Trans swap in a Duratec SV

[John B]

My T9 trans bit the dust at the National 7’s meet at NJMP a few weeks ago. 3rd gear got progressively harder and harder to engage, ultimately refusing completely. The shifter lever also got really stiff. My guess, a bent or broken shift fork. Thankfully, we had Bruce Beachman there. He happened to have a race spec T9 ready to go on his shelf back at the shop with an alloy case and heavy duty close ratio gears better bearings. Bruce sold it to me for a reasonable price, so it’s now sitting in my garage with my Caterham waiting for me to get motivated to do the swap. 
 

My question to you guys is do I pull the engine and trans as a unit, or engine out first, then trans? Unfortunately, there’s a chassis member that crosses under the trans that would seem to prohibit just dropping the trans. 

 

I have a 4-post lift and engine hoist. Figure I’ll put it on the lift to get at everything underneath, then drain and remove dry sump and radiator, header, fuel lines, wiring harness. It’s basically a Duratec in a 2003 SV chassis. 
 

Any advice is greatly appreciated. 
 

Best,

 

John B
 

 

[wemtd]

I’m not sure about the caterham frame. My Birkin has a crossmember beneath gearbox that un-bolts.  Then remove everything bolted onto the engine & prop shaft & lower engine/gearbox down & out. No clearance to go forward & up (which also has the joyous bonus of all that delightfully sticky sweet gear oil pouring out the tail shaft).

 

have fun 

 

[JohnCh]

Remove them as a unit, and don't forget to first drain the gearbox to avoid an oil slick when the driveshaft yolk pulls out the back. It might be worthwhile to go through some of the build blogs listed in the post below for details on engine installation. Many have pictures and some have videos, which may help get a sense of the steps needed for removal. It's not hard, but space is a little tight. A load leveler will result in less cursing along the way. 

 

 

[CarlB]

JohnCh is correct about taking the engine and transmission out as a unit. Both of us have Caterham's. I am writing this to empathize the load leveler. To get the engine and gearbox out you have to change the angle of the engine and transmission during the process. More than likely your cast iron T-9 transmission does not have a drain plug. Make sure you get something under it. There are transmission plugs, but you can't put one in until the drive shaft comes out.  

[JohnCh]

I would use an oil extractor to remove oil from the type-9 in my old Westfield. It's a little fiddly getting the tube down to the bottom of the case but it's a lot easier than cleaning up an oil slick of lovely smelling gear oil.

[wdb]

You won't get the transmission out from underneath. (Imagine this being said in a voice tinged with the bitterness of personal experience.) Separating them and pulling them separately is an interesting idea. I did mine as one unit, back in anyway...

Edited 1 hour ago by wdb