I'm doing my annual gearbox teardown and inspection, and my ring (crown) and pinion are a mess. Some really significant wear -- wondering if somebody out there might have an SR8 gearbox in good shape they might sell.
A new one from Radical is $25k!!
Or maybe I need to send it off to Spring Mountain or Wisko and have them replace the ring and pinion? It's the setup tools I lack...
Ouch. I would think that the least expensive route would be to have one of the certified Radical engine shops repair what you have. There are three in North America. Spring Mountain, Team Stradale, and Radical Canada East. I don’t know if Radical Canada does any V8 work, but since the exchange rate would equate to a ~30% discount I would start there first. With that said, Spring Mountain and Team Stradale are also excellent choices. For $ 25k, I know where you can get a newer style transmission. The transmission also come with a spare 2009 car, and extra body ant three sets of wheels ;).
https://radicalsportscarregistry.com/acadp_listings/2009-sr8/
Charley
Thanks Charley -- I had thought of that too (spare car with a later spec gearbox). Though the gearbox in the car doesn't look like a Quaife/PTEC. Is that a Hewland?
In terms of repair of mine, I wonder if parts are still available. I know when I repaired 1st gear last summer, Radical only had used parts. The good news is that 1st gear still looks great. 🙂 It's worth some phone calls for sure. Is Radical Canada East the dealership owned by Robert Burgess?
New information: my gearbox is a Quaife QBE58G, rated at 350hp. The newer cars use the QBE72G, which is rated at 450hp (bigger gears, and more distance between lay and pinion shafts). The wear I see on the pinion/crown gears is what you'd expect to see when too much power is pushed through it...
It seems like it would be in my best interest to find a good 72G gearbox -- as I'm well over the 58G's hp rating. I'm guessing the 72G wasn't available in 2006/07, and that's why you see Hewland 'boxes in some cars -- until all were upgraded to the 72G in 2009 or '10.
I'm guessing I'll be on the phone a lot tomorrow.
Anybody know where if there's a setup guide for the ring and pinion? Robert Burgess at Radical Canada said that one existed, and that if I used it, I can probably replace the R&P myself. I looked around here and on my computers, but didn't find anything...
Have you tried reaching out to Quaife? Link : https://www.quaife.co.uk/ I would imagine they would provide you with the information. I did some searching but didn't come up with anything. When you find it let me know and we can add it to the Resource Library.
Charley
Charley -- I haven't. I spoke with Sean at SMR, and he was going to talk directly with Quaife, since we both believed that Radical probably has no stock of replacement parts. I didn't want to confuse things by starting my own conversation. I'm waiting to hear back from SRM about it.
I did reach out to Quaife directly today, and, as expected, they referred me to Radical. After some discussion, they agreed to look through their inventory and see if they had any parts left since the box has been discontinued. Anyway, I thought it might be worthwhile to post the pictures of the damage, as the ring and pinion issues seem to be quite common:
Quaife tech sales got back to me today with a complete parts list. They have no 4.11 ring and pinion sets left, but still do have a 4.125 set in stock, along with all other parts I need, and even have the "long" 5th and 6th gears I'd prefer (I run out of 6th gear on Sebring's back straight). Expensive, but they have stock of all of it.
They have no record anywhere of when this gearbox was built -- none of the serial numbers match anything they have. Mine is serial number 6, so it must be one their original test prototype units. He was amazed the 'box was still in service.
Charley, I should have listened to you right away. 🙂
@parsonsj Did you ever get the set up guide for the 8 gearbox? This is something that’s on my list to do and some kind of guid wouldn’t go amiss. 👍🏼
