Internal gearbox upgrades

Hello all, I went down to Llandow circuit this weekend and after a long drive down from Leeds in Yorkshire, my gearbox failed in selecting gears properly again after a massive 10 f*****g minutes on track. It didn't select 3rd properly, then was stuck in 4th, then would select nothing and now I believe it's stuck in 3rd.

Now it's a quaife gearset I have in, and I'm sure I've tried before but not got anywhere, is there uprated springs, selector forks, synchros or anything else I can put in to make it better an more reliable and if so, where can I buy this stuff!??? Lol!

For those that know me, this time it wasn't driver abuse as I was actually just driving it steadyish and getting warmed up and used to the track!! 

Thanks Chris.

If you on standard 3-4 selector that will probably be your issue.
Don't know why people spend £2k plus but skimp on the fork, standard fork is known issue & they don't get better with age plus it ball ache & expense when they crap out on you ...
Either get a PAR selector or get one made locally at a machine shop fabricators . new spings & balls wouldn't go a miss either along with full selector bushing renewal & modification .

I bought the car with a quaife in so I'm guessing that the selector forks are standard! Is there any recommended place to buy the par fork from or do I just contact them direct? Do they do full selector kits/forks and I presume they work fine with the Quaife gearset?? I'm really not clued up about the internals of the gearbox, but I'm guessing then that all new springs and balls and whatever else I need are just direct from Nissan? My external selector bushing is all pretty new anyway pal! Thanks for your help!  I will buy whatever I need as it's just too disappointing having problem after problem!

You only really need 3-4 selector & if you real animal perhaps 5th too
Forks are interchangable, PAR or PPG do them
PAR do 3-4 & either get direct from PAR Oz or dealer outlet in Poland .
Springs & balls are direct from nissan & dirt cheap in the overall cost of gearbox things.
Worth checking syncros fully as when they bad they cause extra stress on selectors although the standard 3-4 selector is known problem area & anyone doing a box would best bang in better 3-4 fork .
Is ball ache when stuff keeps breaking, 3-4 selector should of been part of kit as almost not worth building one without changing it. Hopefully you get it resolved asap & get a reliable car for rest of year :-) good luck ...

Cheers for the info matey! I'll try buy as much as I can and get it sorted! I'm booked on at Croft in 2 weeks time so time is of the essence!

http://www.ppgearbox.com.au/page.asp?categoryid=28

http://www.par-engineering.com/product/rs5f50a-nissan-rs5f50a-synchromesh-engagement-gearset/
you may have trouble getting PAR or PPG that quickly unless someone holding one in stock or got used one for sale.
You could look at banging in a standard fork & perhaps strengthening it or adding another engagement tooth to take load/stress off the weak arm .
Would be worth you UK guys getting small batched machined up in UK as would be half the cost .

Cheers! I may get it rebuilt using the parts I have and then get all the fancy bits in and ready for when I need to rebuild it again! Thanks for the links and your help!

Bob is supposed to be making some 3rd/4th gear selectors.
Where is asia are you mr b?

^ Live in Thailand but work in Thailand, Malaysia & Japan .

I thought you were an Ozy! All these months and i didnt realise.
Wish i worked in Thailand, Ive been twice and didnt want to come back,

Much the same, we both like BBQ & the sun :-)
main difference is the Ozzy's always with a beer and burly mate while i'm with a iced green tea & ladyboy house maid .
Thailand good for holiday but living here is PITA at times, military government led by a prize winning tw@t, awful employment laws & car/import laws/taxes, corrupt police who cover up british tourist murders & completely useless/untrustworthy, expensive healthcare :-( & currently a drought :-O
No cold/glum british weather though & fresh fruit & snack everywhere makes up for it :-)

Yes we have 3rd-4th & 5th billet selectors being engineered at the moment and these (unlike the ppg ones I've seen will fit correctly)
The poor design / fit of ppg selectors is what pushed us into getting these made up in first instance

^ sounds good & with 3-4 being a common issue about time more options on the market , prices of the ppg are silly too plus be better for uk/europe have a close source.
assume ppg made arm short as way of keeping it strong! never used recent ppg so can't comment much but do think current ppg selectors are a redesign.
par 3-4 was quite good but price of that has almost doubled since I bought from them .
How much trouble people had with 5th selector, I keep standard 5th's & never had issue & don't know anyone who has, although at sensible cost it would be prudent remove the risk & play safe .

yep very true with the ppg selector being way too short.........to the point where it if anything is causing further damage to synchro and gearset alike as it does not even fit half way on the selector ring therefore puts a far greater loading on everything else.
Over a period of time it will destroy other gear parts which is not an ideal scenario.

