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Ppg Gear Box Problems

Chris Wilson
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Chris Wilson Proficient

Chris Wilson

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I am in the UK and have built a circa 650 crank HP all steel RB26 engine to put in my R33 GTS-t track car. Previously running a 400 `ish flywheel HP RB25 engine in front of a stock R33GTS-t manual box and a Giken twin plate clutch, I now feel that I need to address the tired gearbox, which has synchros that are pretty shot and far from ideal ratios, plus a very slow 4 to 5 change that I feel could be its death knell if I rebuilt it and tried to run it again with much more torque through it.

I was thinking of biting the bullet and using an auto box bellhousing to mount a Glebe (you won't have heard of them in Oz, I am in the UK and they are a small specialist race gearbox manufacturer here) 6 speed sequential dog box behind it, with a fair bit of custom work needed. They are rated to handle far more torque than I'll be creating. The cost would be hefty, the gearbox is about 6000 UK pounds, but should have a good residual value as it's used in a few high end serious race series over here. It's tempting to save some money though, and I thought I'd ask here for actual personal experiences of the PPG 5 speed dog kit in the stock R33 GTS-t casing? The car will be used for track days and a few proper races, is RWD only and will run 10 inch wide rear rims maximum, but on slicks, with a Nissan plate type LSD wound up fairly tight. It'll do zero drag racing, just a few (6?) race starts a year. Will this kit handle things reliably? Would I be better getting the uprated billet mainshaft? I am unsure if this can even be used in the RWD casing, it is a bit unclear on their site as to whether this is a 4WD GTR only item? How much are these kits in Oz if I can get a friend to buy it and ship it over to me here?

Thanks for any info.

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https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/271107-ppg-gear-box-problems/
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shy_s6 Veteran

shy_s6

Posted
Posted

many drift cars over here run the ppg box's, they do make them specifically for the r33 gts-t i think top of the range would cost u upwards of $AU8-9K (with aussie dollar low at the moment u get the bonus so roughly 4.5Keur) thats with the billet main shaft and billet selectors, thats a direct bolt in for your original 33 case, so a much cheaper alternative and the sets are rated to 1200hp

http://www.ppgearbox.com.au/page.asp?paren...mp;productid=56

best bet would be to email them!

also you could run a 1.5way mehcanical lsd diff n use a higher ratio to help with your set up?

r33_racer Grand Master

r33_racer

Posted
Posted

just make sure if you get it, to be weary of a spline change if you get the upgraded input shaft, and what spline your clutch is. Could be a little pain.

They are great though. The kit will shit it in for what you are doing.

T04GTR Grand Master

T04GTR

Posted
Posted

thats ok. os giken make hollinger input shaft spine clutch plates and centre hubs. i did this with my ppg and r3c clutch combo.

the box is good. just make sure you replace the 5th selector fork shoulder bolt with a new one. i bought my ppg secondhand and stripped it down and found it has worked its self loose.

everyone uses these over here as they are less than half the price of a hollinger..

  • 1 month later...
T04GTR Grand Master

T04GTR

Posted
Posted

yeah, thats bullshit! im sory to hear about your bad expiance... they built it they should fix it! unless they are hiding under the "race use avoids warenty" bullshit

any court would be retarded not to see they arnt liable! hell im tempted to pull mine down and replace all the rollpins!

a rollpin doesnt fall out unless its to small.. like they dropped it and put in another one that was not exacly the same size. ive had rollpins used many times and they are still heaps tight on the way out.

T04GTR Grand Master

T04GTR

Posted
Posted

yeah. id want a pic of the failed rollpin and the shaft/ fork it went into. that will tell the whole story. but at this point trust is requird from them to be honest.

oh thats if it hasnt gone tru the gears.

for it to fall out it would have to be only gripping the shaft. not the fork. and and its being used it would of been hammerd and eventualy lost its tension either way if it wasnt tigh enough they sould of noticed during assembly. like putting a rollpin into an oval burred up alloy fork is not nissans or your fault.

good luck with your negotiations. dave

9krpm Mentor

9krpm

Posted
Posted
[Deleted By PranK - For breaching forum rules]

Sorry to hear that Dave. I use the same term for the director of ppg too ;)

I had my share of bad customer service from PPG. I had their products in 2 cars as well.

I wont bore you with my smaller saga but still costed too much.

I wish I have been smarter and spend the extra $$ for more reliable stuff initially.

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Chris Wilson Proficient

Chris Wilson

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My RWD gearbox is done, it's a Swedish made Tractive sequential dog box for my R33 GTS-t I used a modded auto box bellhousing and a concentric clutch release cylinder set up, to work on a Giken triple plate clutch and flywheel. Total weight of bellhousing, adaptor, slave cylinder and gearlever, with wiring and indicator box is under 37 kilos, I can get some more weight off the bellhousing, so I am pleased with that. The whole thing has been a joy to spec and purchase, has come with a proper installation manual, and a full pictorial and textual workshop manual on DVD. Even the gear lever is a work of art. If it works half as well as it looks, it should be great. The PPG kit was just too dear shipped to the UK, although this was very expensive i have a complete transmission, with an internal ratio and drop gear ratio choice, with excellent spares back up.

http://www.chriswilson.tv/tractive/tractive.html

Chris Wilson Proficient

Chris Wilson

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Chris, can we have some more pics of your Tractive gearbox inside the car?

How much did it end up costing you?

I probably won't have time to get it in the car soon, and when i do it'll be behind a scrap block, as the engine is due on the dyno this month. I envisage a custom gearbox X member, and of course, i have to mount the supplied, and beautifully made, sequential gear lever and linkage, and reverse / neutral lock out mechanism, and gear position indicator. When it is all done i'll post up some more photos.

Cost, and it should be less now i have paid for the drawings for the adaptor, was around 7700 UK pounds with carriage and taxes to the UK. They have a good resale value. DO NOT forget these are RWD boxes, and they haven't done anything for the 4 WD cars as yet.

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