Elan with ZF 5 Speed gearbox

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hi crannyr,
can you give me further information about which speedo right angle drive you used?
Do you know how one could be sourced or did you modify the Elan right angle drive to suit as Martin suggests?

Hi Martin,
it's all a bit complicated with this Elan fitted with aZ F G/Box.
The guy who rebuilt the car has moved up to near the Chekoslovakian border & the car is somewhere in Munich. The guy who owns the car doesn't know one end of a spanner to the other & the rebuilder, who is a qualified engineer has considered a conversion job but no longer has any workshop facilities. All he can cope with is a spanner job.

[simon.mitchell]

I've fitted an electronic speedo to my Plus 2 which runs off of the driveshaft bolts - Europa specialist spares do a Smiths one which matches in well with the existing instruments.

[simon.mitchell]

I've fitted an electronic speedo to my Plus 2 which runs off of the driveshaft bolts - Europa specialist spares do a Smiths one which matches in well with the existing instruments.

[everettmse]

Hi All,
Being a rally guy but my first sports car being an Elan I have enjoyed driving a BDA Escort Mk 1 with the ZF gearbox, they are indeed available with overdrive but you are correct as most direct drive boxes are in rally cars, they are very clunky and noisy but are bulletproof, no pun on Ford boxes. The most problematic part is that they are kind of agriculutural in my opinion and don't shift like an original Elan box, no snick, snick so the lightness is gone, they are heavy too which helps make them strong, I can't help with the right angle drive if you think they are scarce in the UK just try finding one here in the US.
Regards,
Mark

[MalcM]

Massive thread bump, but wanted to place holder it.

Removed the body from the chassis last weekend and finally identified/verified the ZF gearbox my father had spoken of for years. Funnily enough, I believe it was fitted by Vegantune whilst doing a lot of other work on the car, also the speedo has never worked here either!

It is indeed the S5-18/3 gearbox of Firenza/Chevette heritage as far as I can tell.

[My72Sprint]

Curious if a ZF S5-18/3 gearbox Vauxhall Firenza was available.

Did find one here for $7,086 (EUR 6100)

https://www.gr-box.sm/product/zf-s5-18- ... a/?lang=en

[MalcM]

Curious if a ZF S5-18/3 gearbox Vauxhall Firenza was available.

Did find one here for $7,086 (EUR 6100)

https://www.gr-box.sm/product/zf-s5-18- ... a/?lang=en

The 5 speed ZF was fitted to the HP (droopsnoot) Firenza.

[DJ908]

The same gearbox was fitted to the type 81 Lotus, the Chrysler/Talbot Sunbeam Lotus from around 1979. It came with two options, either a direct 5th top gear or an overdriven top gear.

The same gearbox was fitted to a number of other cars including the 420 Maserati Biturbo, and the Alfa Montreal.

It was developed and fitted to a number of light commercial vehicles, probably without the 5th gear.

[sprintsoft]

slightly off topic but Malcolm has done some really interesting vidoes of his restoration here..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8cQC7R895o

Cheers
Iain

[gav]

I used to run an overdrive ZF in my S4 (often known as a noddy box). Fantastic box but the gear change housing protruded through the tunnel and the lever was further back. I really loved it but the change was rather intrusive in the cabin.

[nmauduit]

I used to run an overdrive ZF in my S4 (often known as a noddy box). Fantastic box but the gear change housing protruded through the tunnel and the lever was further back. I really loved it but the change was rather intrusive in the cabin.

I was wondering about lever position... would you have an interior photo with that gearbox fitted ? how much further back would the lever end compared to stock position ?

[gav]

Easier said than done I'm afraid - I removed the ZF from the road car to fit into the competition car (which still isn't finished and is going to have to be sold soon but that's a different story) and didn't take any photos whilst in the road car.
I have a photo of a similar box mocked up in the car and you will see that the gear knob isn't so much of the problem as the turret in which it sits which protrudes through body around the tunnel. We didn't want the box any lower than the chassis and whilst we could have pointed it downwards towards the rear, that wouldn't give great prop alignment.
Hope the photo helps to add the context.

[MalcM]

Apologies for the size of this file, I don’t know why it won’t let me select a smaller upload size.

Screen grab out a video on my phone, I’ll have a look later and see if I have something better out a FauxPro video.

I *think* the lever is forward, engaged in a gear in the picture. Most of the images I have are with the shift boot still in place which hides the casting. Indeed, I only discovered it protruded in to the interior just before lifting the body off when I finally took the leather off. I know it needed to be engaged in a forward gear to allow the body to lift up and the stick pass through the hole.

Edit: found these interior shots from pre-stripdown.

[MalcM]

slightly off topic but Malcolm has done some really interesting vidoes of his restoration here..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8cQC7R895o

Cheers
Iain

Thanks Iain, appreciate it! I have loads more video but it’s mostly filmed on FauxPro, which makes editing and uploading a huge task compared to using my phone camera.

Unfortunate problem with the phone camera being, you can’t really use it whilst actually doing work!

[gav]

My photo doesn't really show it but my lever was cranked towards the rear as the Lotus Sunbeam set up (I believe)