5th selector is not so vital as only ever seen 2 breakages and to be fair that may not be down to selector being weak but to something else which may have broken in turn breaking that selector.

The price we will be doing them for will be reduced significantly over any available at the moment, plus you'll get 2 selectors for less than the price of one as were doing them as a kit pair.

once we have them in our possession 'which hopefully should not be too long now' we will test fit a set to make sure the fit and quality is good then they will be offered to members on this forum first and foremost under a kind of group buy, only so many are being produced initially.

We have other very useful parts being fabricated too as we speak, but im staying tight lipped regarding everything and the ideas we have at the moment until they are ready for market.

I've definitely taken note of that extra conversation, and basically I read that as DO NOT buy the PPG forks! Lol!

Seems a good idea getting some made Bob if that's what you're doing pal. I had an email back from Par today, they're a bargain, cough!! Each fork is 480AUD and delivery is around 160AUD. The only question is........ How many spare forks shall I get!! Lol!

Is it one fork that does third and fourth gear, and another fork for 5th?

Yep one fork does 3-4
another for 5th
When I got par forks they where about 7,000Baht which about £150 which was acceptable as was decent made part . current pricing is crazy so I do my own 3-4 & keep original 5th (never seen a broken 5th) but get them x-rayed then peened if A1.
If bob doing some you best waiting & banging in standard good 3-4 along with syncro check to get you going & revisit with better parts when available, 3-4 is easy fork make & don't need be these crazy prices.
I'm not big fan of the ppg selectors either, pretty sure the shorter arm one is new design & would agree with bob it not best as loads the hub uneven, and it even more expensive than the par :-O lol .

decent built R box with all these bits done is pretty decent box really. I had & seen more issue with evo & subaru boxes & to be honest any decent power 4wd used hard on track or drag will get box & transmision faults/wear eventually, part of the fun & just requires user keep on top of it before massive failure lol .

Any one had any news on Bobs selectors?? I am about to embark on getting my Gearbox rebuilt, so may as well get a set whilst I am at it. Only issue now is soemwhere closer to home then Wolverhampton area that knows what they are doing.

The bloke at par said that you need to be doing some thing seriously wrong to break a 3rd/4th selector fork with a syncro gear set. So could be more often driver error or some thing else letting go first?

Any way Bob, how much?

Plenty people broken 3/4th, it weak & old age plus abuse helps it snap.
Would agree other issues such as syncro condition play major role in it .
Certainly worth doing when fitting gearkit overhaul & especially if you got no mechanical sympathy or like maximize reliability. hard to justify the par & ppg prices on it though ...

How much is par or ppg with vat? Looking forward to bobs selector forks being made sometime soon.

mc_hawkings24 wrote:How is par or ppg with vat? Looking forward to bobs selector forks being made sometime soon.

Second on this.

Yea i'd be interested in Bobs selector forks to when they are ready

I had it rebuilt and fixed in time for Croft, had loads of fun, it was going really well until near the end of the day and I broke 3rd and 4th again! LOL! It was just another standard selector fork I had fitted as i just needed it working again for the track, it was my own fault as just for a change I was been bit ruff as I was very quickly catching a modified evo 10! Had loads of fun though and flew past lots of very quick cars!
I'm waiting for a pro forma invoice now from Par, then I'll know exactly how much they are! Looks like mr Bob when he's back from his holidays needs to get his skates on and get these forks made for everyone, a big que for them already!

Just to update this - I'm having the selectors made for Bob , our machine shop is well equipped and can make to Aerospace specs , luckily I have access and can get pretty much anything made , no matter how complex in billet Ali, steel or titanium .
Sorry for the delay but this is not an easy process , first we had to get drawings done - all using a factory original as a template , then 3 D them , then make first run test piece out of solid .
Now this is done and I have the first selector to post to Bob , the second will be finished by the weekend .
Then Bob has to trial fit and highlight areas for further finish and clearances , return , and we will adjust - once it's all perfect - we have the settings for the machines to run them off -
The first prototype takes a massive amount of time and skill - all hand done .
Having one in my hand as I type , I can tell you the billet one is much heavier than the cast original and much much stronger - much stronger !!
I would upload some pics if I knew how to ..
I'm also having a billet Ali oil sump done , just to see what they are like and if there is any demand .
These type things take lots of time and I'm doing them not for profit , if I wanted to make dosh I would make Ferrari parts or GTR parts - lol
But as I've said first proto done , rest very soon ..
Anything else people want Bear in mind very complex parts ,cost escalate , so if it's just for bling think on