I know this is sort of a bizarre and unusual topic around her. Maybe it even belongs on a vintage racer forum, or something, but being that there is a lot of "thinking outside the box" and/or vintage racer recreation lately, I thought it might be interesting to bring up. What was available in the mid 50's to mid 60's era for transaxles? European or American. Either one... The ones that come to mind are Tempest and Corvair and of course various Porsche and VW based vehicles (which might be cool for a hopped up banger build, or something). But what about transaxles that are little beefier that might handle a larger cubic inch V8 or I6 engine? What's out there and what did they come in and what were they backed up to? Obviously there was a ton more later on and up to now, but I didn't want to stray too far off topic here and steer more in the direction of vintage racing. Would love to hear what you guys know. Links, pictures, info, anything and everything...
Ted Halibrand did a something. ZF also comes to mind. I was just reading an article about Indy 63 that had some neat info.
Its been a long time ago so I may be totally mistaken but if I recall the V-8 mid-engine Corvair kits used the Corvair transaxle. I'm thinking that a Corvair transaxle would probably handle a V-8 if it wasn't some sort of a monster. Lancia had a front drive car in the early to mid '60s. I'm pretty sure it used a transaxle that would probably handle a small V-8 also. The clutches were a little weak but I'll bet you could use a clutch setup from the donar engine. it would take some machining because I'm sure no one made an adapter. Then you would just have to lock it so it wouldn't steer and put it in the back.
Earlier this year I had a chance to visit a restoration shop in Gasoline Alley. They were in the process of restoring a 1965 Halibrand Shrike. The sight of a fully restored quad cam Ford was neat but the damage it did to that Halibrand transaxle was even more impressive. I had read about guys twisting the input shafts leaving the pits & this one was twisted a full 45 degrees! I believe it was a Champ Quick Change based design. The bevel gears were OK but that input shaft was mili-seconds away from breaking. The small Hewland is VW beetle based & was used in many Formula cars. The LG & DG Hewlands were much bigger but used readily available bevel gears; GM 10 bolt I think. Chuck Schultz Winfield, Illinois
Here's a thread I just stumbled on doing a google search, of all things: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135150
Before Hewland in the UK [ & Weissman in the US ] arrived on the racing scene all the GP teams used rubbish like the Italian "Colotti" gearbox. Ferrari also used "Saenz" from Argentina. A Lancia Gamma 2500V4 uses a ZF transaxle [ so does the Pantera , & early McLaren M1 ] Lotus used a Renault box in the early Esprit Kit car builders commonly use a Porsche G50 or a Renault R30 [ they flip the Porsche box to lower the engine, and to mid engine it ] If I was to build a Cheap[ish] mid engine , I would consider a Scooby [ Subaru Turbo ] box , they are cheap and tough There are plenty of others also , VW Santana, Skoda, Audi
Scooter, Like Tman said, Halibrand did a version they ran on their Indy cars called the Shrike in the 60's. I'll look in my do***entation for some info for you. BUT only if you tell me WHAT YOUR UP TO!
its not american but its an idea, a vw bus trans axle would actualy stand up to 400 hp. thats a stock transaxle. the beetle trans will not take that much for long but the bus will. just dont get one with reduction boxes. its a popular swap for high hp baja bugs and sand rail, its the same patern as the bug engine so im sure the adapter plate will work on it as well.
The only thing I can think of that was built for 400HP V8 power is the ZF that turns up in Panteras and Maserati Boras. 1971 and up. Be nice to find something a little cheaper. I like the VW bus idea. Sandrail guys would know. I don't know what a bigbore blown Corvair makes, but it's got to be on the right side of 300HP. The Corvair/Crown V8 thing is pretty fragile. Don't ask. There's always the Toronado.
Here ya go bud. Based off their Champ Q/C rear. The Shrike was a very innovative,monocoque car which used a great deal of magnesium in it's construction although they were quickly surp***ed in their development by the other constructors.Their best finish at Indy in their original form was 11th in 1965 with Lloyd Ruby.None made the field after that year.
i use to work on air cooled vw's at a shop the bus ****** should hold up to under 400hp. hell the street/strip bug ****** is under 700 bucks brand new race ready out of the box. it can take that hp as well. a mild straight six or v8 doesnt have near the hp some of the vw drag cars have and that pretty much what they are running
Yep! I should add to that, The 1st GT40's used the ****py 4 speed Colotti until the ZF-5DS-25/0 was released in 1965 , the Mangusta used the same transaxle so did the McLaren M1 and early Lola The Pantera used an inverted transaxle for ground clearance [ with a /1 suffix on the model # ] The BMW M3 also used an inverted transaxle [ with a /2 suffix ] The Maserati Bora, and some of the larger Lancias used ZF's as well The getrag transaxle is an economical way to go Turbo Porsche 944's and the Audi 5000 use the same box, the difference is the Porche has a "torque tube" bolted to the front [see attached ]
Some good stuff here! Some of which is a little newer than what I would like to discuss, but I think it's interesting just the same. Let's be careful not to move into too late of stuff here. That's been pretty well covered in that "Rear Engined Hot Rod" thread I linked to earlier. Seems like even before the 50's and 60's there were some cars using crazy transaxle gearboxes. Can we say Auto Union? Keep the info coming! Good stuff!
scootermcrad - I'm not sure what you're up to ... but when I opened this thread, the first car that came to my mind was Don Van Vranken's "Black Fog" rear-engined Roadster. Black Fog's ch***is was built in the early '80s by Pepper Snow & Ronnie White (Snow-White Ltd.) ... powered by a 400+ hp Donovan 350 mated to a Pantera (ZF) transaxle ... its body (loosely based on a '29 Model A Roadster) was fabricated by Jim Allen (aka "Tin Jim"). While Black Fog is most certainly O/T for the H.A.M.B., I think you can see from Art Voorhees' conceptual artwork that the car has some "traditional elements" ... and perhaps is fodder / inspiration for your next project: click thumbnails to enlarge My father and his buddy Gary did a 3-part article about Black Fog (i.e., a "Build Thread" ) that appeared in the January, February, & March 1985 issues of Hot Rod magazine: click thumbnails to enlarge I personally don't care for "certain aspects" of the finished car ... and it didn't win the AMBR in '85 [it took second seat to Larry Murray's (Boyd-built) '33 Phantom Phaeton] ... but there's no denying the awesome craftsmanship that went into Black Fog ... and it performed surprisingly well on the racetrack: click thumbnails to enlarge Any Fresno HAMBers know if Black Fog is still around? ... I haven't seen it in decades.
The VW Bus gearboxes from '68 up are the good ones. Before that they were merely beetle units with swing axles and reduction gear boxes at the wheel ends. The '68 up units were physically larger, beefier geared units that utilized double jointed axle shafts with CV joints. Also, I think the later 70's Porsche 911's used a box referred to as a "T-50", IIRC, that is quite rugged. Ray
Back in the 60s, race car builder Bob McKee came up with a heavier duty transaxle for the big bore sports racers, by mating a BW T-10 to the back of a Q/C.
Tman - I'm not positive ... but I thought that it did get rebuilt ... maybe just wishful thinkin' on my part (as I too loved it as a "kid").
I know its a little way to the left of this topic but what about the FWD 500 cube caddy set ups. There was a bettle done with one about 10 years ago, some info on here about it too.
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