Replacement 3-6 gears sport box

[John z 16]

I ordered a replacement clutch(for just incase) at my dealer and asked them to look into 3-6 gears and got an email back saying the gears are no longer available as well as the transmission itself. this makes no sense to me since the gears are the same as the current 400 gears. 

Ive been trying to contact lotus(via email and multiple calls) and i have not had any any luck getting in contact with them.

The reason I'm looking into the gears is because i have a 2011 box and there is a rumor that some of the boxes have bad gears i don't wanna pay for a clutch swap and not  address the gears just for it to go a month later.

when i did the factory tour in july the guide said that every bolt and part on the car is recorded so they claim they know everything about these cars.. i can't even get in touch with them to see if that is true or not.

also, how much labor should a rebuild cost?(when the case is already out)

[Bibs 11,101]

Email [email protected] and Neil Turner will get back to you, he's very good.

[C8RKH 6,202]

Neil sorted my issue out for me, he is damned good, agreed. A credit to Lotus in fact.

[andyj007 407]

i guess the replacement gear ratios  are made for lotus cars uk by a local firm so surely  then they must know.. 

when we did a factory tour, teh chap said they get the gearboxes in and split them to insert their own ratios... evora & exige v6 .. there not made from fairy dust so cant be rocket science to get this information surely?

 

[Hangar 111 301]

There is a difference between the early sport ratios and the later ratios that were fitted to all cars - the former are indeed NLA, so the only option is to replace gears 3 thru 6, I believe.  Not sure what the technical reason is for this, as haven't had them side-by-side for comparison.

I think EA60 rebuild on the bench is about 9 hours labour.  As it's a three shaft box, it's quite involved.

Dave

[John z 16]

12 hours ago, Bibs said:

Email [email protected] and Neil Turner will get back to you, he's very good.

That's who I emailed, this was my email: 

"I have a 2011 Evora NA SCCLMDTU0BHA10718 and was wondering about the gears used in the transmission. 

I am currently setting up to have my clutch replaced at my local dealer Autosport Designs in Huntington Long Island NY, and I mentioned I had read online about some transmissions that had gears that had a potential to fail. 

Would it be a good idea to just have the dealer replace gears 3-6 preemptively? I would just hate to do a clutch replacement to have a gear fail a month later. 

Thanks for any information you can provide. 

John"

 

perhaps he's on holiday, that email was sent 10 days ago

 

if i can't get a definite answer if my box is one of the CR boxes, I'm going to do the gears. but being told gears are not available either isn't helping... 

[DBG 112]

You should be able to tell if it's a SR box by the RPM on the freeway in 6th. The exact speed vs rpm has been posted previously, but I could easily check mine for you. From memory, 4th in the standard box is the equivalent ratio to 6th in the SR.

Edited December 19, 2018 by DBG

[John z 16]

10 hours ago, DBG said:

You should be able to tell if it's a SR box by the RPM on the freeway in 6th. The exact speed vs rpm has been posted previously, but I could easily check mine for you. From memory, 4th in the standard box is the equivalent ratio to 6th in the SR.

I know its a CR box, its just that some of the CR boxes have been breaking due to a defect. I am trying to find out if they know if mine falls under that small percentage. Also, if i do have a defective box or if they can't tell me if i do, why i can't order gears at the moment. if I'm going to spend nearly 40hrs labor to swap a clutch eventually, what's another 10hrs+parts to take care of a potential problem. 

[electro_boy 200]

Have you tried the aftermarket options you have in the US for the gears?   BOE Fabrication, Inokinetic or Monkey Wrench Racing?

You still need to ascertain if your gearbox is one of the dodgy batch and has a higher chance of failure.  But once you have that info maybe one of the above can help get replacement parts for it?

[pkn 20]

On 18/12/2018 at 02:33, John z said:

I ordered a replacement clutch(for just incase) at my dealer and asked them to look into 3-6 gears and got an email back saying the gears are no longer available as well as the transmission itself. this makes no sense to me since the gears are the same as the current 400 gears. 

Ive been trying to contact lotus(via email and multiple calls) and i have not had any any luck getting in contact with them.

The reason I'm looking into the gears is because i have a 2011 box and there is a rumor that some of the boxes have bad gears i don't wanna pay for a clutch swap and not  address the gears just for it to go a month later.

when i did the factory tour in july the guide said that every bolt and part on the car is recorded so they claim they know everything about these cars.. i can't even get in touch with them to see if that is true or not.

also, how much labor should a rebuild cost?(when the case is already out)

I'm the OP for the below topic back in June. There was an interesting post from @andyj007 who advised that he spoke to a technical director from the factory and that: 

"basically they (gears) were not upgraded, but  gear set suppliers were changed as original suppliers could not  provide quantity  when qr became standard fit 

no difference in design/ detail or specification.."

 

 

 

[plenty 39]

According to a quotation I have received to replace gears 3-6 in a 2011 CR box, the part numbers are:

B132F0049F 3rd gear driven

B132F0051F 4th gear driven

B132F0053F 5th gear driven

B132F0048F 6th gear driven

B132F0046F 3rd gear

B132F0048F 6th gear

A132F0160F 4th, 5th gear spacer assembly

[pkn 20]

1 hour ago, plenty said:

According to a quotation I have received to replace gears 3-6 in a 2011 CR box, the part numbers are:

B132F0049F 3rd gear driven

B132F0051F 4th gear driven

B132F0053F 5th gear driven

B132F0048F 6th gear driven

B132F0046F 3rd gear

B132F0048F 6th gear

A132F0160F 4th, 5th gear spacer assembly

 

Do you know how many hours labour is required for the repair?

 

[plenty 39]

56 minutes ago, pkn said:

 

Do you know how many hours labour is required for the repair?

