ZEN
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 04:39 PM |
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WESTFIELD REVERSE GEARBOX
I have just bought this westy reverse gearbox.
linky
I would need more info on it.
p.s. fixed the link to ebay
[Edited on 27/9/09 by ZEN]
My YouTube channel Cars, bikes - track days, motorsport, sim racing and more.
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Andy W
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 06:26 PM |
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Not what you want to here, but I was looking at the same type of box about 5 years ago when I was building my Indy. I spoke to Martin at MK who said
he'd had ten of these all of which had failed. I didn't bother in the end so i'm afraid I don't have first hand experience
Andy
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richardh
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 06:59 PM |
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won't want to hear this either but i'd get a refund and get the mnr one.
much smoother. i didnt have one in my mnr but saw it at a show and looked at the other makes there. IMHO of course
Time for a change!
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ZEN
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 07:30 PM |
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MNR sales the Quaife box at 700GBP 
My YouTube channel Cars, bikes - track days, motorsport, sim racing and more.
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prawnabie
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 07:30 PM |
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I wonder why.......
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ZEN
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 07:46 PM |
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Also have read on this forum that Quaife reverse boxes fail to..
My YouTube channel Cars, bikes - track days, motorsport, sim racing and more.
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Andy W
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 07:54 PM |
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MNR do their own box, I think it's £500. Supposed to have very little power loss
Andy
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motorcycle_mayhem
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 08:22 PM |
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That is NOT a Westfield Reverse Gearbox.
This is one of the three that I had circulating on/off the car last year.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4572/reverse.jpg
I have a very awful feeling looking at the pictures that is not a device that I would want you to fit to your car, but then that's my limited
perspective on things.
I've used the factory Westfield gearboxes, and the Quaife ones too. They're damn good at what they do, they provide a solid mechanical
reverse for the huge number of normal people who trundle their cars around. However, bearings, spindles and flanges fail and they all leak (the chain
broke frequently in the Westfield one and the oil got literally pumped out the Quaife ). But, keep an eye on it, it's a consumable, and it
works.
When (ab)used on a track, they're not so good. With slicks, a lot less good. My factory rebuilt Westfield one lasted for 100 yards, exploding at
the top of Avon Rise, Combe (nasty). So for track use, slicks, I went centre bearing.
[Edited on 27/9/09 by motorcycle_mayhem]
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ZEN
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| posted on 27/9/09 at 08:45 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by motorcycle_mayhem
That is NOT a Westfield Reverse Gearbox.
Now I'm worried.
quote:
When (ab)used on a track, they're not so good. With slicks, a lot less good. My factory rebuilt Westfield one lasted for 100 yards, exploding at
the top of Avon Rise, Combe (nasty). So for track use, slicks, I went centre bearing.
I'm realy going to use my BEC 7 just for road use. Not much track days in Croatia even if I live in the vicinity of a race track 
My YouTube channel Cars, bikes - track days, motorsport, sim racing and more.
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:{THC}:YosamiteSam
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| posted on 29/9/09 at 02:16 AM |
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id second that - its defo not a westfield box - new the westy box is over a grand! - well over..
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fesycresy
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| posted on 29/9/09 at 07:23 AM |
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Isn't that the old Blackbird (?) Engineering one ?
I think that was the name of the engineering company, that box must be circa 2003/4 ?
As said defo not a Westie one (green anodised), which are shite, if they last 1000 miles throw a party.
The Quaife ones tend to blow up because the breather spits the oil out and down the tunnel.
By fitting an overflow tank higher, this will let the oil drip back to the box. However they are still unreliable !
In my mind at the moment there is only one box to go for and that's the MNR, especially considering the abuse you should hopefully be giving
it.
Spoke to Marc, he's planning on putting some serious power through a few over the next year so we shall see if they are up to the job.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
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Triggerhappy
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| posted on 29/9/09 at 07:26 AM |
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I will throw the rage of my 197HP 2008 busa engine at it in the spring...if not before 
Im from Sweden, so im escused...The Muppet drummer for president!!
