stevefoster Posted April 9, 2001 Share Posted April 9, 2001 I was up to SPC on Sat to pick up the Semi heli box CR box. I have never seen so many Sierra diffs (LSD ~£400), literally hundreds of gear sets upstairs and he was very proud of 3 newly delivered bike engine reverse gears in anodised gold or black from Quaife. He had 3, 2nd hand blade engines in too. Loose plans to build a Tiger (7 copy)himself. Chassis £500, GRP body £500 with one of the engines and 3 years work....! SPC Steve was at Caterham all Friday (wouldn't say why.....). So he worked Sat on my box. We picked it up at 5pm and left around 6.30pm after a nice cup of tea. I asked him about the current practise to weld the hub bearings on the Ital axles. He does that work! One little Tig spot to stop the possibility of the end play increasing and the dreaded Ital clunk! The bearing is not welded on as such just a 5mm weld to give the shaft something to act as a stop. I have friends in Sweden that were worried about this on their brand new Classic SE. The duration of the weld is so short at to not distort the bearing or shaft any. Phil (7 owner)and I spent most of yesterday whipping the engine out and popping it back in with a swap of box. Everything went smoothly enough. Very easy to get the engine out and in with both crossmembers removed. I weighed everything. The VX lump weighs 125 kgs with, oil, Carbs, flywheel / clutch assembly, starter motor, some water still in it etc..... This you cannot compare with many peoples dry weights or not including fueling or clutch assembly etc. I wished we had weighed Nigel's Zetec before we put it in.... After several rounds of checks we started the 'smoke test'. Lots of smoke from the manifold pipes but all ok. Upto operational temp nose high 1 more litre of water goes in. Down again and popped in reverse backed out. Pouring rain, into first into the garage again. The box feels very positive indeed. By then it was 8.30 pm and we were knacked. Proper test this evening... Deducting all the tea and lunch breaks I reckon it took us 8-9 hours. Half an hour was taken making a tool to tighen up the gearbox filler plug (a 10mm bolt ground to the sqaure drive with a 20mm hex head) and at least half an hour getting the speedo angle drive off and on...... Plenty of time was taken checking everything loads of times too. I shall post a through the gears sound check on it soon. Incidentally, SPC recommend taking it easy with the box for 1000 miles! For some 7 owners that would be half a life time..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazio Posted April 9, 2001 Share Posted April 9, 2001 Steve was most probably at Caterhams as he supplies most of the Sierra diffs to them. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted April 9, 2001 Author Share Posted April 9, 2001 You are probably right about the day at Caterham... I had hoped they were going to start doing the CR semi helical box as an option or even better as standard. We are talking extreme sports car. But Caterham charge ~£900 for the bog standard box as a replacement part which is nearly as much as a semi helical! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Head Posted April 9, 2001 Share Posted April 9, 2001 Steve I am about to put an order in with SPC. Which box did you go for, the clubman or the pro (needle rollers etc)? I have a modified XF engine with about 170bhp and 7200rpm and Steve Perkins recommends the pro at £1200 ( I suppose he would!!). What engine do you run out of interest? I am tempted to go for the clubman with quickshift as £1200 is a bit steep but don't want toget it wrong. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefoster Posted April 10, 2001 Author Share Posted April 10, 2001 I went for the pro £1200 box. With the longer lower shaft for durability and strength. The box is presented immaculately with all new fittings. I have a VX that can rev to 7500. I saw a posting that said Caterham charge ~£980 for the standard helical with aweful ratio's. That makes £1200 and CR semi look like good value. The difference in driving pleasure between the standard ratios and CR is great! I drove it last night and the impressions were that it is quiet enough for me compared the the SC box I had. Others have told me that it will get quieter as it runs in. I have the stiffer retention spring that makes the shifts heavier and this took a little getting used to. The recommendation is to run it in and I can see why. Everything feels a little stiff at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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