Re: alfa-digest V7 #403

[Einar <einar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>If you've lightened the gears in your Alfa transmission, I'd like to
>hear from you.

Somewhat. The input shaft is in the lathe as I write. I have to take
a couple of sessions each evening as I don't want to grind it all in
one go. I'm afraid that would anneal the gears. I'm mostly grinding
in from both sides. I haven't done the numbers yet to see if it is
really worth it to put holes through them too. And I'm not sure how
close to the root of the gear teeth I should go. But since this is
an extra box I have, I will not leave much and rather risk the 
consequences.

>I'm about to do a rebuild on my V6, limited-slip box and want to lighten
>the gears so that it shifts faster and doesn't eat synchros for the rest
>of its life.

My idea was mostly to make the shift quicker. It's so cheap and easy to
put in new synchros that the wear rate is not bothering me. The Alfa
transaxle is by far the easiest I've worked on. Remove the nuts & bolts
and it almost falls apart by itself.

What I like to know is: Has anyone put in needle bearings as replacement
for the bronze inserts? I'm afraid it may be impossible, but who knows
with enough brains working on it. My theory is that the friction from the 
bronze bearings is as much of a contributor as heavy wheels.

And is there any aluminum clutches for it? The enormous flywheel mass
that the clutch adds is one thing I don't like at all with the transaxles.


- -- 
Einar Sjaavik, einar_sjavik@domain.elided,
http://www.login.eunet.no/~einar/
1995 Alfa GTV 2.0, 1986 Alfa GTV 2.0, 1986 Maserati Spyder 2.5

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