6pack
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Fwd: Re: Toyota conversion

To: Timothy Holbrook <tjh173@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Toyota conversion
From: "Robert M. Lang" <lang@isis.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 14:24:54 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 23 Aug 2002, Timothy Holbrook wrote:

> Hang on, I thought Van Adeker's (spelling??) kit was more like $1000. 

Okay - so you pay $1k for a bellhousing, some sort of clutch release
bearing (I think Hermann uses an annular clutch release bearing) and
that's about it.

You probably need a new clutch disk, but I could be wrong on that. It's a
long time since I touched a Toyota gearbox.

But then you need a tranny. The tranny specified is for a Supra, I
believe. Figure the tranny will cost you $500, maybe less. Whoops - we're
over $1k. In fact, we're at even parity to buying a rebuilt Triumph
gearbox _with overdrive_. Hmmmm.

> For that price, I'd do the 5 speed in a second.  It's a Toyota, which
> mean it will last forever.  And it's rated for around 300hp, so you
> sure as heck can't break it.

Nothing lasts forever, but - yes, the Toyota tranny is beefier than the
TR6 'box (which I might point out is okay up to about 200 HP according to
racers... how many TR6's out there make 200 hp? ANswer: NOT MANY).

> I've had my o/d tranny rebuilt twice on my 6, and each time, the 3rd
> gear syncro has gone south.  With all the poor quality reproduction
> parts being manufactured for rebuilding Triumph gearboxes, I think it's
> going to be hard to rebuild the tranny and make it last.  If I had
> bought the Toyota tranny when my gearbox fell apart the first time, I'd
> be ahead of the game by now.  

Ah - but watch what the Triumph "pros" do. They don't use cheap synchros
when they rebuild. They either recondition the old NOS ones, find new NOS
ones or source them from other sources. If you buy cheap parts, you get
cheap parts... or to quote a good friend: "the cheaper the part, the
bigger the BANG!"

It's not hard to build a Triumph gearbox that'll last. You just have to
pay attention to the details. I've put about 50k miles on the last one I
rebuilt (technically not the last one I rebuilt, but bear with me) - so
far, so good.

I can't comment on the last point. That is purely conjecture. On a similar
vein, it could be said that the Toyota tranny could have "packed it in" in
the first month.

> As an added bonus, putting in a Toyota gearbox means you don't have to
> worry about the infamous Triumph clutch problems.

There are plenty of ways to avoid this syndrome, all of them related to
the general point of paying attention to detail. Like I said earlier in
the message: I'm pretty sure that Hermann uses an annular clutch throwout
bearing. If you put one of these on your stock TR6 tranny, you would also
eliminate _all_ the potential clutch problems except those related to the
pressure plate. You can do that job for $250 or so and access to the
Tilton catalog (or Capitol Motorports or any of the roundy-round type
catalogs).

> When I get the cash, the Toyota box is going in my car!

Go for it!

> Tim Holbrook
> 1971 TR6

regards,
rml
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Lang              Room N42-140Q            |  This space for rent
Consultant            MIT unix-vms-help        |
Voice:617-253-7438    FAX: 617-258-9535        |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>