Mopar Muscle Association UK

Is there anyone in the club that can rebuild or recommend someone that can rebuild a VW type 1 transmission? It's an AC code box which I think is a 1970 box although the car is a '61.

I've tried The Engine Shop which specialise in VWs but they don't do anything as early as '61 and weren't sure what year the AC code was from.
I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

Bears Motorsports can do it but they're expensive!

Cheers,

Matt.

Cog box rings a bell?

That used to be run by Peter Englezos

not sure if company exists anymore, he used to do all the race boxes and the close ratio highway cruising economy gears

its a trans-axle so its a box and diff build in one i.e you are paying for 2 jobs....

i used to just get another box and swap the car or van appropriate, nose cone on. some you win some you lose i had a few boxes

you will want a swing axle box not IRS so avoid 1302 or 1303 or late type 3 boxes

to run a late box from say a 1500 in an early car you need the right nose cone and shift rod. for an oval that was from a from a split screen van, don't think you need to do that for a 61 anyway you already have an appropriate nose cone and shift rod on your old box, get the brass bush/seal replaced for the shift rod stops the oil coming out the front all over the mount.

so a good box with 61 appropriate axles and tubes, use the ones you have, i.e correct length and bolt pattern to fit between the spring plates already attached to the car, and the nose cone off you knackered box would work. be aware of spline and nut size differences for the hubs if you don't use your axles and tubes....no use having a box in and not being able to fit the brakes and wheels.....

keep in mind the bellhousing size.... 1200 1300 bellhousing won't take a 1600 flywheel. only an issue if you have 1600 flywheel and want to use an early box. get engine half in with no clutch on it, do up bolts evenly start it and the ring gear will cut the bell housing a bit bigger, welding gloves on, and waggle and shove the engine via exhaust and fan shroud until it fits remove the rim of what you just cut with a grinder... its a bodge but it works. or get it done properly at a machine shop...

clutch fork issues the correct release bearing for the fork isn't necessarily the correct one for the type of clutch on your motor, diaphragm or the 3 finger type.
but they all work, will just need adjustment. curved face bearing sticks out a bit further than the flat early type
put a new clutch cable bowden tube on with the correct Bow to it, while you are at it. stop that clutch judder.

all of this is "I think"..... i'm out of date, its 15- 20 years since i worried about any of this stuff

have you thought about Subaru gears? subaru transaxle with a custom reversed ring and pinion so it can be used in a bug.... gets you a 5 speed box

i gave up messing eventually and had the rear end of a bay window van welded into my splitty so i could run 1303s box and gearing think i had 1303 mexico/brazil box
Harry Harpics in south end used to be the guru for fitting IRS to cars that were never supposed to have it. take out torsion bars weld on brackets bolt up arms and you can run CV jointed IRS rear end
handles like a golf..... well not really.. but better.

Paul, i think, still runs the business or maybe his son. Paul is a good guy..
Would certainly be worth a call

Dave

Thanks fellas.

It's a 1600 twin port with the 1500 box for better ratios, was that way when we bought it about 12 years ago.
It's my wife's car that I've driven twice in that time, 1st was 10 yrs ago, 2nd was a few weeks ago when it started running rough and I realised the box was knackered. It has a serious amount of back lash. In the diff I guess.

It's running Porsche 356 brakes all round and yes it is swing axle. Not sure if drive shafts are original maybe they're Porsche? Anyway after what you said Dave I'll be careful to keep the bits I need. I don't want to do any mods just get it back on the road for Mel.

Who's Paul? The guy from Cog box?

Found a thread on latebay from 2018 recommending Cogbox so they were still in business then but I can't find anymore information than that. No number or address. Seems to be a lot of businesses named Cog box though!

Maybe they've shut up shop?

A second hand box maybe the way to go but I don't want to end up with a load of junk ones laying around. I already have plenty of Mopar stuff getting in the way

Some discussion on here

https://thelatebay.com/index.php?thread ... ons.91890/

(I have a 70s camper van for my sins!)

Peter Engelzos runs cogbox , or ran it

Paul is your man at Harry harpics VW who does or did the weld in conversions for late model IRS suspension at the back
used swing arms off a 1303 and Porche 944 CVs and axles i think

either way you need another 1500 box and potentially a swap of axles and nose...

or a diff rebuild on the current one i guess




i had work done by Paul and as i say, i like him and his work, unless of course 15-20+ years has seen him change is attitude and customer service for the worse

he converted my van drove it to work and back for a week to check it was all good and seemed genuinely impressed that my 1641 with dellorto's ran so well..... whats yer motor mate? a 1776cc? this van shifts. i'd built a 1641 with 1300 heads to avoid cracking, small valves, medium+ CR and the equivalent of a towing cam. went for low RPM torque,small chokes in the dellortos roller rockers. gene berg pump and full flow oil, autocavan stainless headers and a bugpack twin quiet pack, + stinger for santa pod messing about. A stump puller...... the opposite of everything in the magazine articles at the time, and kept a proper dizzy off an alfasud no daft Bosch 009 for me.... it was pretty good i manged 90 mph on a deserted A127 on the way back. you needed both lanes, a following wind and a bit of help from the hill at Rayleigh Weir... right combo of motor and gearbox ratios achieved.....

when you are 20 odd and some geezer who runs a well respected business in "the Scene" give you a bit of praise you remember
Essex had more VWs and VW business than southern California at the time....could have been orange county...always worth a trip out from London to get the right guy to do the job


http://www.harryharpics.com/about

dave

Thanks for the advice and recommendations on this.
I went with Bears Motorsport in the end. It's not done yet but seems the box was pretty worn out.

Sounds like you built a solid 1641 there Dave. I had a big motor in my microbus. That thing shifted and surprised a lot of people. I bought the motor freshly built from a mate. I think it was a 2.2 something or other. On the motorway it just wanted to keep on going!
I sold it a few years ago now!

good news

back on the road soon

Dave