V6 gearbox

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

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

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

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

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.....

Revove BW35 entirely, remove torque convertor, remove drive plate. fit new driveplate fit box tighten torque converter, swap shifter or convert to rod link from cable. Easy as pie everything bolts straight up

JR can you let me know how much you are wanting for the C3 as I am thinking it might be a handy spare to have just in case.

The bellhousing that adapts the type9 to the v6 essex is a standard Ford bellhousing (it has now been remade in alli) It was fitted to very early Granada's with the essex engine when the gearbox was in 4spd form, ie before ford modified it into a 5spd. I have a type9 fitted to my capri ( 180hp @ wheels) and its proved ok, saying that it does have a bolted layshaft, i have heard of the problem with 5th gear on the highway, but to combat this i've overfilled the gearbox and every now and again drop down to 4th for a while.
Hope that helps.