Gearbox/IMS/RMS DIY thread

[Shalmaneser]

Did you fit any the powerflex inserts in the gearbox mount? Made a big difference on mine.

Also, who did you get your diff off? You state 911uk?? :dont know:

Ooops! I meant Design911. Have edited to hopefully avoid confusion!

To be fair they were very helpful when I phoned them up it just took a long time to get the bloody thing...

Not done the PF gearbox mounts, I've got the RS mounts on the engine and am pretty happy with things as they stand. Might fit them down the line though, it's not a huge job.

I'm hopeful I can get the car off the stands today and make an essential trip into work this afternoon as a quick test drive...

 

[Alex]

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

 

[YPVS]

Did you fit any the powerflex inserts in the gearbox mount? Made a big difference on mine.

Also, who did you get your diff off? You state 911uk?? :dont know:

Ooops! I meant Design911. Have edited to hopefully avoid confusion!

To be fair they were very helpful when I phoned them up it just took a long time to get the bloody thing...

Not done the PF gearbox mounts, I've got the RS mounts on the engine and am pretty happy with things as they stand. Might fit them down the line though, it's not a huge job.

I'm hopeful I can get the car off the stands today and make an essential trip into work this afternoon as a quick test drive...

Nearly there now! Hope it sounds good on the test drive. A think a few of us will be looking at this gearbox place for the same job. It's good to know they've done at least one before with success.

Was the LSD an upgrade or just a like for like replacement? I quite like the idea up being able to upgrade from a standard diff to an LSD when I get the pinion bearings done.

 

[Shalmaneser]

So to report back...

I've managed to put 100 or so miles on the car over the weekend, and I'm very happy to report that everything appears to be in perfect working order. The only noise while at (ahem) UK motorway speeds was the tyre roar which is just as it should be! In fact I've just realised my heater fan is making a bit of a racket so that's next on the list for attention.

Gearshift is excellent with the Motul M300 gearbox oil, although actually the shift was always pretty great with this box.

I'm obviously no gearbox expert but based on my experience I'd be happy to recommend the gearbox shop I used which was Helical Gearboxes (http://www.helicalgearboxes.com/). Very fast turnaround and great customer service. No connection just a satisfied customer.

The LSD I used was a Quaife diff which was a replacement for an open diff - so an upgrade. I've always been fascinated by how they work and they also don't require periodic servicing like a plate diff, as well as being a British company which is pretty cool. They were also very helpful on the phone.

The existing open differential actually had quite severe pitting on the spider gears, although the chap at Helical explained they could actually spin round the spider gears if I was to continue using it so the pitting was on the non drive side of the gears. It's a bit complicated so explain in words but it was obvious the pitting was only on one side of the gear face so when you see it it's easier to understand what they were saying. Happily for me though it meant as I was always fitting an LSD the math mans post purchase justification became much easier.

Example of pitting here:

Either way it's just a very heavy paperweight on my desk at the moment!

I did a quick spanner check this afternoon and spotted that one of the gear cables was trying to make a bid for freedom so a couple of zip-ties fixed that up.

Otherwise we're leak free and running smooth!

 

[Alex]

That pitting looks quite severe. At some point those gears would not mesh and at that point end up wiping some of the teeth out (which happened to mine). I can understand now why mine did what it did. The new gears were £280 and with the labour came in around £550 to repair......if that helps with your man maths :lol:

 

[mmcd87]

So to report back...

Gearshift is excellent with the Motul M300 gearbox oil, although actually the shift was always pretty great with this box.

I'm obviously no gearbox expert but based on my experience I'd be happy to recommend the gearbox shop I used which was Helical Gearboxes (http://www.helicalgearboxes.com/). Very fast turnaround and great customer service. No connection just a satisfied customer.

Thanks for the writeup on your journey with this! Could you give a bit more detail on the gearbox repair - what was replaced in gearbox and approx cost? Good to know another company that can work on these gearboxes.

 

[MrC986]

I had my pinion bearing changed recently as it started to whine noticeably when on the move & I wonder having had a gearbox fluid change done when I had the first service done under my ownership whether in putting the correct gearbox fluid unmasked the problem?

My techie confirmed the suspected pinion bearing issue by lifting the car up on the 2 poster ramp and asking me to put the car in 2nd gear with the engine running on tick-over so the wheels were rotating at tick-over so he could determine that it wasn't a diff issue (mines a C4). I struggled to find a gearbox specialist with a 50 tonne press which is the reported capacity needed to do the work. FWIW, my parts bill was over £600 alone including gearbox fluids (I'd had the clutch etc. replaced last year before this started) & the bearing is Porsche specific which seriously bumps the bill up according to the gearbox specialist.

I've 2 other friends with manual C4 996 & one has in the SH a gearbox repair bill albeit his has done about 120k miles & mine was at 86k miles & the other has only done about 60k miles.

 

[Shalmaneser]

So to report back...

Gearshift is excellent with the Motul M300 gearbox oil, although actually the shift was always pretty great with this box.

I'm obviously no gearbox expert but based on my experience I'd be happy to recommend the gearbox shop I used which was Helical Gearboxes (http://www.helicalgearboxes.com/). Very fast turnaround and great customer service. No connection just a satisfied customer.

Thanks for the writeup on your journey with this! Could you give a bit more detail on the gearbox repair - what was replaced in gearbox and approx cost? Good to know another company that can work on these gearboxes.

All four main bearings were replaced, as well as all the seals. I also chose to replace the diff as discussed above,and with that diff bearings were replaced too. Cost was ~1k including parts, labour and VAT.

 

[abe996]

Excellent, nice work bud. :thumbs: