Hi All,

after driving my trusty 1600 Capri for almost 20 years I decided this year to upgrade to a V6. Although I am happy with the extra power, I have come to realise I was truly spoilt with my close ratio internal linkage gearbox on the 4cyl. On my V6 the ratio's seem totally wrong to me - as if someone at ford came up with the ratio's late on a Friday afternoon after a pub session. 1st gear is way too low, second isnt much different, once you get into 3rd its not too bad, but 4th revs a little too high aswell. aswell as this the external linkages are slopy and the movement between gears is huge. My question is has any one tried changing the ratio's in there gearbox ? is this possible ? also I believe I have the standard gear in the diff - has anyone changed there diff gear to bring all the gear up a bit, to make 1st gear more usable and to give 4th gear more legs ? - is it worth doing ? if so what gear size would you recomend ?

regards Paul

I guess that's why the celica 5 spd conversion was so popular. I have also heard of mk3 5 speeds being fitted. Have you checked the shifter, a lot of slop can come from wear in that.

Ok you have a few choices.

#1 get a Zephyr 2nd gear and swap it into your existing box, this narrows the gap between 2nd and 3rd, then get 3.09 crownwheel and pinion this will be a much better ratio set while keeping the external link correct gearbox.

#2 Get the 4 speed gearbox from a facelift or MK2 MK3 this is an internal link box, direct swap for your ext link and sensible ratios (also get 3.09 cwp fir your diff)

#3 gearbox swap using a Dellow bellhousing and choose Ford Single Rail 4 speed, Toyota 5 speed, T5 gearboxes

hey Paul, im with you with the standard 4 speed( its poo poo) my box and shifter is worn in the banger so i cant change down to second and have to take most slow corners in third. im about to change to a t5 5 speed from a eb falcon, the toyota box are getting hard to find and the falcon box ratio's seem to be better suited to the torquie v6 nature than the toyo boxes, im about to see if i can adapt the falcon box to the essex v6 myself or if its to much trouble dellows do a complet conversion for about $1000. ( im just tight on money and want to see if i can do it). I'll let you know how it goes, if your not in rush, as im working alot ( 92 hrs last week ) Owen

If you want to play with a conversion I have a bellhousing that I would be willing to sell. I'm in Perth.

My gearbox and diff already had the later spec ratios so it was easier for me to get the box and linkages rebuilt.
Option 4 could be a type 9 5 speed. These are available to suit v6 and would solve the ratio and linkage problems of the early drivelines. Look up Eurospeed motorsport.

ok - some great tips there guys thanks . I think the first thing I will do is change the pinion to 3.09 and see what difference this will make.

where is the best place to get one of these from ?

Paul

There is a set on ebay uk right now.

I *might* have a 309 cwp coming up shortly. ALso whooli if you love your auto, why not update to the C3 from a later capri its better than the BW35 I may just have one soon.....

John I would imagine a C3 would a lot lighter box than the BW35, do you know what is invovled with doing that conversion.