Ladies/Gentlemen,

I have acquired a leak from the underside of the crashbox in my Oval, it appears at some stage under the previous owners watchful eye, one of the gearbox halves has been damaged on the mating face. This created a gap when assembled, but sure enough it was assembled anyway and good old bathroom sealent or similar was used to fill it. I wiped the underside of the gearbox clean to trace the leak (clearly wiping out the sealent plug!), hence the next morning a large puddle of oil!

I was intending to remove it and repair it at my leisure with the car still on the road. I am trying to fit a 1972 1200 manual gearbox (as i have it in stock) into my 1955 std RHD Oval bug. I have read many forums and magazine articles and come to no conclusion on the best method in which to mount the gearbox. I have both my original split case gearbox and late gearbox on the garage floor and come to a stop!

There is plenty of talk of Split bus nosecones and hockey sticks, however, there is also a lot of talk of having to modifying (often with a hammer!!) the underside of the body to ensure the gearbox clears. I will happily do any work necessary to avoid severely altering the body from original shape, I am not a purist per say, but ‘beating with a hammer’ is just not good engineering!

I have seen the late beetle conversion kits from Rancho and enquired, they too said that i would need to relieve the body. Is there genuinely no way of mounting a late box into an early car without malpractice?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,


Sincerely & Respectfully


Adam Hunter

any try to get a later gearbox into a oval ends with some problems...

if you use the bus noscone it is the easyest way, but if you do not modify the upper bolts on th egearbox housing you will get also problems in the hight and space to the body.

next thing is the gearbox will came about 0.5-1cm more bachwards, so the space on the rearapron will be really small, but normyli it fits the best way...


all other availibel mounts will bring also problems (stell mounting adaptor on the pan without rubber) - vibrations and the engien will seat higher, becaus the angle of the gearbox is another one.. most problems you will get is with the exhaust and tailpipes...

i have tried both, first some years wit a modified trany mount with rubber ( exhaust problem and gearbox angel) and later i use my bus nosecone and it works well. i have modified the gerabox a bit ( counter sunk head srews instead of bolts and nut...)

Ladies/Gentlemen,

I have acquired a leak from the underside of the crashbox in my Oval, it appears at some stage under the previous owners watchful eye, one of the gearbox halves has been damaged on the mating face. This created a gap when assembled, but sure enough it was assembled anyway and good old bathroom sealent or similar was used to fill it. I wiped the underside of the gearbox clean to trace the leak (clearly wiping out the sealent plug!), hence the next morning a large puddle of oil!

I was intending to remove it and repair it at my leisure with the car still on the road. I am trying to fit a 1972 1200 manual gearbox (as i have it in stock) into my 1955 std RHD Oval bug. I have read many forums and magazine articles and come to no conclusion on the best method in which to mount the gearbox. I have both my original split case gearbox and late gearbox on the garage floor and come to a stop!

There is plenty of talk of Split bus nosecones and hockey sticks, however, there is also a lot of talk of having to modifying (often with a hammer!!) the underside of the body to ensure the gearbox clears. I will happily do any work necessary to avoid severely altering the body from original shape, I am not a purist per say, but ‘beating with a hammer’ is just not good engineering!

I have seen the late beetle conversion kits from Rancho and enquired, they too said that i would need to relieve the body. Is there genuinely no way of mounting a late box into an early car without malpractice?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,


Sincerely & Respectfully


Adam Hunter

---

Thanks Oval56,

Really appreciate the advice, I'm going to try and source a bus nose cone and adjust the bolts/nuts to suit i think. Pictures were very helpful,

Thanks again,


Adam

You could try using a "centre mount" (additional mounts as used by racers)and no front mount. Not sure how it would work out, but it should be strong enough.

---

You could try using a "centre mount" (additional mounts as used by racers)and no front mount. Not sure how it would work out, but it should be strong enough.

this is also possible, BUT the probelm will stay..gearbox angle and shifterlocation and position on the frame.

---

this is also possible, BUT the probelm will stay..gearbox angle and shifterlocation and position on the frame.

If i put a bus 60-67 nosecone and hockey stick on the gearbox and use button head or csk bolts to secure it, is that all i need to replace the gearbox?


Do i need to buy anything else or can i just put it all back together? Am i still going to have the gearbox angle, shifterlocation and position on the frame problems???


Thank you, once again to all for the help,


Adam

I did this once with a steel plate , which i hung from the original mounts and a cut down urethane mount bolted to it. It dropped the box enough to get the shift selector through the hole in the right place and only moved the box back by a few mm. But I never finished the car, so i can´t tell how it would have worked out as far as durability and so on. Urethane mounts are pretty crappy things.

---

If i put a bus 60-67 nosecone and hockey stick on the gearbox and use button head or csk bolts to secure it, is that all i need to replace the gearbox?


Do i need to buy anything else or can i just put it all back together? Am i still going to have the gearbox angle, shifterlocation and position on the frame problems???


Thank you, once again to all for the help,


Adam

yes it will work, the engine will sit nearly in the same position, some mm moved backwards and a little higher..but this is the best choice to do the tranny swap...using a bus nosecone and doing some small modifications with the srews.... go.

---

yes it will work, the engine will sit nearly in the same position, some mm moved backwards and a little higher..but this is the best choice to do the tranny swap...using a bus nosecone and doing some small modifications with the srews.... go.

Awesome - Cheers dude - I better crack on then!

You will need to drill a divot in the shift rod for the set screw of the coupler.

done on my shiftstic as you can see on the picture ( welded area) :wink:

---