A little advice, gearbox, LSD
Discussion
Hi Folks
I am currently hunting the classifieds for a Noble and have some questions that I would like to gain opinions on.
I am looking for a 3.0 car as I want to raise power to approx 400hp. However, many gearbox & diff options keep coming up when I talk to jetstream and SWLotusCentre. The options being:
1. 5 speed gearbox on GTO3
2. 5 speed with an LSD fitted, on GTO3
3. 6 speed on a 3R
I cant find any 5speed 3R's so I will ignore that option for now.
I am seeing 5 speed's that are standard and original, many others have been rebuilt. LSD's fitted to 5 speeds for £1600 + bearings.
My question is, how much of a risk is a 5 speed box without LSD. should I buy one and wait for it to break or update it early ? maybe it will never break ? but thats not what im being told.
Is the potential £2000 bill enough to push me up to a 3R in the first place ?
Any comments appreciated. Im getting frustrated !
I am currently hunting the classifieds for a Noble and have some questions that I would like to gain opinions on.
I am looking for a 3.0 car as I want to raise power to approx 400hp. However, many gearbox & diff options keep coming up when I talk to jetstream and SWLotusCentre. The options being:
1. 5 speed gearbox on GTO3
2. 5 speed with an LSD fitted, on GTO3
3. 6 speed on a 3R
I cant find any 5speed 3R's so I will ignore that option for now.
I am seeing 5 speed's that are standard and original, many others have been rebuilt. LSD's fitted to 5 speeds for £1600 + bearings.
My question is, how much of a risk is a 5 speed box without LSD. should I buy one and wait for it to break or update it early ? maybe it will never break ? but thats not what im being told.
Is the potential £2000 bill enough to push me up to a 3R in the first place ?
Any comments appreciated. Im getting frustrated !
It depends on what you want to do with the car; track or just a road car? as a TDS is important for track.
I have a Gto3 and I know the diff will let go at some point. There are a number of owners that are of the same mindset.
If you are planning on 400bhp then the diff cost should be factored in. I dont really feel the need for more power at the moment.
A 3r with and lsd still has the potential to go pop with more power but less than the open diff of a 3. So just buying a standard 3r wont mean you mitigate risk.
Regards to 5 or 6 speed. Ive been told that a 5 speed with the linkage upgrade is better than the 6 speed. But that subjective.
General rule buy the best you can afford from someone that has done the right things not on just milage alone.
I have a Gto3 and I know the diff will let go at some point. There are a number of owners that are of the same mindset.
If you are planning on 400bhp then the diff cost should be factored in. I dont really feel the need for more power at the moment.
A 3r with and lsd still has the potential to go pop with more power but less than the open diff of a 3. So just buying a standard 3r wont mean you mitigate risk.
Regards to 5 or 6 speed. Ive been told that a 5 speed with the linkage upgrade is better than the 6 speed. But that subjective.
General rule buy the best you can afford from someone that has done the right things not on just milage alone.
The 5 speed box is actually pretty strong it's just the std ford diff that's rubbish !!! If you upgrade a 5 speed box and fit a lsd you can run up to 500 bhp and 420ftlb torque .
The 6 speed box has a lsd fitted as std but there can be a problem with 5th gear .
Jetstream do a upgrade shifter for both the 5 speed and the 6 and it's a big upgrade over the std setup ! Having lived with both the upgraded 5 speed box with the Jetstream shifter kit is a much better change than the 6 . The only reason I upgraded to a 6 speed box was to be able to run 600+ bhp .
The 6 speed box has a lsd fitted as std but there can be a problem with 5th gear .
Jetstream do a upgrade shifter for both the 5 speed and the 6 and it's a big upgrade over the std setup ! Having lived with both the upgraded 5 speed box with the Jetstream shifter kit is a much better change than the 6 . The only reason I upgraded to a 6 speed box was to be able to run 600+ bhp .
As mentioned above, BOTH boxes will take the power you want but they must have an LSD, its a quaife unit thats fitted to both box's.
My car came with a 5 speed with open ford diff, I rebuilt the box and found the diff was ruined and I had caught it just in time and I spent £1800 not including labour upgrading the 5 speed... the open diffs are marginal on the 3L engines even at stock power which is why so many upgraded....
I later fitted a 6 speed box and upgraded that because I wanted big power... which is best is arguable and down to personal experience and preference, I have the opposite view as Tuxman and much prefer the shift on the 6 speed even over the upgraded 5 speed shifter. The gear change mechanism is very adjustable on the upgraded 6 speed, when I first fitted it I hated it and thought it ruined the car... but over the years I have managed to adjust it to be fantastic.
So the upshot is for under 500bhp there is little to choose between the gearboxes, just make sure it has an LSD.....
HOWEVER given that you have not bought a noble yet but are already planning for it to be modified to increase the power I think you like so many others are going to get the bug and if you start chasing big power and want over 500bhp you will then be spending a fortune to upgrade to a 6 speed if you bought a 5 speed.
My car came with a 5 speed with open ford diff, I rebuilt the box and found the diff was ruined and I had caught it just in time and I spent £1800 not including labour upgrading the 5 speed... the open diffs are marginal on the 3L engines even at stock power which is why so many upgraded....
I later fitted a 6 speed box and upgraded that because I wanted big power... which is best is arguable and down to personal experience and preference, I have the opposite view as Tuxman and much prefer the shift on the 6 speed even over the upgraded 5 speed shifter. The gear change mechanism is very adjustable on the upgraded 6 speed, when I first fitted it I hated it and thought it ruined the car... but over the years I have managed to adjust it to be fantastic.
So the upshot is for under 500bhp there is little to choose between the gearboxes, just make sure it has an LSD.....
HOWEVER given that you have not bought a noble yet but are already planning for it to be modified to increase the power I think you like so many others are going to get the bug and if you start chasing big power and want over 500bhp you will then be spending a fortune to upgrade to a 6 speed if you bought a 5 speed.
Deffo by one with LSD. Brought mine (prob only 280bhp at the time) with 12k on clock and new about the diff and planned at some point it will break. 2 months later bang it went and cost a small fortune to fix it (not as much these days) but still a few K.
Buy with LSD or factor it into price.
Buy with LSD or factor it into price.
Thanks for the advice, just what I was thinking.
I used to chase a 3R with standard power in my EVO (400/400) and just kept up. Ive now driven that same 3R running 500 and its a fabulous thing. But to be honest a Noble running 400 would satisfy me for the first year !
So im looking for a GTO3 with LSD or a GTO 3R
I used to chase a 3R with standard power in my EVO (400/400) and just kept up. Ive now driven that same 3R running 500 and its a fabulous thing. But to be honest a Noble running 400 would satisfy me for the first year !
So im looking for a GTO3 with LSD or a GTO 3R
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