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Minicooper
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| posted on 29/9/09 at 09:44 AM |
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It's a Eurotech FR2000, these haven't been made for years, I was under the impression that they were agricultural but strong, but the
thread below doesn't seem to suggest this
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=97687
Cheers
David
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Frosty
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| posted on 29/9/09 at 10:30 AM |
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I think the Westfield reverse boxes are actually very good these days.
You hear of the odd bad story, but I have done loads of miles in mine now, and over 1000 track miles in the 18 months I've had the car, and the
reverse box is still going strong.
At one point I thought it had started leaking, but it turns out they just breath heavily. This means you just top up the oil every 3 months. I had
concerns about it dropping oil on track, but it doesn't seem to actually drop any oil until the car is left overnight, and what it does drop is
only about 3 drops of oil which collects on the chassis rails first, so it wouldn't cause any accidents.
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:{THC}:YosamiteSam
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| posted on 30/9/09 at 02:12 AM |
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mines doing well as well.. yea they are a bit rattly but its ok.. it does leak oil a bit but its only drips and only when driving.. the trick is dont
over fill it.. it blows out past the seals
its done nearly 15k miles so far no probs just the rear prop flange nut came loose - tightened that up..
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JB7
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| posted on 5/7/11 at 09:39 AM |
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Having done a BEC conversion nearly 12 years ago, and being one of the first to buy (and destroy) a westfield reverse box I am happy to share my
experiences on how to make the westfield box more reliable.
OK a little history. The boxes are made for westfield by an engineering company in the midlands (cant remember the name) and they are all
funadamentally flawed by design. To explain, firstly the splines on the input/output shaft are triangular. The should be square. This means the
flanges are always trying to ride up and down on the splines. To make matters worse, inside the box behind one of the flanges is a phosperous bronze
thrust washer. As you tighten up the flange lock nut, all this does is compress this soft washer so you can never get it really tight. Finally the box
only holds about 250ml of oil and as others have found this expels itself out the breather hole as the box heats up ...and it can get VERY hot if
you're dong a transit few hundred miles on a european motorway. The final flaw the the chain that supplied the drive for reverse. There is no
tensioner on the chain and it rattles like hell and can be easily broken with a clumsy left foot on the clutch.
So what happens when your driving. Well several things. As the box heats and cools up it expands and contracts as you would expect. This crushes the
thrust washer a little and then when it cools and contracts you suddenly have a loose flange on the spline. Oil runs down the splines to the back of
the lock nut and helps lubricate the flange moving on the triangular splines making the problem worse. At this point the flange is no longer tight and
it starts to vibrate as well as destroying the oil seals so the remaining oil that hasnt thrown itself out the breather already starts to leak. Your
box is going downhill fast at this point. One final nasty little symptom is the at high sustained speeds (motorway) the rattling chain starts to
expand in the heat and rides up on the sprocket on the layshaft. This makes the chain very tight and loads up the layshaft bearings which start to
overheat and make horrible thrumbing noises. When this happens you have to stop immediately (usally on the hard shoulder) engage reverse which loosens
the chain and allows it to drop down on the sprocket and off you can go again.
So why do I still have westfield reverse box and how do I make them last 6000 - 8000 miles between rebuilds.
You can buy a very expensive transmission "lock tite" type gloop especially for gear splines. Having meticulously cleaned flange &
spline, you pour this into the centre of the flange allowing the gloop to run down into the splines. It doesnt set rock hard but instead forms a sort
of "cushion" to take up any gap. This stuff is the real key to stop the flanges rattling loose. Once torqued up, the lock nut is merely
holding the flange in place, it's not really that tight once the thrust washer has "settled" and it's the gloop that's
doing all the work.
