Gearbox mounted plate doesn't align

[John360s]

Just fitting the engine all in fine but the gearbox bolts won't align on the gearbox bracket and the gearbox is touching the heatshielding on the passenger side (where you would move the gearbox to make the bracket fit).

Is it safe to dremel the holes slightly bigger? Is it OK for the gearbox to be in contact with one of rhe uprights in the gearbox tunnel??

[John360s]

So got the bracket on with a pry bar but the gearbox is very much touching the tunnel....

[OldAndrewE]

Not familiar with this version of a 7 but a couple of observations.  The gearbox hard up against the chassis will not be good for noise/vibration. Also that g/box mounting plate would appear to have slotted holes so good practice will be to have washers under the nuts and they appear to be missing

[Britspud]

Hi John,

Wow quick progress! 🙂

I had the same concern with the gearbox and it's proximity to the tunnel ... I contacted Lee at Caterham about it and he said it's normal that they're very close...but not touching. My gearbox touches the heat insulation on one side, but only just and isn't (as far as I can see) touching the metal. If yours is, I'd raise it with Caterham. Particularly before drilling any slots in the mount. Mine is an SV by the way....I don't know if the tunnel is a different size for S3 cars. Is yours an SV?

Thanks,
J.

[Britspud]

One thing I would say John...from the pics, it's hard to make out (and forgive me if this is a patronising question as I am the least experienced builder possible!) ...but have you used Nylon nuts for the g/b mount bolts?

[John360s]

Sorry yes - both of you are right these were just standard bolts I had lying around to get everything in place before I used the Nylon bolts with washer once I tightened it up. 

My car is the SV which I think made getting the engine in easier I think, but the gearbox bracket was a PITA.

I have next week off to crack on with the car so will contact Caterham and I think I need a "better" gearbox bracket to pull the gearbox central.

Time to start the front suspension 😁

[Graham Hutton]

John,

Mine is an SV and I had the same issue. The gearbox still touches the heat insulation on one side but is not in contact with the chassis. There are an awful lot of vibrations from the Mazda gearbox (particularly 4th gear on over run) which is well documented on here. It would be best if you could get it away from the chassis for this reason and so that the prop shaft is better aligned with the diff.

I did it by loosening the engine mount bolts both on the engine and the chassis end and then putting a strop around the gearbox to help me centre it whilst laying underneath. Once I had the gearbox bolts finger tight, I went back and did the engine mounts up and it all worked out fine. Hope it goes OK for you too.

[Graham Hutton]

Oh and another good reason for sorting this out is that the side on which your gearbox looks tight (passenger side by the looks of it) the gearbox fill plug is halfway up and it is a hard enough job to get to even with the gearbox in the centre. If you will be doing your own servicing, you'll find out what I mean 🙂

[ScottR400D]

Nylon nuts and bolts?????! 

[Jonathan Kay]

51 minutes ago, Graham Hutton said:

I did it by loosening the engine mount bolts both on the engine and the chassis end and then putting a strop around the gearbox to help me centre it whilst laying underneath. Once I had the gearbox bolts finger tight, I went back and did the engine mounts up and it all worked out fine.

Sounds right to me.

Jonathan

PS: Nyloc?

[John360s]

Sorry yes Nyloc Nuts, not Nylon or Nylon bolts...😆

There is no play whatsoever in the bracket holding the gearbox, I had to push the gearbox further into the passenger side with a prybar to get the bolts in. I think it has been manufactured incorrectly, it was pretty scabby and had powder coating missing from it iun places so have emailed Caterham for advice / new bracket.

The frigging upper wishbones are missing as well, and there is no pick list to check everything else against, at the start of a bank holiday. looks like the front suspension is going to wait for a while 😒

Plenty to do though 🙂 thanks for all the help!

 

[Miker7]

I've no experience with the engine / gearbox combination, but once had something similar. How tight are the engine mounts currently, could you move the engine a mm or two which would then pivot the gearbox a fraction?

[Graham Hutton]

Sorry to hear that John. Looking for parts seemed to be a recurring theme for me too. I was adamant that they had only given me one of the carbon rear wing protectors until it tuned up packed in between the two rubber floor mats in a completely different box to the other one!