Vts Box Jumping Out Of 3Rd Gear, On Track

[macaroni 17 1 Cars]

Hi,

Late last year I did a track day in my VTS-engined and 'boxed 205 and at certain points round the track, it popped out of 3rd gear.

Usually after applying slight power, say approaching the apex of a bend.

 

I discovered that the bottom engine mount was worn, so replaced it with a very vibratory solid mount, thinking this would solve the problem.

 

However, on track yesterday, the problem still exists!

 

I have replaced the rod ends with pugracing ones, so the gearchange is sweet and the problem never occurs on the road.

 

Any suggestions on anything else I can try?

Cheers,

 

Antony

[welshpug 1,661]

does it crunch into 3rd at all?

[macaroni 17 1 Cars]

Not at all, the gearchange is very slick.

[rallyeash 155]

Better tyres, suspension and some mid range power should sort your problem...

 

Cause you'll then be able to use 4th!

[macaroni 17 1 Cars]

Funny!

I did have to drive round the problem by taking Paddock in 4th (which required a frequent supply of clean pants) and Druids in 2nd, but Clearways has to be taken in 3rd and it frequently jumped out, unless I held it in.

 

Thing is, this morning driving to work, the box felt absolutely fine.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

The fact that it happens on track but not the road suggests it's the engine and box moving about and pulling it out of gear. If it was a gearbox issue I think it would also do it on the road.

What are your engine and gearbox mountings like? Also what is the gear change gate like, is it all off to one side?

[macaroni 17 1 Cars]

After the first track day when it happened, I fitted a BBM solid bottom mount, thinking that was the issue. It also has BBM buffers and gearbox mount.

It feels solid as a rock, but I guess it can't be, under duress.

 

The gear lever seems pretty central, just in front of the ashtray in 3rd.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

You'll be surprised how much the engine moves on std type mounts, the VT ones help but it still moves around, I will get around to making a gearbox torque mount due to the lower one being offset which will help allot

For 3rd it could be the spring that's wearing as it's just a bit of wire but it should do it anytime on light throttle

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

i have a VT bottom mount and new OE top mounts, my engine must move about a bit as i was loosing a lot of exhaust backbox rubbers..... Took a wee while to figure out!

 

I recently saw an upper mount a guy had made on his GTI6'd rally car which i thought was a great idea. Which involved a bit of welding, and using subframe ends/bushes of old wishbones and a long bolt.

 

The end result was the engine hung on the bolt (which ran through the bushes), and couldn't really tilt back and forth.

[macaroni 17 1 Cars]

So standard rubber mounts, even uprated ones, aren't up to the job of holding a GTI6 engine steady on track??

It never happened with my 1.9 8v or mi16 engines, but I guess they were lighter.

 

So that, along with the fuel starvation problem on anything less than half a tank, coming out of Clearways, makes me wonder why I bother.

[rallyeash 155]

Never had a problem with mine and that's only on BBM mounts.

[welshpug 1,661]

I have standard o.e mounts, no problem here.

 

linkage may be hitting something under movement, is there a quickshift fitted? they can be very close to the exhaust on those engines

[rallyeash 155]

Satch shift

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Before i fitted the GrpN linkage, the short rod on mines popped off a couple of times when going down the gears/braking really hard.

 

So if your getting it on throttle, it could be as WP says ^

 

I also noticed on mine my linkage immediately below the gearstick under the car was very close to my exhaust (can't remember if it was 5th or R (BE1) at that time),

 

so maybe worth trying a few gears and have a look under there too.

 

Was/does the end of your exh manifold sit equally spaced/gapped as it points down the bulkhead tunnel?, just thinking you might be moving the gear quadrant thingwybob on throttle if the exhaust is sitting too close to it?