Bugat5speed

[Steve C]

Hi Cormac

Maybe next time we come over we will have to catch up. I didnt see very many VWs over there, I guess the rust gets the old ones.

Steve

[Bad bug]

Cormac is Martin conversion parts for the 915 box truely a bolt in or do you have to do some cutting.

The experiments I have with the parts of Martin are very good.
I used some parts from bugat5speed for a 914 gearbox in my split-bus.

A spilt bus is not exact the same as a beetle, but it can be compared (I own a 1303S too).
One mayor different is the thickness of the torsion tube. Mayor in this case, because the problem of
moving the gearbox up to the front becomes even more difficult, without cutting the torsion tube.

An other problem of installing a 914 gearbox in the ‘bridge’ between the chassis at the rear of a bus,
because a 914 (901 / 915) gearbox is higher and lower as a beetle gearbox.

Here is what I did:

First I drilled the holes into the 914 gearbox. On the left a beetle IRS gearbox, on the right the 914 gearbox.



To make the rubbers fit flat on the house of the gearbox I also flattened the gearbox

picture of housing 1
picture of housing 2

I cut off the mounting points of the original gearbox. The ‘bridge’ had to be cut for fitting the gearbox (no issue at a beetle).
Some welding and it looks standard.

cutting 1
cutting 2


Between the traverse and the nose cone from bugat5speed I made a 1 cm (0.39 inch) thick metal plate with extra rubber
to lift the gearbox at front so it comes straighter.

bugat5speed parts

Fitting:
fitting 1
fitting 2
fitting 3
fitting 4
fitting 5

The modification on the axle flanges to fit six bolts:

axle flanges 1
axle flanges 2
axle flanges 3

At the moment ready for final fit so I can measure the needed driving axels.

gearbox

The 914 gearbox will come 1.5 cm (0.59 inch) more backwards as a original gearbox. In a beetle my 914 gearbox will fit the original place.

Originally Posted by Bad bug

Is Martin conversion parts for the 915 box truely a bolt in or do you have to do some cutting.

As far as I can judge and compare my spilt-bus with my 1303 I say yes, bolt in, no cutting.
But (there’s always a but) you have to make some changes to the gearbox and if you do not want to buy axle flanges,
to the axle flanges and the driving axles.

The parts of bugat5speed are of very good quality I believe. The parts make it a lot easier to make a good fit of a
Porsche 5 speed gearbox into a beetle or bus.

Martin was always helpful answering my questions, before and after purchase. Martin, thanks for that!

Luuk

[cormac163]

excellent job i really need to get a good camera.
you definitely need to cut off the front mounts from the beetle chassis and you need to cut open a small hole under the torsion bar for the shifter to connect to the selector rod. this is where you need to get a rod fabricated from the old high position to the new lower position of the gearbox.
and there will also be some clearancing of the framehorns which is just grinding off a little off the inside
cheers