Sam Monoogian Posted July 21, 2006 Posted July 21, 2006 From memory the Caterham handbook says an oil capacity of 1.9l, but putting this much in means the oil is almost covering the lower shaft. Surely this can't be right? Has anyone measured the depth of oil that should be in the 'box? This is quite an embarassing question considering I work for a gearbox company 😳
Normans_Ghost Posted July 21, 2006 Posted July 21, 2006 Sam, I always top up till it runs out then leave it dripping till it stops and put filler plug back in. My box (quaife case and BGH gearset) takes a lot more than the book says it should. About 1/4 litre. Norman Verona, 1989 BDR 220bhp, Reg: B16BDR, Mem No 2166, the full story here You and your seven to The French Blatting Company Limited
shn7 Posted July 21, 2006 Posted July 21, 2006 Level should indeed be to the bottom of the filler hole on the side of the box. Steve. Not forgetting Percy the Polar Bear
Grubbster Posted July 21, 2006 Posted July 21, 2006 And from empty mine took 1.25 l last weekend. Roadsport build photo's here Le Mans 2004 photo's here
Myles Posted July 21, 2006 Posted July 21, 2006 Grubbster - that's much more like it. It's just over one bottle from dry, IIRC (did mine earlier this year). My BGH Type-9 has a dipstick - but, quite-frankly, the fill-til-it-drips method is easiest... Project Scope-Creep is live... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com
Colin Mill Posted July 22, 2006 Posted July 22, 2006 After making one hell of a mess trying to get the 1.9l into the box during the build I looked the capacity up on a Ford related website and from memory it was 1.2 litres.
Nigel Riches Posted July 23, 2006 Posted July 23, 2006 Apparently there are three different levels for the gearbox oil in Type 9 'boxes, it depends on the gearbox identification suffix, This is probably not present on most gearboxes of this age. On all 4 speed and 5speed gearboxes manufactured after May 1985 (build code FB)the oil should be level with or a maximum of 5mm below the bottom edge of the fill plug hole. For 5 speed gearboxes manufactured up to April 1984 (build codeEG) the oil must be level with the bottom of the filler hole. On gearboxes manufactured between May 1984 and April 1985(tag suffix ending in E)the oil must be between 10mm and 15mm below the lower edge of the filler hole. (And there is a nice little diagram of a piece of bent wire to use as a dip stick, with the various measurements marked) So just fill it until you can't get any more in, as Norman says, allow the level to settle, and stick the bung back in, you'll probably find any excess will piddle out of any available orifice, and that will be the level for your gearbox. If at all possible don't allow the stinking gearbox oil to leak into the cockpit, it'll ruin the strides, and any bird pulling power will evaporate, unlike the oil. 1982. 5 speed, clamshells. B.R.G / Ali. The True Colours.
Colin Mill Posted July 23, 2006 Posted July 23, 2006 Hi Nigel Ah, so do you think simply allowing the level to drop by virtue of the leaky speedo drive seal till it stops will actually give you the right level. The oil in the cockpit would be the least of my worries on the bird-pulling front 😬
Nigel Riches Posted July 24, 2006 Posted July 24, 2006 Hi Colin, I don't think the leaking speedo drive seal oil level would be good, as it would be very low down and a lot of the knobbly geary things are above the seal, so, no, not a good idea to allow the level to drop that far. You need to fix the speedo seal, then see where it leaks next, hopefully it won't, good owning these cars with character isn't it. Nigel. 1982. 5 speed, clamshells. B.R.G / Ali. The True Colours.
Colin Mill Posted July 24, 2006 Posted July 24, 2006 Hi Nigel Well, I thought I would have a look at this as I have been starting to twitch about the level in the box - the speedo take off has stopped leaking! I took the top off the box and only added 75cc of oil before it was back up to the bottom of the filler plug. I'm fairly sure that I previously over-filled it by having the nose of the car up slightly during the fill (and because I believed I needed to get 1.9 litres into the thing!) If I can I'll measure the relative heights of the speedo drive and the filler. Looking into the box it is amazing how much of the 'works' is above the oil level - I guess its relying on splash from the lower gears to generally spread the stuff around. It was also nice to see that all the innards still look brand new. Colin
Normans_Ghost Posted July 24, 2006 Posted July 24, 2006 Colin, as long as a rotational gear is partly immeresed in an oil bath the whole gear will be lubricated as it turns. If the gears where totally immersed 2 things would happen. The gearbox friction would rise significantly and the oil seals would be blown out due to high pressure created by having too little air. Norman Verona, 1989 BDR 220bhp, Reg: B16BDR, Mem No 2166, the full story here You and your seven to The French Blatting Company Limited
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