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

 

[ozziedog]

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

Sorry Dentman, but Bobley hasn’t been on this site for quite a few years, October 2013 to be exact. It may be possible that Bobley has changed names for one reason or another. That post that you’ve seen there ^^^ is from March 30 2010. Sorry to be the bad news man.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,sounds interested though.

 

[creationblue]

I believe the 5th isn't any longer that a 6rib forth (??) and there is a LOT of work to get it working correctly. I'd spend the money on getting your current box rebuilt with new ratios where required. My box with rear tyres of, or equivalent to 185/80/14 is 70mph @ 3400rpm, obviously you'd need some torque to run these gears......