gearbox question

[jbcollier]

365 trannies were sourced from Renault and they used them in their HP versions.  Alpine also used them in some A110s (albeit with swing axles).  However, Lotus made up a special 5th gear set for the Europa 365 and it is hard to come by and often toasted by leaks lowering the oil level.  The 365 has a 3.7x rear end while the 336/352 had a 3.5x ratio.  Lotus made a tall fifth gear so the TCS five speed wouldn't be slower that the four speed.  Unfortunately, this means there is a quite a large jump from 4th to 5th.  In my opinion the best 5 speed box for the Europa is the early 395 box.  It has the taller 1st and a lower 5th for a nice set of moderately close ratios.  True you can't go as fast but that is not much of an issue these days.

[BDA]

Thanks, John! That's interesting information! Another piece of the Europa puzzle!

[EuropaTC]

I found on r.d. Enterprises site that the 352 come with either a 13mm or 15mm selector shaft. ). Then there's another one fo 365s.

&

Somewhere I heard that the 365 had a very limited production and maybe only for Europas. I assume 352 parts are more common.

Ah - I never thought of the selector shaft being different, now that makes a lot of sense.  If so then it's very fixable because it will just be the rear UJ that needs sorting and there's nothing a man with a hammer can't fix there.....   

Second point - going back to that black JPS 5sp I looked at years ago to find the elusive gear, the reason I was given for scarce parts was that the box was only on 2 other cars - a sporty Renault (Gordini ?) and the Alpine, neither of which you'd call common over here. The box itself was reputedly a good one to have, which makes you wonder just why there weren't more around.

[lotus4me]

thanks for all the info and effort guys.......appreciated!

the workshop manual at P33 says;
"The gear linkage fitted to cars equipped with the type 365 gearbox is identical to the linkage described on pages 3-5 inclusive of this section [covers the type352] with the exception of the length of the longitudinal links [see service parts list]"

I can see that there is a difference in the mountings, but my thoughts are that the more alike two things are, the less fabrication and adaptation is required. I would hope that the original 365 rear hoop would not need to be replaced to use a 352 box.

as for bashing and bending bits of metal, that is no problem.......I can do that without even trying!!

  fred