911 gearbox in

[Michael Eker]

I see someone has fitted a 911 gearbox to a Porsche 356 B Carrera 2 GS.

http://www.elevenparts.com/viewer.php?i ... es/693/006

How much work is involved in this?

It seems that 911 gearboxes are more plentiful than good 356 ones.

Meker

[Jon Wright]

It may be B with modified disc brakes also. 901 or a 915 tranny in a Carrera 2 would make that a great Autobahn Cruiser. Torque and HP equal fun.

[Ron LaDow]

Michael,

"I see someone has fitted a 911 gearbox to a Porsche 356 B Carrera 2 GS.
http://www.elevenparts.com/viewer.php?i ... es/693/006
How much work is involved in this?"

A *LOT* if you do it right. If you value your time at anything at all, you can afford several good 356 'boxes well before you get that 9XX 'box in there.
Thanks,
Ron LaDow

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Chris Markham]

You can see the inboard CV joint in the one picture that shows the trans, but you can't really see the outboard. That's where the work is. You'd need to weld in supports for the torsion bars and "banana" trailing arm (diagonal) to support the outboard CV joint and carrier.

A few have done it (is it Dave Merz who has the sweet Irish Green C coupe with the 3.0L 6-cyl?), but as Ron said, it is a lot of work, largely irreversible (without a lot more work). Anything can be done with enough will, time and money. This particular project is way further up all those scales than, say, swapping over a 644 nosecone onto a 741.

If "plentiful" gearboxes are the aim, you could probably more easily put a Gene Berg 5-speed stack into a 519 VW trans. That wouldn't take any permanent mods to the car (i.e. no welding).

[Michael Banchero]

AND IF YOU NEED A 911S ENGINE, I HAVE ONE FOR SALE TO GO WITH THE TRANS

[Mike Klapac]

You can see the inboard CV joint in the one picture that shows the trans, but you can't really see the outboard. That's where the work is. You'd need to weld in supports for the torsion bars and "banana" trailing arm (diagonal) to support the outboard CV joint and carrier.

A few have done it (is it Dave Merz who has the sweet Irish Green C coupe with the 3.0L 6-cyl?), but as Ron said, it is a lot of work, largely irreversible (without a lot more work). Anything can be done with enough will, time and money. This particular project is way further up all those scales than, say, swapping over a 644 nosecone onto a 741.

If "plentiful" gearboxes are the aim, you could probably more easily put a Gene Berg 5-speed stack into a 519 VW trans. That wouldn't take any permanent mods to the car (i.e. no welding).

By the time you put a Berg 5 together and in you will have more money in it than a 901-915. Plus the shift linkage will be above the tunnel, but that makes it easier to hook up to the Berg 5 shifter you will have to weld mounts for on the top of the tunnel. Neither option is easy, but at least you get IRS and Porsche brakes with the 901-15.

[Gene Choin]

I stuck in a Corvair transaxle in my C once.
It was extra cool IRS, no mods to the car body, just made brackets to hook up to the Corvair stuff. I ran 300HP and it was smooth as glass.

As I said, it's blasphemy to do something practical that is not original!
Hmmmm!
:mrgreen: [/b]

[Richard Towle]

If you buy the magazine "Hot Vw's" and look at most of the buggy advertisers you will find the "weld on" brackets for the banana arms.

These brackets are welded to the torsion tube.
To do a good job, you may want to remove the rear seat pans to get to the top of the torsion tube while welding in the brackets.

To align the brackets, you can buy a jig (ask me offline...pm me...I dont have his name in front of me) The jig is used on both sides...so you just buy one jig...its really simple to line them up with the correct jig.

Once the bracket it installed, the rest is pretty much bolt on.
You do need to modify the belhousing of the 901 to use the transmission hoop, but oddly enough there are bosses in just the right place to do this on the 901...I think there may have been a plan back in the day.

So really, source the rear end of a 912 or a 911...the banana arms, the trailing arms, hubs, etc etc..
And buy new IRS conversion brackets from one of many suppliers.
Weld those in and your on the way.
Clutch, pressure plate, flywheel...those are all out there and readily available...

Rich

[Ron LaDow]

It ain't that easy...
Thanks,
Ron LaDow

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Towle"
To: 356talk@356registry.com
Subject: [356Talk] 911 gearbox in
Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 20:10:47 -0700


If you buy the magazine "Hot Vw's" and look at most of the buggy
advertisers you will find the "weld on" brackets for the banana
arms.

