Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Thanks Tristan! Hope of finishing some races this summer has been restored.

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Wow that is some seriously dodgy machining by tran-x, no wonder they went belly up with that sort of work!

The square edge was certainly a big problem, good find

About the gear stick, if you think it is bend, take it out and see if the bottom part below the nearing is in line with the shaft above, if not it is bent, if the shaft were to bend then it would surely have bent in that direction trying to get into 5th gear so you could be right, so long as you can get 3rd and 4th by just moving hte stick forwards and backwards without moving in any other direction I would not worry about it either

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Yes, the 4th and 3rd work perfect.
ahem, much like the 1st , 2nd AND 5th

Yes tha Tran -X engineers should be burned at stake or put in stocks. I mean honestly the quality of their work is substandard absolutely unacceptable. BUT I spoke to Quaife people and they intend to redesign some of the internals to make the end result presentable, and the good news is the new bits are interchangeable with the old boxes so these old bangers can be updated to quifes liking.

I now hope ai have sorted all the issues (loose spindle shaft, too loose reverse transfer fork, endless oil leaks, bent input shaft, the stick centering device locking circlip coming undone, and the lousy machining in the spare part selector block) with mine and hope for smooth sailing from here on Meanwhile im afraid to whats next.

[exboyracer]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Well you certainly had your work cut out with this gearbox!

Well done for persevering with it, I don't know if I would have had your patience. I think if it were my gearbox it would be thrown through tran-x's window or at the bottom of the sea by now

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Well it still has some things going for it. The 1:1 5th ratio is pretty unique to any t9 deriative. And it still retains the regular h pattern ! Then again I do not have afford to buy me a Quaife @ £3500 + VAT still with O/D 5th.

My otions are prety much a Volvo M47 5 speed alli dog box with 1:1 fifth but with a dog leg pattern. And its Volvo.... Goes against my all Ford idea that has kept intact for a decade now.

Or a budget choice of regular T9 with a gearkit but this would mean 5.5 or 5.8 : 1 CWP ratio and that could prove too weak...

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Well it may be the SL isn't beaten just yet. I may have cured the symptom but not the disease.

The gearstick looks straight to me. But its still tilted to the right.

Does this look right to you? now on neutral.


Tilted. Again on neutral.


Stick does not seem to be bent.


I'm a bit baffeld. But this is what I've gathered so far: The main shifter rail is pretty damn hard to twist. You need tools for the job. Stick seems straight. Its difficult to mislocate things too on the rail since everything is held in place by roll pins. It has'nt got anything to do with the long pin in the tailhousing (shown in Jasons pic above)since the stick is tilted with both tailhousing I've used.

I believe its bes not to assemble the box just yet.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Found this picture from the Jasons link.

Looks alot like my SL . Maybe thats the way it needs to be then.



Managed to pay some attention to the English today too. Not alot but tacked in the rose joint spacers. I like them welded on. Makes installing so much nicer when you dont have to fiddle with the spacers. They have a tendency to drop and get lost when the link bolt is removed.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

I had a feeling the SL still had something in store for me. The movement of the stick still felt restricted to the right. I decided to take the shifters apart piece by piece and see whats restrictin the shift rail movement. I struck gold on the first blow. Once I removed the gear stick extension the rail had a whole lot movement going on. The darn roll pin was 5mm's too long and was fauling the tailhousing. The main shifter block finger only just made it above the 3rd + 4th shifter fork thus needing a slow gearchange or it would get stuck.



Once I cut the roll pin down the shifter block finger cleared the shifters beautifully. I also feel like I should apologise Tran X for my bad language as their not the sole reason for these issues. I have to look in to mirror for this mistake.

I got a bit greedy and decided to disassemble the shifter rail to round up the corners on the shifters to make for even smoother gearchange to the fifth.



Sorry for the lousy pics. But I hope you get the idea. This improved it even more but not by much. The main issue was the rollpin and the restricted movement. But this time the greed was rewarded. Found a split roll pin from the selector block.



The split goes all the way trough but it still manages to hold in one piece. But I'm quite certain I just avoided another DNF.

Then I assembled the box and tried out how it felt. I decided to go Red Line this season so I red lined the shifters and had a go . Now it feels like a propper dog bog. Just bang bang bang trought the gear pattern. And reverse that fully engages. I chose Red Line since they say its for trouble gearboxes in the add. Its like red syrup and really clings on to the gears and shifters. Anyone have any experience on running Red Line Heavy shock in the Gear box?




While trying out stuff I managed to snap the gearstick fork so I need to order me a new one. Hopefully that will point straight up, but the OE stick I tried on was still tilted to the right. But I just don't have a clue what could cause it and as EVERYTHING is now working tip top I believe I will leave it at that.

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Just read the red gunk aka. Heavy shock proof is ideal for rear ends and light shockproof (blue) redline oil is often used with rally or race dog boxes

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Funny thing, gearboxes. A lousy 5mm lenght of roll pin proved to be the cause of two retirements last year. A malfunction that cost absolutely nothing to fix, but the damage done is measured in hundreds + the countless hours spent ... Well you live and learn.

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

It is the simple things that can cause serious trouble, now you have it sorted once and for all

About the roll pins, it is best to fit new roll pins at rebuild and also to use SS lock wire straight through the centre of the roll pins just to make sure they never walk out, but new roll pins will be nice and tight so its not essential

About the oil, sticky oil is perfect, thick oil is not, it is a wonder how oil can get into all the places it needs to go, using a thin high loading "sticky" oil is best, we use castrol B373 LSD oil, it is a little thinner than regular gearbox oil, it super sticky and is thin enough to work with LSD's so is also perfect for gearbox use, you can put the axle up on some stands, put the engine in gear and turn the wheels to warm up the gearbox oil if wanted but I am not sure if it makes much of a difference with a dog box vs synchro

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Changin to new roll pins is a good idea. Well worth doing. How about using double roll pins? One inside the other for extra strenght?

I've decided to try the Redline light shockproof gear oil. That was used in the Integra Type R gearbox in group N to make them last.

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

One roll pin inside the other could work so long as the inner was a tight fit, could be a good idea to wire lock the inner just in case is decided to move, those roll pins take a beating in a dog box over time

The oil looks like it is sticking to the surfaces well

[Roadsport]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Thats the heavy shock proof gunk. Its like paint. Primally used in differentials but acan be used in trouble gearboxes but i believe it has so much drag it needs to be thoroughly warmed before serious action.
The blue stuff should be sticky too but not as thick. Yet too slippery to use in synchro boxes.

I'll have a nice color coding. Red from the rear, blue from the box and black from the engine ...

[RWD fords rule]

Re: Escort Sigma 1600 Race Car

Lol handy when finding any leaks