 

I've been quoted between 6-9 hours, not including the engine and box removal itself.  IMO it's worth doing if you're going to do the clutch anyway.

[pkn 20]

7 minutes ago, plenty said:

I've been quoted between 6-9 hours, not including the engine and box removal itself.  IMO it's worth doing if you're going to do the clutch anyway.

Thanks for that plenty, it's pretty labour intensive then once the hours for the removal and re-install are included as well. Would you mind disclosing the cost quoted for the job? It would be good to have an idea if I ever need to get it done. PM if you prefer not to make it public.

[John z 16]

On 20/12/2018 at 15:45, plenty said:

According to a quotation I have received to replace gears 3-6 in a 2011 CR box, the part numbers are:

B132F0049F 3rd gear driven

B132F0051F 4th gear driven

B132F0053F 5th gear driven

B132F0048F 6th gear driven

B132F0046F 3rd gear

B132F0048F 6th gear

A132F0160F 4th, 5th gear spacer assembly

sorry for the delay, was away..

 

i was told none of this is available. that's my main issue. i honestly don't expect Lotus to know if my gears is bad or not. 

[IanA 11]

Part nos are correct and all gears should be available from Lotus - have just received some of them.

Note that 4/5 single drive gear (A132F0160F) now incorporates the previously separate spacer (collar) and this section also has internal splines.

Edited December 23, 2018 by IanA
More info

[John z 16]

On 23/12/2018 at 01:31, IanA said:

Part nos are correct and all gears should be available from Lotus - have just received some of them.

Note that 4/5 single drive gear (A132F0160F) now incorporates the previously separate spacer (collar) and this section also has internal splines.

Who did you order them from? I just had my clutch master replaced and was at the dealer today and we were talking and they said they can't get it thru their lotus USA channels..

 

BTW, still waiting for a response to my email

[agentdr8 148]

John you could probably order them from Deroure, who gets their stuff directly from Lotus too. 

[IanA 11]

Sorry, did not receive your email.

Seems that full sets of 3,4,5,6 may not available at present. Have just received 4/5 set but am waiting on others.

Suggest you send an email to Lotus to advise on the availability as per part nos above.

[email protected]

Edited January 4, 2019 by IanA
more info

[John z 16]

3 hours ago, IanA said:

Sorry, did not receive your email.

Seems that full sets of 3,4,5,6 may not available at present. Have just received 4/5 set but am waiting on others.

Suggest you send an email to Lotus to advise on the availability as per part nos above.

[email protected]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean an email from you. I meant an email from lotus since I had already emailed customer services. I just tried emailing again...

 

I found this:

 https://www.monkeywrenchracing.com/product/mwr-ace-gear-set-upgrade-3rd-6th-evora-standard-or-sport/

 

Just haven't heard any reviews on it.

Edited January 4, 2019 by John z

[John z 16]

I received a response from lotus. Somehow they are not aware of any gear box issues even after I had linked the to lotustalk and thelotusforums threads. I was waiting for Brian Shepherd to get back to me, but its been a week and nothing. 

Hi John,

 We would recommend a full gearbox overhaul due to time and or mileage.  This overhaul also depends on many factors including vehicle usage since 2011.     We are not aware of any reported concerns from other owners with their Lotus cars.

Thank you

 

This was my response to him: 

Thanks for the response,

 

It's been documented online between the US and the UK. The forum I sent on page 1 has a link to the UK forums. According to some posts Lotus is aware of an issue 

 

There is more information here:

My car has 40k on it, daily driven. Done 1 hpde event. Normal cars don't need a gear box rebuild at this time. My previous cars have all done over 100k. And even if it needed a service,  changing gears is not a normal task to be done at this time. I don't even need a clutch, I am just stocking up on parts to have it ready for when it does. That's why I'm emailing you. 

 

It's almost 40hrs at $150 an hour to change a clutch. I don't want to spend that money twice because my gear box is one of these possibly bad units. 

 

Could you find out more information please. I will also follow up by emailing the parts help email about supply issues. 

 

Thanks,

John

 

 

That was sent on the 7th of January, I followed up again on the 16th and haven't heard anything. So much for customer service from lotus! Its not like I'm contacting FCA where they produce thousands of vehicles. Lotus is a small company and id imagine should do better. 

[plenty 39]

That does seem poor.  Have you specifically asked about parts availability?  My specialist has received gear sets 3-6 which would suggest you might be able to as well.

[John z 16]

20 hours ago, plenty said:

That does seem poor.  Have you specifically asked about parts availability?  My specialist has received gear sets 3-6 which would suggest you might be able to as well.

Yes, in an email I was directed to the parts operations manager and he assured me the parts were in stock and that there must have been a miscommunication of sorts. So that's all taken care of.

Following that email exchange Brian and I had a few more emails and I spoke to him yesterday for almost an hour. Very knowledgeable of the car inside and out. The "known gearbox issue" was a bit of a sticking point between us, as he did bring up good points as he had mentioned some customers had claimed they drove like a little old lady then the ECU would show time sitting on the limiter was exceptionally high and it turned out the guys kid was beating the piss out of the car without his dad knowing. Im still not sure if my gearbox is one of the "bad batch", or if there is infact a "bad batch" anymore. The service manager at my dealer brought up a point that it probably should have blown up by now if there was a defect in the gears. I'm just going to drive it and see what happens.

[plenty 39]

Sounds like things are moving in the right direction.  I would personally still invest in the rebuild with new gears if you are doing the clutch anyway AND your box has one of the serials identified as potentially suspect.  The extra money isn't that much and will buy you peace of mind.  Mine made it to 42,000 miles before suddenly letting go.

Edited January 23, 2019 by plenty
typo