gearbox rebuild help/advice required

[craig001]

Hi everybody, long time no see!, it’s been a few years since I last: A. posted here, and B. drove my 911! I can see a lot of names I remember and a lot of new names on the forums, but overall, I can see that the general friendliness and comradery of DDK is still alive and kicking!
I hope some of you will be able to help me!
Long story short, the reason I stuck the car in the garage and mothballed it for a while was my gearbox was a bit ropey and I was scared that it might go bang and leave me with even more of a problem.
Today I fired it up and went for a blast down the road to get a clear idea of what is wrong with the box. I’m debating whether to rebuild it myself (I’m well tooled up and I like to think I’m competent, and anything I don’t know, my dad does!) or to take it out the car and get somebody else to do it.
I have just been reading Gary71’s 915 rebuild thread which makes me think it won’t be too hard to do as long as I can source the required parts.
The box is a 4 speed 911/00 from a 1970 model, ‘69 registered T. The fault I have is basically very sloppy gear change between all gears especially between neutral to 1st and 1st 2nd. Reverse is also very graunchy and makes a rough worn bearing noise while moving backwards. I have replaced the shifter and rod bushings but this made little improvement.
Basically I’m after any advice and information I can get. Who would people recommend in the south (Im in Reading) to rebuild 911 boxes and does anyone have any idea how much a pro would charge?
I would also like any recommendations on parts suppliers for gearbox parts? Would I have to use pelican and ship the bits over? And finally does anybody have any other technical documentation/guides that might help me if I decide to have a crack at it myself?
I appreciate any help you can give me…
Thanks, Craig.

[Bruce M]

Don't fancy a 5 speed upgrade? If you pick up a "core" it might not be much more expensive than a rebuild of your 4 (depending on the insides of both).

For a rebuilder, is Kendal too far?

[Gary71]

Evening, I glad my thread inspired you, but from what I understand the 901 box is a bit harder in terms of setting fixtures and the like. However I'm no expert so give Mike Bainbridge a call!

The Haynes has a lot of information on a rebuild.

[myatt1972]

Very easy answer,

http://www.mbporsche-engineering.co.uk/?Home

[Mike Smith]

If it is only gear changing that is a problem, that is not difficult to sort out and does not require Pinion Setting, which is the more difficult part of g`boxes

I am surprised that re-bushing of the linkage has not improved matters - what condition is the actual Gear lever base and ALL its associated parts like ?
It may just be an accumulation of wear

Personally - I would not use a supplier of parts who I do not know and I would not build a box for anybody who supplied parts from un-known sources

There is rubbish out here and it is too much work to `do it over`

Secondly the Workshop manuals are not always correct (certainly there are miss-prints in the 356 one)

You have Steve at Jaz and Chris Turner in West London

[sdelan]

Evening -

Just a small contribution which I have made on here before - but my car's gearbox seemed to perform a lot better after changing to Swepco Gear Oil.

But I'm sure you've considered all the obvious options already !

HTH
Sean

[craig001]

Thanks for the input guys,
I have thought about a 5 speed upgrade, but as this is the correct box for the car and it still works (kinda!) I want to fix and keep it.
When I did the shift linkage/coupling bushes, everything was stripped, cleaned, checked and greased before assembly so I know the gearstick base is good.
I haven’t used swepco oil in it yet but I will when it’s done, It has a castrol gear oil in it at the moment and I don’t think any other oil will sort this much play.
I think I will ring Mike Bainbridge and discuss it with him at some point in the very near future, but first I want to make sure I have some readies in the bank. I would imagine a rebuild by a pro is not going to be cheap.
On the other hand, I have gathered a fair amount of info on the box and I might just get my teeth stuck in to it myself when I pull it out of the car.
Craig

[hot66]

Swepco won't mend a worn gearbox ....

Have a chat with Mike, a rebuild might not cost as much as you think .... if parts need replacing , they'll need replacing anyway, wether you build it or someone else does.