I spoke to my mechanic today who's organising my engine/gearbox rebuild. He's been assembling the gearbox with my new cross pin diff (http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx? ... 941&title=). He said that when he puts the side gears (drive gears?) on it feels very notchy and rough and not at all like it should. He's tried shimming it with different sized washers etc, but it doesn't fix the problem. Has anyone had this experience before? Any suggestions? Will I need different gears to marry up with this diff?

Also, we were talking about the spec of the engine and he was saying he thought stainless valves could be a good idea. Again, what do you all reckon? Is it worth the extra money? The car will be used mostly as a second car/daily driver with the occasional motorkhana.

All thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Cheers.

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Cheers, Matt

Don't be fooled, Gruhms is not my real name.

Oh yeah, I just remembered. He said it felt like the teeth on the planetary gears were a different profile or something, like they were not fitting together properly.

I am far from an expert on this, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Cheers, Matt

Don't be fooled, Gruhms is not my real name.

They normally feel fairly smooth but not like silk. There are two thicknesses of thrust washers in the crappy stock material (fibre board stuff). Late ones are ~ 0.035" and the early ones were ~0.048" (off the top of my head). Get him to check these.

I don't actually use them at all as the shatter in to millions of bits and then it's only a short matter time before the sun gears split. Then it's all over sunshine. I make and fit brass ones from 1.00 mm (~ 0.040") shim material. They do wear a little, but don't break.

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does this guy know minis. maybe its onna be worth the lil Xtra to take to someone who knows exactly what they are doing .

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PrOuDlY aSkInG qUeStIoNs FoR uR aMuEsMeNt

I'd take it to Greig at mini classic, he built my 'box, wasn't that expensive and he did a fantastic job.

I have the minispares x-pin diff, doesn't need different output shafts. They're not super smooth, a little notchy, but then I don't have experience with other diffs to compare it

I drive mine daily and compte once a month - stainless valves aren't on my radar any time soon

I emailed minispares and they said they had a few a while back with notchy planet wheels. They want me to send it back so they can check/replace it.



He's a good mechanic who's built a few mini gearboxes and he's working with a guy who only does gearboxes and has had a lot of experience with minis. I trust him.

Thanks for the help. Any more thoughts on the stainless valves?

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Cheers, Matt

Don't be fooled, Gruhms is not my real name.

I have standard exhaust valves and larger inlet valves, neither stainless and it puts out 113ftlb and 127hp. Last time the engine was apart there were no signs of any problems with the valves, despite it running a little hot when thrashed in competition (new 2 core radiator and larger pulley to slow the fan down should fix that).

I would suggest that for the planned use, stainless valves won't gain anything. Remember what Vizard says about only spending money on mods for more performance - everything else is just a pub bragging rights purchase.

cheers
michael

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