Just a thought...

[gridgway]

Surely electric is the way to go? Moggy-power!

[911hillclimber]

I fear all that will be out-of-budget, and I can only find a 997 unit on their web site, but there may be something that is not shown.

On a hill climb, even a long one, there are few gear changes, just if you miss one it is a disaster.
Take Loton Park as an example, almost the longest hill in the UK.
In my Lola it goes:
Start;1st-2nd-3rd-2nd-3rd- stop.= 56.79 second run, and about 4 runs to rev limiter along the way (6400 rpm)
With a better gear change it could be:
Start: 1st-2nd-3rd-2nd-3rd-4th-2nd-3rd-4th

I've seen a few sequential boxes be a hindrance on a hill unless in a motorcycle gearbox, manual or assisted.

Speed does not drop by much during even my 915 changes (which take about a second each time), but a fluffed one can take several seconds of no acceleration and that sure can add up.

The easy thing to consider is the outside mechanism, then the inside of 2nd gear in the box, then the third, the driver.
And maybe not in that order.

Electric?
Good grief in this widow maker?! Your F2000 is built like a tank in comparison to this biscuit tin of a Lola Graham....

There is no steel connecting the front to the rear just boxed, riveted, alloy sheets and me. Zero battery protection, and not much driver protection!

[impmad2000]

Talk to moggy and persuade him to do an electric Boxster conversion....? Or
Buy a Boxster engine and run it from an aftermarket ECU, it just needs to run well and not pass all the emissions stuff ... or
Leave it we'll alone and just get the best you can with it !

[andytat]

Graham.

This is very similar to the gearbox that I fitted to the modified 930
https://shop.quaife.co.uk/quaife-6-spee ... -transaxle
It was before they had developed the 997 cup gearbox. You never
know it could be worth a phone call. I'm sure it would be cheaper than
than building a rip snorting 3.5l engine.

Cheers.

Andy

[andytat]

or this one.
https://shop.quaife.co.uk/quaife-61g-6- ... le-gearbox

[smallspeed]

Would a cable shifter from an r53 mini or a lotus elise be worth considering?
They both have pretty nice tight shifts, and it might get around the angles issue with your current rod linkage?..

[911hillclimber]

There is an American company that make such a thing, and you can get the cables cut to custom length.
A fellow DDK'r who is building a similar car to the Lola has one and kindly offered it to me as a pattern to see if I could get it in last autumn.

Not an easy task and would mean structural changes to the car's tub (and hence value as a historic race car) and would need a new fuel tank.
One advantage would be a centre position to the shifter housing as opposed to the original/current right hand position.

Cost was not bad either tbh.
I made a card template Blue Peter style to see where the housing could go, it is quite big, and I couldn't find a location that allowed easy reach to the gear knob.

If I route a new shift rod to closer pick-up the far end of the current mechanism the angle will go from 45 deg to close to 25, a big improvement, but it will have to pass under the silencer and be below the 'skid' face of the rear chassis, so in an off it will be the first thing to hit any obstacles.
Such an impact could lead to gearbox damage.

When I build the car nearly 9 years ago the gear change system was a major issue and I think I would have seen another route if there was one, so I'm hoping a fresh look will reveal another route.
With these cars, any change has a knock-on effect, fixing them all is supposed to be part of the fun!

In all this it has to be remembered that the engagement to 1st is a bit sticky but works, to 2nd from 1st is very clumsy at times, 2nd to 3rd is good (and as I found out last weekend, 2nd to 1st is very slick but not when you are doing 5500 rpm in second...) 3rd to 4th is slick so is 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 2nd is sticky.

Every time it is the engagement to 2nd that is the problem, hence I'm thinking of giving the box back to Mike for a check incase I've bent something inside with my frustrated attempts to change to second, but it has always been like this. The 915 in my 911 is great, also a Mike rebuild but with a demon gear shifter...

I wish the WEVO internal gate conversion was affordable.