5 speed gearbox strip.

[jbcollier]

Ok, there are two gears in the fifth gear set.

The lower gear which is splined to the pinion shaft and held in place by the speedo gear and nut.  This gear is available.  The nut should be torqued as per manual and then staked so it doesn't come loose.

The "upper" gear rides on a needle bearing and has teeth/splines which the sychro assembly can slide over and lock onto.  This gear is pure unobtainium.  It is a Lotus only part made by Hewland and has been NLA for a long, long time.

So which gear are you after and can you post pictures of it.

[Sparkrite]

I am after the upper gear. Its not that I noticed a problem whilst driving, but looking at the splines/teeth there is wear visable.

[jbcollier]

Thankfully, that is not the gear, that is the synchro hub.  I have seen one or two of those available over the years.  It "might" be the same one from as another Renault box.  Can't say for sure.  Worth doing a part number cross reference check.

All that said, it still looks "useable".

[Sparkrite]

Thats good to know, so I can now proceed to re assemble it with all new seals, but I will keep an eye out for the synchro hub for a future strip down.
There is a plug on my gearbox housing with nothing within it. This is the one arrowed on the right-hand side of the enclosed image. If it should have a ball and spring then I still dont understand what it would be hoh

[Kendo]

That could be the 5th gear detent that Lotus didn't use.

[jbcollier]

I'm about to start an overhaul/mod on a recently acquired 365.  I will be fitting the original Renault detent spring and ball and removing the Lotus external detent system.

[Kendo]

IIRC, the detent you will be adding is just for the 5th gear. And Lotus's external mechanism is for both 5th and reverse. What will you be using for reverse, a lockout bar?

[TVrebel]

I'm looking for a 352 Bell housing or a 352 or 365 transaxle. I have a 2.0 Zetec Blacktop I need to fit up to a transaxle. Any help please.

William.enzweiler@gmail.com

[BDA]

I expect that bell housing will be difficult to find. Lotus Supplies has apparently new bell housings but they ain't cheap! (https://www.lotus-supplies.com/part-category/gearbox/page/6/)

[jbcollier]

Kendo, I already have a reverse lock out at the shift lever.

[RafM]

IIRC, the detent you will be adding is just for the 5th gear. And Lotus's external mechanism is for both 5th and reverse. What will you be using for reverse, a lockout bar?

Can you get the original ball and spring or are you going to find/adapt parts to do the job?

I can't understand why Lotus didn't use this set-up in the first place.

[Kendo]

One of the listers has sourced and sold a kit to add the 5th detent in the past. Maybe he’ll chime in if he has any left.

[Sparkrite]

I have got all the seals for the gearbox and now have to adjust the output shaft castelated nuts. My understanding is that I do the crownwheel side first. But the manual states to stop screwing in the nuts when the differential assembly shows no signs of play. How can that be if there should be a backlash play of .12 to .25mm.
However I adjust mine I always have linear play in the output shaft opposite the crownwheel.

[jbcollier]

New or used diff bearings?

[Sparkrite]

Used bearings as Im not doing a full rebuild now as I need the car going very soon.