What you get for having a lead foot....
Turbo Mini Forums

Alright chaps.

Last sunday on the way to himley my engine (or shall I say gearbox) went bang and lost all drive.

Well today ive managed to pull the engine out and remove the gearbox, and this is what ive found.





Yep, the teeth on the input gear and the laygear are destroyed, the laygear is actually smooth with hardly any teeth left!

The explosion has left a hair line crack in the case aswell, so looks like the box is only good for spares now.

Also it looks like metal fragments have flicked up it the crank & bores, so for good measure im stripping the engine down and inspecting. There are a few dinks in the crank where the teeth have hit it but nothing major, I'll just file them smooth.

Going to be a busy boy the next few months .

Edited by Pauly on 14th May, 2011.

Pisser.....

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

Wowsers, you made a good job of that!!! Unlucky mate - Keep your chin up.

time for a sc set

1293 Turbo mini

How did you do that?

Jack Jones

i take it you have a turbo set up

1293 Turbo mini

How many hp were you running through that box?

100hp can do that if it has were in the bearing

1293 Turbo mini

100bhp NA did that didn't it Paul?

oh god dont tell me you done that by running 100bhp through it!

best of luck mate. Kick ass box just meens you will have to try harder next time lol

what i said was a 100hp turbo engine can do this if the gearbox was worn on the bearing what power or spec paul has i do not no

Edited by jimmy on 15th May, 2011.

1293 Turbo mini

Im on the beer lol, had to read it again

Good skills Is your first motion shaft fooked by any chance?

EDIT: Bearing not shaft...

Edited by apbellamy on 15th May, 2011.

N/A 1310 with 110bhp and 97 lb/ft. Not had a close look at the box yet, just seen the sight and just said "yeh, fucked". It was a metro hle gearest, weather they are weaker idk.

Hopefully might be having antons old box off him, as I can't be doing with stripping and rebuilding the engine and building another box, want it back on the road for Avon.

Forgot to add that the box was rebuilt at the same time I built the engine.

Helical boxes are usually good for 100 hp.

Edited by Pauly on 15th May, 2011.

Hopefully! Wintersurfer has been putting more than 150 nanas through his, hence the panic posts above!

In the 13's at last!.. Just

In the past I have been smug about how my Sierra box is so much tougher than a Mini transmission.

Guess what ?

After less than 4000 miles on an expensive recon box its grumbling again.

Testimony to the ponies its putting out ?

Sorry about the mini box - lots more expense -what changes ?

OH dear use a clubman set and it wont happen again, wether you use SC drops or the standard helical set, iam supprised a non turbo engine has done this.

Is the lead footedness because ian keeps egging you on? Or is it because the civic is pants?

Its not the power that kills the box its the torque, and the torque quoted for this engine matches that of a standard Metro Turbo. Now while people will tell you the Metro Turbos were not that reliable, but i'll bet you could easily go 40k miles without issue. Lets also consider the Metro is heavier than a Mini so the gearbox is not as stressed. I will also suggest that you may have a shorter final drive than a metro turbo which will make the gearboxes life a little easier again.

That said, the cleanliness of the box is not what I would say it being a recently rebuilt gearbox. There is likely to be something else underlying thats the cause, not the power or torque.

If you said this was a Turbo engine with 150lbft, I would agree that the gearbox was overstressed.

I have never let a gearbox go longer than 6kmiles on any of my recent engines without a complete rebuild simply for the reason that they were never designed cope with excessive torque for prolonged periods.

Also, the HLE gearbox has different ratios throughout including reverse. Easily identifiable with a double notch on the gear teath rather than the single notch. Perhaps not as easy to identify when the teeth aren't there

I am still confident that the larger Metro Turbo input gear suport bearing is worth the extra cost :)

Sorry to see that, hope you sort it soon. I NEVER has any gear box issues with my N/A 1380. So i do wonder if something whats happend.

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on Injection?

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I agree with the fact that something else has caused the problem, but what I will never know, may find out when I come to strip the box, but for now im going to just replace it with another. I was quite shocked to see the damage as I was just expecting to see a broken layshaft.

a chiped teeth can do that

1293 Turbo mini

Destroyed many like that, turbocharged of course though.

You'll still have 4th gear to get you home if stuck though. Although the debris in the oil wont help the engine much.
That said, I always managed to get home in 4th when it happened me, and engine seemed to survive ok.

Does seem odd for a n/a to do it though.

Under what circumstances did it break ?

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

when you put the gearbox back in buy one of these http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?ty=...id=35169&title= i fitted one of these about 5year ago and when i service it i always take it out and have a look at it stop shit going up the oil pump

1293 Turbo mini