These brackets are welded to the torsion tube.
To do a good job, you may want to remove the rear seat pans to get
to the top of the torsion tube while welding in the brackets.

To align the brackets, you can buy a jig (ask me offline...pm
me...I dont have his name in front of me) The jig is used on both
sides...so you just buy one jig...its really simple to line them up
with the correct jig.

Once the bracket it installed, the rest is pretty much bolt on.
You do need to modify the belhousing of the 901 to use the
transmission hoop, but oddly enough there are bosses in just the
right place to do this on the 901...I think there may have been a
plan back in the day.

So really, source the rear end of a 912 or a 911...the banana arms,
the trailing arms, hubs, etc etc..
And buy new IRS conversion brackets from one of many suppliers.
Weld those in and your on the way.
Clutch, pressure plate, flywheel...those are all out there and
readily available...

Rich

------------------------
Forums = a herd of elephants with diarrhea. massive, difficult to
redirect, awe-inspiring, and a source of mind boggling amounts of
excrement.




Thanks,
Ron LaDow

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Bela Thury]

A gentleman who was at EASY this past Saturday and works at Lawrence Livermore Lab has done it and is currently installing another. I spoke with him briefly and he told me it is easier to installl the torsion bar and suspension from the 911 as a unit, in other words the whole thing. He then makes alterations to mount the shocks in the original 356 position.

[Ron LaDow]

I don't know who you're refering to; did he mention how to rout the heater controls and ducting?
Thanks,
Ron LaDow

----- Original Message -----
From: "bela thury"
To: 356talk@356registry.com
Subject: [356Talk] 911 gearbox in
Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 20:20:21 -0700


A gentleman who was at EASY this past Saturday and works at
Lawrence Livermore Lab has done it and is currently installing
another. I spoke with him briefly and he told me it is easier to
installl the torsion bar and suspension from the 911 as a unit, in
other words the whole thing. He then makes alterations to mount the
shocks in the original 356 position.




Thanks,
Ron LaDow

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Gene Choin]

So the 901 trans is about 4 inches longer than a 741. What'cha going to move, the mounting hoop and engine back (cut off the tray behind the engine even for a 356) or cut a big hole in the tube for the shifter end?

Seem like there are a bunch of cheap transmissions that fit right in by making a little adapter for the rear mounting ears.
It's called a VW.

For about $800. you get super diff, non slip, choice of gears and it's a lot stronger than a 741.
They handle 200 HP and a stand a lot of rough use in bugs. AND not body mods.
Use the stock swing axles or go IRS with the VW or 911 suspension, but that is only tacking on brackets for the inside pivots. Make you own.

A "Freeway Flyer" swing is how I'm going on my C as soon as I blow the 741 again.
(Stupid weak ring/pinion design)

PS: The VW 5 speed conversions are 5" longer too! FIne if you are making a chassis from scratch.

[Ron LaDow]

"So the 901 trans is about 4 inches longer than a 741. What'cha
going to move, the mounting hoop and engine back (cut off the tray
behind the engine even for a 356) or cut a big hole in the tube for
the shifter end?"

This is correct (maybe not 4", but close). It is possible to keep the T-bar tube and engine in stock locations, but it takes a a lot of work. It's not that easy.
Thanks,
Ron LaDow

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Bela Thury]

I will again preface by saying that I have not done this but in the same conversation with the gentleman at EASY we spoke of the installation.
Since it was my understanding that the torsion bar tube is cut to make room for the extra length of the 901 transmission I asked about that. He told me that in the first conversions he did indeed cut the torsion bar tube and use shorter torsion bars from donor Porsches but that it was much simpler to replace it as a whole.
I know that I posted this before but I wanted to address the question of where to find the 4". You also have to be aware of the position of the components relative to the wheel opening.

[Richard Towle]

The nose cone of the 901 transmission has a large upper portion.
This portion of the nose cone is cut out in the shape of an oval.
The piece is flipped over and welded back into the nose cone.
Remove speedo drive and add a cover plate (custom machined)

that nets 2-3 inches.
the torsion tube has an outer layer of steel to encapsulate the inner torsion bar end piece.
the inner piece is shaped like a barbell.
remove just the outer skin, and only from the very middle.

I will be perfroming the modification very soon and I will document the steps for anyone who would like to see how I am doing it.

It does indeed fit, and it does indeed require fabrication, but IMHO on the right car, the IRS is an improved suspension design.

Rich