gearbox musings....

[Dave Eaton]

as i've watched the price of the wr ur-q's drop here (latest around $5kusd
for a tidy '85), i've thought a bit about picking one up, and finding a 200q
wreck and putting the motor/tranny into the wr.  not enough time at the
moment, but i've got my eyes open for the right donor cars.  the '85 is
about right because it is nothing special in the ur-q evolutionary chain,
and so has no particular market value or potential to be collectable (unlike
the early and late cars imo).

as everyone knows, the ur-q uses the 016 box, with the later torsen tranny's
being modified versions of the locker gearbox.  the idea would be to find a
"donor car" for motor and tranny.  but what car?

the 80/90q uses the 012, or 01a box.  these boxes are actually quite
different in construction to the 016, so don't look good - i would bet that
you'd be faced with fabricating mounts, & shifter linkages, and then perhaps
having to bend a bit of the floorpan.  not much fun.  ditto the 100q.  the
200q however, uses the 016 transmission, so would provide a better starting
point imo.

anyway, the rub is that the 016 box fits the ur-q, while i'm pretty sure
that the others don't.  for instance, i know that the s2 couldn't use the
016 (ur-q) tranny and had to use the coupe tranny (the "arv" - based on the
01a with changes to 3,4 & 5th gears but little else).  this box caused a few
problems as it wasn't particularly strong in the s2.  the '93 s2 used the
6-speed cgr box (the 01e) which was a lot stronger.  this (cgr) was
strengthened with a 4mm wider 1st gear, and modified bearing plate (from
serial number 77644 on) for the later s2's and the crb (rs2) tranny.  btw,
some early rs2's ran with the (unmodified) cgr tranny.

so, what about the idea of an 016 tranny from a 200q wreck, and using
selected parts with the existing ur-q transmission, rather than a complete
replacement?  a partial transplant in other words.  that way shift linkages
and mounts would not need to change..  the rear cover/torsen looks as though
it will bolt-up to the 016 locker tranny - (same endplate part number for
the torsen and locker tranny's).  therefore the cover (case) for the torsen
should be able to bolt straight up.  the driveshaft to the centre diff
doesn't look like it has changed (not sure), nor the feed to the front diff
(through the hollow driveshaft).  alternatively you could swap the tranny's
and move the mounting and shifter linkages between them.  or you could swap
the internals and keep the original case and mounts/shifter etc.

anyone done some more thinking about this or actually done this?

hth,
dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q