Next thing is I blocked the breather hole and replaced the top filler cap (m12 x 1.5 thread) with breather pipe of about 6mm internal diameter. This
feed to an expansion tank mount in the engine bay obviously above the height of the reverse box. Finaly I use Redline Heavy duty shockproof gear oil
... it's horrible stinky stuff but does the job and over fill the box with about 600mm of oil. This set up allows free flowing oil to expand
& drip back into the reverse box. Also the expansion tank is alluminium allowing it to absorb heat out of the oil as well. Finally I run an air
ducting pipe from the front grill down the transmission tunnel feeding cold air across the reverse box.
The only future upgrade I'm looking into is make some sort of chain tensioner to take away the rattling chain but that's going to be
tricky with the lack of space inside the box but i'll keep you posted....
Hope this is help to someone...... 
JR
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loggyboy
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| posted on 5/7/11 at 09:53 AM |
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eznfrank
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| posted on 5/7/11 at 09:58 AM |
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I have an MK one for £250, would include postage to Croatia if less than £20
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loggyboy
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| posted on 5/7/11 at 11:29 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by eznfrank
I have an MK one for £250, would include postage to Croatia if less than £20
FAIL
OP is 2 years old!
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eznfrank
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| posted on 5/7/11 at 11:39 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
quote:
Originally posted by eznfrank
I have an MK one for £250, would include postage to Croatia if less than £20
FAIL
OP is 2 years old!
DOH!!
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ZEN
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 posted on 10/7/11 at 03:31 PM |
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@JB7
Thanks for the info!
My YouTube channel Cars, bikes - track days, motorsport, sim racing and more.
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:{THC}:YosamiteSam
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| posted on 5/8/11 at 05:06 PM |
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Ref gloopy spline glue JB7 – what type is it? And where from?
Iv gotta do mine soon – iv been toying with a rip out and putting ANYTHING BETTER in but tbh the rgb works well – just its noisy and has lots of slack
in the take up in the transmission line. Gotta do it soon as its gonna break if I don’t.
Have you bought new parts for it when you rebuilt the box or not? From westfield? How much?
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andyfiggy2002
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| posted on 5/8/11 at 07:13 PM |
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had my WF RGB in since 2004, straight away i realised oil pissing out of breather not a good idea, 1st the hillclimb fraternity would throw a fit, 2nd
fed up of cleaning my driveway & 3rd the thought of oil on my rear tyres not a good move, so blocked up breather & fitted catch tank via tube
& adaptor into the bolt hole in the top of the box so now instead of being a total loss oil system the oil drains back into the box & then i
made a hole in the aluminium footwell panel adjacent to the oil filler hole in the RGB to aid refilling, also wirelocked the bottom bolts holding the
box to the chassis as there was a tendancy for the oil to smother these lower nuts due to gravity resulting in the nuts loosening & the box moving
out of line & the prop fouling on a chassis rail. I use EP80/90 gear oil with molyslip & cant remember the last time i topped up the level.
Westfield have realised that having a R/H thread on both output shafts is not a good idea as one will have a tendency to undo hence the new RGB,s have
a L/H & R/H thread, like someone says its just poor design, in the time ive had it ive replaced the oils seals with the props detached in situ i
might add & also both flanges because of worn flange splines as the nuts have this tendancy to work loose, now i use plenty of thread loctite
& there is a recess on both ends of the output shafts, using a hammer you ping the outer edge of the nut (which is thinner than the body of the
nut) & this deformation of the nut into the recess stops the flange nut undoing, it seems everyone on the westfield site hates them but maybe im
just lucky
[Edited on 6/8/11 by andyfiggy2002]
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ZEN
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| posted on 6/8/11 at 01:58 PM |
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I was just wondering what oil to use 
My YouTube channel Cars, bikes - track days, motorsport, sim racing and more.
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:{THC}:YosamiteSam
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| posted on 6/8/11 at 02:05 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by ZEN
I was just wondering what oil to use
i just use a universal gearbox oil with no issues - always castrol tho - there will be someone along very shortly with a specific one but i have had
no probs at all with universal
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