to a vw engine? How are they to drive?

 

[bobley]

Well I've got one in my split connected to a 2110cc engine. To be honest, the gearbox is fine in itself but getting the thing to work properly is the hard part. I've got mine with a modified clutch arm, a washer under the clutch pivot pin to move it closer to the clutch, 901 release bearing, KEP stage 2 clutch on some sort of typical type 1 dowelled flywheel. I originally had an adapter on it to move the VW clutch cable down under the driveshaft and then I junked the VW clutch cable and had a modern teflon lined cable made up. I did have to weld a longer arm on the side of the clutch pedal though. Thats all down to a bit of experimentation and may be different on a bay. Since then I've lost the cable and gone hydraulic with a Willwood pull type slave but I would use a concentric slave next time so that it auto compensates for wear. I have to reach under occasionally and back mine off a bit. It is very slick though now - its easier underfoot than my stock crewcab.

The starter motor is bespoke. I got it made by Brise and is based on their Porsche starter but with about 4mm machined off the flange so it sits a bit closer to the flywheel. I think the typical nice geared starters you see on the aftermarket could be pulled apart and machined down to suit thus saving a few £. Mine was £270 all in and it works perfectly and Brise were very helpful so no complaints really.

My shifter is a Berg one with a modifed base plate so reverse is nowleft /forward. Everything between the nosecone and the base of the shifter is new/bespoke. At the moment its very precise but neither the gearbox or the shifter have any springing or detent so finding 2nd and 3rd require a lot of thought. I'm currently designing a new mechanism to add on to fix this.

On the move (shifting aside) its very good. Only problems are the very tall first - only really a problem when I'm towing a caravan in a hilly area! The ratios are fine for me, I had them changed from 914 ratios to a 901 ish spec so 70mph is about 3500mph (I think I've got an X ratio 5th). This keeps the enigne cool while towing on the motorway. If I didn't want to tow then I'd consider changing to a Z or maybe higher still.

 

[bottom rung]

Hi Bobley, thanks for such a comprehensive reply. I'll go ahead and get the gearbox; I'm not planning to do any towing, just lugging the family about, so hopefully the high first shouldn't be a problem. I know that the output shafts on my box are the wrong size for bus cv's, so I am on the lookout for the correct size shafts. Apparantly there are three or four variations of size, and one of the types matches the bus cv's with no machining required.

 

[bobley]

I had the box built by Bugat5Speed and specced the drive flanges to suit the 944T driveshafts....

http://www.bugat5speed.de/getriebe/wellenstuempfe-porsche-944-lochkreis.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Dentman]

Well I've got one in my split connected to a 2110cc engine. To be honest, the gearbox is fine in itself but getting the thing to work properly is the hard part. I've got mine with a modified clutch arm, a washer under the clutch pivot pin to move it closer to the clutch, 901 release bearing, KEP stage 2 clutch on some sort of typical type 1 dowelled flywheel. I originally had an adapter on it to move the VW clutch cable down under the driveshaft and then I junked the VW clutch cable and had a modern teflon lined cable made up. I did have to weld a longer arm on the side of the clutch pedal though. Thats all down to a bit of experimentation and may be different on a bay. Since then I've lost the cable and gone hydraulic with a Willwood pull type slave but I would use a concentric slave next time so that it auto compensates for wear. I have to reach under occasionally and back mine off a bit. It is very slick though now - its easier underfoot than my stock crewcab.

The starter motor is bespoke. I got it made by Brise and is based on their Porsche starter but with about 4mm machined off the flange so it sits a bit closer to the flywheel. I think the typical nice geared starters you see on the aftermarket could be pulled apart and machined down to suit thus saving a few £. Mine was £270 all in and it works perfectly and Brise were very helpful so no complaints really.

My shifter is a Berg one with a modifed base plate so reverse is nowleft /forward. Everything between the nosecone and the base of the shifter is new/bespoke. At the moment its very precise but neither the gearbox or the shifter have any springing or detent so finding 2nd and 3rd require a lot of thought. I'm currently designing a new mechanism to add on to fix this.

On the move (shifting aside) its very good. Only problems are the very tall first - only really a problem when I'm towing a caravan in a hilly area! The ratios are fine for me, I had them changed from 914 ratios to a 901 ish spec so 70mph is about 3500mph (I think I've got an X ratio 5th). This keeps the enigne cool while towing on the motorway. If I didn't want to tow then I'd consider changing to a Z or maybe higher still.

Hi Bobley I’ve had a 914 5 speed gearbox fitted to my early Bay using a Martin Bott conversion, We fitted a Porsche Starter that worked for 6 Weeks then Failed, I have a Bug-tech Shifter that worked initially however now I can’t get 1st or Reverse, I have purchased a Gene Berg Shifter but not fitted it yet. We have a KEC Stage 1 clutch fitted but the bite is right at the top of Pedal! Do you have any advise of how I can make this more reliable ? Thanks in advance. Paul