Help Please With Gearbox Swap

[jackflash 1]

Hello to all,

Newbie posting here so apologies if this is in the wrong section or something! I have come on here to seek advice after running into a problem after deciding to replace the gearbox in my 205 GTI 1.9. I should point out that my friend is actually doing all the hard work in his workshop for me, but has come up against a big problem.

Anyway I will start from the beginning, my old BE3 box was crunching going into gears so had to go, I managed to source a low mileage 1.6 BE3 box so set about getting it fitted.

Removing the old box wasn't as straight forward as it should have been with the offside drive shaft being difficult to remove as the bearing carrier was jamming it in with allot of pressure, but eventually off it came, Now when it came to putting it all back together we have overcome some issues already but are now stuck, the bearing carrier does not line up with the engine as it should, and we are thinking maybe it's not the correct one for the engine, but are not sure how to go about checking. It seems like it was all jammed in and not correct before and maybe this could have caused some problems with the old box. I will try and post a photo below and if anyone could help us with ideas and suggestions that would be greatly appreciated. I thank you all for your time

 

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

Something deffinately up there. The driveshaft doesnt seem to be coming out of the gbox squarely.

Unless the mount is bent from where you have been whacking it. and it looks like the correct bottom mount.

Is the driveshaft fully inserted?

Is the driveshaft supporting the weight of the engine by anychance? Just a thought as your bottom engine mount is missing, perhaps the top one is

Edited June 1, 2011 by Paul_13

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Stick the mount on First then the Driveshaft, any issues you can then sort but all the XU lower mounts are the same, even Auto's, Only the V6 engine's use a different one but only by a hen's tooth

Also looks like the 'L' shaped bolts are missing too

[mikeygulley 19 1 Cars]

Stick the mount on First then the Driveshaft

 

+1 on this and also the 'L' shaped bolts will help pull the shaft into the mount properly.

[Mikey S 29 1 Cars]

clamp the mount and shaft tightly in a vice and use a big chisel and lump hammer on it. if it still wont move try applying a little heat on to alloy casting while giving it a smack and that should free it.

Edited June 2, 2011 by pugger

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Are all the gearbox to engine bolts in and tight? Especially the lowest one near the sump that goes from the engine towards the gearbox (all the others go from g/b towards engine).

[jackflash 1]

When we took the box out,couldn't release o/s driveshaft,so wiggled the box of with the shaft in place as well as 1st motion shaft.

 

When the box was out the driveshaft came out quite easily which made me wonder a little.

 

Sure enough,putting it back in the normal manner the o/s driveshaft will not enter the gearbox because the internediate bearing carrier throws it out of line.

 

Box on floor,driveshaft enters fine,sooooo we tried removing speedo drive,thinking the plastic guide was throwing it out-----no difference.

 

Last resort was to remove bearing carrier ,shaft enters gearbox no probs but nearest we could get the bearng carrier to engine is as pictured.

 

Shaft is not bent and inserts fully so as far as I can see there must be a mismatch between engine,gearbox and intermediate bearing carrier.

 

Doesn't look as if the bearing carrier has been changed but could it be an engine/gearbox mismatch?{Engine is supoprted by frame correctly from above}

 

Any suggestions welcome as I've had this in and out three times now

Edited June 2, 2011 by pug_ham
punctuation!!

[Paul_13 212 1 Cars]

You need to put the alloy mount on first by itself, with the gearbox bolted onto engine. Then insert driveshaft.

 

Can't be a mismatch between between engine/gearbox all XU/BE gearbox fits each other.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

Punctuation please, makes your post much easier to read & will probably get you more replies to help.

 

Leaving the driveshaft fitted when trying to swap a gearbox makes the job so much more difficult, an hour spent getting the intermediate bearing free is an hour well spent imo.

 

I struggled with on box for an evening on a friends car when swapping Be1 to Be3 only to find out it was the partially removed driveshaft stopping it going back together because they hadn't pulled it far enough out of the way.

 

Have a look at the diff bell housing on the nearside driveshaft, it should have BE3 / XU30 on the casting, if it hasn't are you sure you have the right box?

 

With the gearbox all bolted to the engine & the battery tray mount tight it should all slide together nice & easy.

 

Graham.