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Crossflow boxes and clutches
panichat - 25/2/07 at 12:34 PM

I'd like a bit of advice to help me avoid making useless purchases.
I've got a cortina 1600e engine and box but no clutch parts. The slave cylinders for these rarely come up on ebay and seem to be only available new as exchange units and are expensive. Some of the other clutch bits are tricky as well ... so I thought it would make more sense to use a cable clutch instead. Would it be best to do this by swapping bellhousing from a later cortina box or go for a single unit escort box? Would those options be a simple fit. What clutch kit would be required to fit? I guess the real difficulty stems from not understanding what the differences between the clutch kits for different spec crossflows are and whether they are matched to the engine and fly wheel or to the gearbox (ie a 1600e engine with 1.3 escort box - does it use a Escort clutch plate, cover and thrust thing?)
I'm sorry if this is really obvious.

Thanks
Dave

rusty nuts - 25/2/07 at 12:38 PM

If its any help I have type9 (Sierra) bell housing you can have but postage may be expensive . RS 2000 alloy bell housings come up on ebay but tend to fetch good money.

rusty nuts - 25/2/07 at 12:40 PM

PS What about a five speed box from a Sierra? Just use an early Sierra clutch to fit to xflow

Anglia66 - 25/2/07 at 01:16 PM

Burtons sell everything you need brand new with no exchange necessary.The slave cyl and complete clutch kit comes to about £250.
If this is too much try a Cortina forum like Buysellcortina for used parts.

DavidM - 25/2/07 at 03:15 PM

quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
PS What about a five speed box from a Sierra? Just use an early Sierra clutch to fit to xflow


I agree with Rusty Nuts. I built mine with a 4 speed and am currently upgrading to a type 9 to give me a better top gear for long runs.

David

panichat - 25/2/07 at 04:20 PM

Thanks for the input everyone.
The 5 speed box sounds like the thing.
Will the sierra box fit in my tunnel which was built to cortina 2 measurements?
Cheers
Dave

britishtrident - 25/2/07 at 04:24 PM

Is it the belhousing type with the slave cylinder held on by a cirlip ? --- if so you can use a a Ford Anglia
slave cylinder which has a smaller bore than the Lotus type but makes1st & reverse gear engagement less of a grind.

If it is the slave cylinder type with a 2 bolt flange fitted to most MK2 Cortinas then a Series 3 Land-Rover type should fit with a little bit adaption.


The other alternative is a SAAB concentric slave cylinder conversion.

britishtrident - 25/2/07 at 04:30 PM

quote:
Originally posted by panichat
Thanks for the input everyone.
The 5 speed box sounds like the thing.
Will the sierra box fit in my tunnel which was built to cortina 2 measurements?
Cheers
Dave



If you have a genuine 1600e box then it is raving madness to fit a type 9. The proper1600e box is a semi-close ratio box comonly known as the the 2000e. The 1st and 2nd gear ratios in this box are much better suited to a light sports car than any other mainstream production Ford gear box.

Wityh a 3.55 diff the 1st gear in the 2000e ratio set is good for about 10mph faster than normal Ford ratios.

panichat - 25/2/07 at 04:51 PM

Its a type 3 box - standard to all mk2 s except Lotus according to Burton site.
It is the circlip type of bellhousing. The saab conversion sounds interesting - is there a site where I can find out about it?

Cheers
Dave

[Edited on 25/2/07 by panichat]

britishtrident - 25/2/07 at 07:04 PM

quote:
Originally posted by panichat
Its a type 3 box - standard to all mk2 s except Lotus according to Burton site.
It is the circlip type of bellhousing. The saab conversion sounds interesting - is there a site where I can find out about it?

Cheers
Dave

[Edited on 25/2/07 by panichat]



As I have posted a a few times the info on the Burton site relating to 1960s Ford UK gearboxes is wrong.
3 ratio sets were used, the casings and types of remotes and tailhousings varied as the years went by. The Burton site confuses the case styles with the names of the ratio sets.

The Ratio sets were
Standard -- ratios very similar to the bottom 4 on a type 9 box.
Semi-close --- so called 2000e Ratios
Close --- Bullet homolgated for factory race & rally cars




It is the same gearbox and bellhousing as used on the Mk2 Cortina-Lotus. The 1600e was mechanically identical to the MK2 Lotus in all respects except for the engine unit.

The giveaway is the circlip slave cylinder retainer, The standard mK2 Cortina used a different bellhousing with a flange mounted cylinder. This took up more space and would not allow fitting to some Lotus models.

Only way to tell if you have standard or 2000e ratios is to put the box in first gear and mark both the tail shaft and input sline with a dab of white paint and count the turns. On a 2000e 3 turns of the input shaft should give 1 turn of the output.
Standard Ford 1st gear ratio is almost 4 turns of the input to 1 turn on the output.

[Edited on 25/2/07 by britishtrident]

panichat - 26/2/07 at 06:40 PM

You've been a great help.

Cheers
Dave