Quaife 60G sequential transmission upgrade
06-03-2013, 01:52 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Quaife 60G sequential transmission upgrade
Thought a few of you may be interested in my latest upgrade.
My car is a PRB clubman ( lotus 7 style) running a S2000 driveline. At 600kg it goes pretty hard and is used primarily for circuit racing. The car has an aluminum honeycomb chassis with front/rear subframes for the suspension. Its pretty advanced for a clubman chassis.
I been fitting a lot of the Quaife 60G sequential transmissions to other cars and finally decided to treat myself to an upgrade. The 60G is quaifes mid sided sequential box. If you are building up a high power FI car I would suggest using the big brother 69G which is available ready to bolt into an F20C. I decided to use a 60G as the 69G would have presented size problems. It would have been hanging down below the car.
This is the car with the engine/box removed.
The old and the new box.
The engine is has been dry sumped to fit in the chassis
My car is a PRB clubman ( lotus 7 style) running a S2000 driveline. At 600kg it goes pretty hard and is used primarily for circuit racing. The car has an aluminum honeycomb chassis with front/rear subframes for the suspension. Its pretty advanced for a clubman chassis.
I been fitting a lot of the Quaife 60G sequential transmissions to other cars and finally decided to treat myself to an upgrade. The 60G is quaifes mid sided sequential box. If you are building up a high power FI car I would suggest using the big brother 69G which is available ready to bolt into an F20C. I decided to use a 60G as the 69G would have presented size problems. It would have been hanging down below the car.
This is the car with the engine/box removed.
The old and the new box.
The engine is has been dry sumped to fit in the chassis
06-03-2013, 01:57 AM
#2
Thread Starter
I used a bellhousing/clutch/flywheel kit from Race Engineering Design Race Engineering Design
The flywheel is very light. The little bush matches the ford 15mm input shaft to the Honda 20mm spigot. The spigot bearing needed a chamfer ground onto one edge so it would sit in the recess in the back of the flywheel. Otherwise it would prop the flywheel on the crank.
I used an AP racing dual plate clutch. It needed the hub of one plate turned over and machined down to clear the flywheel bolts.
Gear ratio wise, with the standard box I was using 3-5th most of the time, with 6th on the long straights. 1st and 2nd were only used at the start. 6th was very tall. I chose the following ratios which gave be a second gear slightly shorted than my existing 3rd, and a 6th gear that would get me to my practical Vmax on the circuits that we race at.
The flywheel is very light. The little bush matches the ford 15mm input shaft to the Honda 20mm spigot. The spigot bearing needed a chamfer ground onto one edge so it would sit in the recess in the back of the flywheel. Otherwise it would prop the flywheel on the crank.
I used an AP racing dual plate clutch. It needed the hub of one plate turned over and machined down to clear the flywheel bolts.
Gear ratio wise, with the standard box I was using 3-5th most of the time, with 6th on the long straights. 1st and 2nd were only used at the start. 6th was very tall. I chose the following ratios which gave be a second gear slightly shorted than my existing 3rd, and a 6th gear that would get me to my practical Vmax on the circuits that we race at.
06-03-2013, 02:02 AM
#3
Thread Starter
It took a bit of fiddling around to get the clutch slave cylinder in the right position relative to the clutch fingers. I had to remake a spacer as slave supplied was a low profile version. They couldnt get their usual standard profile one at the time.
All bolted together and ready to drop into the car
The gear lever was 40mm further forward that the Honda box so I had to disassemble, heat and bend the gear lever to clear the lower edge of the dash
Fortunately less of the box hung below the chassis than the Honda box. A new rear mount was fabricated and bonded to the chassis just in front of the original one used with the Honda box.
All bolted together and ready to drop into the car
The gear lever was 40mm further forward that the Honda box so I had to disassemble, heat and bend the gear lever to clear the lower edge of the dash
Fortunately less of the box hung below the chassis than the Honda box. A new rear mount was fabricated and bonded to the chassis just in front of the original one used with the Honda box.
06-03-2013, 02:08 AM
#4
Thread Starter
Connecting the propshaft was a bit tricky. The gearbox came with a floating output flange intended for a Nissan 350Z. I used this with an intermediate plate to match to the Honda proshaft. I wasn't sure where the CV's on the honda shaft would move as they werent constrained like in the Honda. I found that they really didn't have any force on them but with vibration would move to the maximum length with the internals starting to knock in themselves. I put a bronze spacer inside the floating output shaft as a stop so the propshaft CV's would run at the middle of their travel.
The next challenge was the gearbox had no speed sensor facility. I'm running a factory ECU so it needs a speed signal otherwise it wont VTEC. It also needs around 42 pulses per revolution. I machined the rear flange of the propshaft with 45 teeth so that it accounted for my 15" wheels. It ended up within 5% and was easy to machine to 8 degree increments. Its handy having a vertical mill and rotary table.
The next challenge was the gearbox had no speed sensor facility. I'm running a factory ECU so it needs a speed signal otherwise it wont VTEC. It also needs around 42 pulses per revolution. I machined the rear flange of the propshaft with 45 teeth so that it accounted for my 15" wheels. It ended up within 5% and was easy to machine to 8 degree increments. Its handy having a vertical mill and rotary table.
06-03-2013, 02:15 AM
#5
Thread Starter
A sequential box really needs a flatshift system. I used a Geartronics easyshift unit http://www.geartronics.co.uk/
This is a tricky system that uses a potentiometer for both gear position display and the flatshift. It triggers a shift when it measures the gear barrels initial movement. It then holds the engine cut till it measures that you have made it into the next gear. As the factory ECU has no cut facility I used the easyshift to interrupt the 12v ignition supply to the 4 coils. I was worried that the ECU would freak out if it detected a miss fire. Fortunately it was not bothered by the cut. The geartronics system can also output a downshift blip and ECU digital cut.
I got the car finished just in time for my next race meeting at Phillip Island GP track. The car was a rocket and set a pole position and new clubman class record in the first race. The shift is really light and as fast as you can move your hand. Other cars I've used this setup see shifts in the 40ms timeframe in their logging.
Race video
http://vimeo.com/67389041
Turn up the volume and enjoy.
Upshifts are clutchless at full throttle. Downshifts clutchless with just a slight roll onto the throttle to help the gearbox find the next gear. Turn 4 is a 6th to 2nd gear shift so I'm pretty busy.
I fitted a tall final drive for this track so first gear was 109km/h. Took most of the weekend to get the launch right. I bogged at the start and had to pop the clutch in to get going again.
This is a tricky system that uses a potentiometer for both gear position display and the flatshift. It triggers a shift when it measures the gear barrels initial movement. It then holds the engine cut till it measures that you have made it into the next gear. As the factory ECU has no cut facility I used the easyshift to interrupt the 12v ignition supply to the 4 coils. I was worried that the ECU would freak out if it detected a miss fire. Fortunately it was not bothered by the cut. The geartronics system can also output a downshift blip and ECU digital cut.
I got the car finished just in time for my next race meeting at Phillip Island GP track. The car was a rocket and set a pole position and new clubman class record in the first race. The shift is really light and as fast as you can move your hand. Other cars I've used this setup see shifts in the 40ms timeframe in their logging.
Race video
http://vimeo.com/67389041
Turn up the volume and enjoy.
Upshifts are clutchless at full throttle. Downshifts clutchless with just a slight roll onto the throttle to help the gearbox find the next gear. Turn 4 is a 6th to 2nd gear shift so I'm pretty busy.
I fitted a tall final drive for this track so first gear was 109km/h. Took most of the weekend to get the launch right. I bogged at the start and had to pop the clutch in to get going again.
