Well, this is an old thread that I've used in the past to chronicle some of my adventures in wrenching on my car. I probably could be more religious about using and updating it but...
I had planned to write this post after my latest adventure but things aren't going as smoothly or as quickly as I would have liked so I'll try to remember everything up to this point and then update as events warrant.
The latest adventure is rebuilding my tranny (NG3). I was having trouble getting into 1st gear all of a sudden. The linkage and clutch cable adjustment all seemed to check out. Also, I had no problem with other gears. I called Michel at Alpine-America (
https://www.alpine-america.qc.ca/) and he immediately said the 1st gear synchro was the issue. I had been planning on rebuilding the tranny at some point and I had about two and a half months before the LOG in Knoxville which I had already signed up for so with the help of my next door neighbor's son, we pulled the tranny out.
It might be useful to note upfront that I am not taking out shift forks, except for the 5th gear which comes out with the end cover, nor am I opening up the diff.
After getting the tranny on a workbench, I opened it up and everything looked good. There was nothing alarming in the oil when I drained it and there were no chipped teeth (I didn't expect any but I was still glad to see that!). The Secondary shaft is the one that is the most work. I tried to take pictures of everything but I know the truth is that there will always be that view that I didn't take a picture of that I wish I had.
TIP #1: take pictures of everything (including several views of the same picture). Some parts are in groups (synchros, sliding gears, gears, springs, etc.). Try to take a picture of how each individual piece fits with the others. Be careful because some of the synchros have spring loaded rollers (in my case) and they can fly away or at the least get dislodged before you get a chance to take a picture of how they are supposed to go. It happened to me but luckily reading the (crappy) manual and thinking and staring at it for a while, I figured how how it goes back together.
As I took things apart, I grouped each "logical" part of the stack with a zip tie to keep them together and to keep them in their relative orientation. The next thing I did was get some cheap plastic tubs to put each group in after I cleaned them. Each tub had a label with what is in it.
WARNING: When you are cleaning things, you naturally flip them around and after a while, it might not be obvious what the original orientation was anymore (at least if you're a skatterbrained as I am). I don't really have an answer for this but one thing that might have worked is to clean the parts while they were still tie-wrapped together and then promise to clean and dry them one more time just before assembly. While most everything in the stack of stuff on the secondary shaft has only one orientation and most of them are obvious, it's still a worry that I have that I'll put something in upside down and won't find out till it won't shift or worse, won't take power or something (my mind conjures up the worst scenarios - especially for something I've never done before).
TIP #2: I've sort of mentioned this already but label everything. I punched a hole in a piece of paper and threaded a tie-wrap through it and onto the part or group of parts. I kept detent springs, balls, and plugs in a small zip lock bag with a label. (At this point, the irony of my suggesting any organizing techniques to anybody has finally struck me!)
The next step was getting replacement parts. I had already got a set of synchros from Michel at Alpine-America BUT, there are two different sets of synchros for the NG3 and how do you know which set you need? Well by the VIN of the car your tranny came out of!! Of course, there was no way I could know that so when I ordered my synchros a couple of years ago, I sent Michel the suffix number on the tag of my tranny. Now that I am about to really need to worry about them, I called Michel and he said he sent me the more common of the two sets. He also said that the 1 & 2 synchros were the same for all NG3 boxes but the 3, 4, & 5 synchros were the ones that were different. I test fitted my synchros with the hubs and they all seemed to fit well but the new synchros had a few thou smaller gap to the hub (stood a little higher in the hub) and the old synchro gripped a bit better than the new synchros. I tried to measure the height, OD at the top, and OD at the bottom of the synchros and as best I could tell, the new ones matched the dimensions of the old synchros. I asked Michel about this and he said I have the correct synchros and that the new ones will grip better after some use. Getting the right synchros may not be a problem for other boxes (336, 352, 365, etc.).
Next was bearings. The first thing I noted was that most of the bearings didn't have any identification stamped on them. For those you'll need some dimensions: ID of the inner race (i.e. shaft diameter), The OD of the outer race, the width of the bearing (this usually means the total width of the bearing at the widest part). You'll obviously need to know what kind of bearing it is (tapered roller, double tapered roller, ball bearing, double ball bearing, etc.). Then you'll notice that there are two bearings that are roller bearings that don't have inner races. The inner races are machined into the shafts. On my NG3, the outer race has a groove for a positioning ring to position the bearing in the case. The location of that ring can be different from one model to another. The diameter of the "inner race" on the shaft can also be different from one model to another. Hmm... This might be a problem.
Remembering when Certified Lotus rebuilt his tranny (
https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1704.msg21940#msg21940 and
https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/index.php?topic=1704.msg22243#msg22243) he got his bearings at 123Bearing (
https://www.123bearing.com/). I went to their website, which is very good by the way, and found most of the bearings and seals I needed. I did not find any bearings without an inner race. Those are apparently Renault specific. One thing I was disappointed about was that they didn't have "sets" of bearings, for example all the bearings they have for an NG3, or a 352, etc., but that was minor matter. They have a "mail contact" link at the bottom of the home page at least and you should not be afraid to use it. They are very responsive. They also had all the seals I needed. Their shipping is pretty good in spite of the fact that they are in France.
123Bearing is not the only source you should look at. I was referred to Renault16Shop (
https://www.renault16shop.com/). They are in Holland and probably more useful for the older boxes. For example, I just did a search for 336 and got lots of hits for those trannies. They also sell some general purpose bearings. For example, the NG3 uses two bearings that are the same except for their shaft diameter. I got the common one at 123Bearing but Renault16Shop had the less common one for a lot less. They even have those Renault specific bearings... but not for an NG3. Several (all?) Renault boxes have very similar general designs and so they used similar bearings without inner races. Unfortunately, Renault16Shop did not have mine but they are more likely to have them for some of the other boxes. They are also VERY responsive. I have emailed them many times about different things and have always gotten a quick substantive reply. If you are looking for NG3 parts, be careful as they do list some transaxle parts for a Fuego but they did not have any NG3 specific parts so they probably have the parts for an NG0, NG1.
While Renault16Shop caters to some of the older Renault cars, I was unable to find a similar company that catered to Fuegos (at least at the level of transaxle parts) in spite of the fact that they are more current and were well received when they were in production.
I've been talking to Michel at Alpine-America and he thinks he can get those bearings. So far I haven't heard if he can.
There is a spring connected to a cross shaft, which has the shift "finger" on it, in the end cover. The spring helps center the shift lever. Somehow, mine got mangled and I cut it up to get my cross shaft out so I need to replace mine. The spring is listed on Lotus Supplies's website. I have called them (always getting voice mail and never replying to my messages) and I've emailed requesting the availability of that spring as well as some other parts so I can order them but have gotten only occasional replies to my emails and none about parts availability. I am beyond disappointed in their response especially after I have bought so much from Richard over the years with no problems at all. I'm hopeful that Michel will be able to supply those parts.
While Michel is much more responsive than Lotus Supplies, he's not as good as he might be either. His French accent is so thick that it is difficult to understand all that he says. I just called him about my bearings and I'm pretty sure he said that it is rare to change the Renault specific bearings I'm interested in.
TIP #3: When emailing Michel at Alpine-America, unless you speak French, include both English and French translations of your note in your email.
So that's pretty much where I am at the moment. I can't start to assemble the box till I either get those Renault specific bearings or give up on getting them.
To be continued. Stay tuned!
