131 Sport/Racing gearbox in a 124 1800 Sport Coupe.

[Abarthnorway - Remi L]

Hi Guy and Members!


Just got my hands on a 124 1800 Sport Coupe with a very noisy gearbox. I am planning on changing it soon together with an uprated engine.

I have a 131 Sport/Racing gearbox with the "Abarth" gear lever extension, and was hoping to fit this in the Coupe, but as it is now the gear lever will be where the handbrake is located.....

Is it a DIY job to remove the "Abarth" extension and fit the lever mecanism from the 1800 gearbox?..... or should I source another Coupe box?

Answers and tips/tricks from anyone with experience of this conversion will be greatly appreciated.


Best regards

Remi Lovhoiden

[Guy Croft]

All you can do - and yes I have direct exp of this - is fit the entire 131 gearbox and bellhousing.

It's bigger, longer, taller, be ready to cut the car! There is no part interchangeability at all.



GC

[TR-Spider]

Hi Remi

I did put a 131 gearbox in my 124 Spider some years ago, which is a phantastic upgrade.

What I did is shortening the Abarth extension by aprox 30mm.
You need to do two parallel cuts, so that you keep a bearing in each part, and afterwards an experienced welder (cast aluminium!). Then you shorten the inner steel shiftrod, which is easy.

Then the gearbox did (just, lost the ashtray) fit into my Spider. The Coupe should have the same gearboxtunnel, so it should fit there as well.

The other things to do:
- raise the upper front of the gearboxtunnel (just after the bellhousing), I did that with a fitting piece of wood and a hydraulic lifter (against the weight of the car).
- extend the gearboxtunnel sidewards, where the 131 rubber donut sits, a nice big hammer does that.
- some of the upper outer stiffening ribs on the 131 bellhousing need to be cut off slightly (aprox 10 mm).
- a slight kink into the lower gearboxtunnel to clear the clutch linkage.
- the front part of the propshaft needs to be shortened aprox 100 mm (and of course balanced afterwards).
- cut away the ashtray carrying frame and make some new, nice wooden covering plate...

Unfortunately I don't have own photos, just this one from a shortened gearchange, which I picked somewhere in the web:

I hope that helps.
Thomas

[Curly]

Try this link Remi,
http://fiatcenter.com/bbv2/bbBoard.cgi? ... ;gtid=2876
It describes and illustrates the procedure of fitting a 131 box to my Spider. Fitting one to your Coupe should be very similar.

[Fiat Racer Don]

I am using a 131 with abarth extension in my 124 Abarth Grp IV rally replica.

We used Curly's instructions...they are dead on--- it is fit nicely. Not too much work.

Good Luck

Don Tuscany

[bernie]

Try this link Remi,
http://fiatcenter.com/bbv2/bbBoard.cgi? ... ;gtid=2876
It describes and illustrates the procedure of fitting a 131 box to my Spider. Fitting one to your Coupe should be very similar.

That is extremely good information, many thanks Curly

[2103i]

Remi

What is the reason to choose that 131 gearbox? In our region CE Europe the 124 boxes are availabe and quite cheap. Especially the parts.
Regards

B’‚©la

[Guy Croft]

The reason is that the 131 box is way stronger. The 124 box is notorious for losing 3rd gear.

GC

[2103i]

Guy and all

That's right. But I believe still cheaper to find a 124 than a 131 and racing versions or any modified ratios are easier to find.

I have an old picture valtok_2.jpg which shows 5 different versions of gerboxes:
top
124 4 speed or LADA
Lada MTX 5 speed sport version with 1:1 5th
131 Abarth extension
131 short version
Modified 124 long neck to fit 124 4 speed or LADA
Bottom


The last one is derived form this one:
cajab.jpg
or from this:
1dsc0014.jpg
Top is a LADA or equivalent 124 4 speed with 5 speed dogbox
Middle is a 124 long neck with LADA bellhousing with 5 speed dogbox
Bottom is a 124 long neck with a Fiat bellhousing with 5 speed dogbox

The ratios are:
2,895
1,895
1,510
1,195
1,000

Or

2,370
1,722
1,431
1,195
1,000

The shift pattern:

2 4 1
3 5 R



I am using it also themodified Fiat in my car:
ga300.jpg
dscf0029.jpg

Also a cheap solution is an OE LADA 5 speed gearbox to fit in FIATs . This picture is showing the internal mechanism:
Kpp3.jpg

The ratios are:

3,667
2,100
1,361
1,000
0,819

Very often we modify this like:

3,242
1,989
1,289
1,000
0,776

By changing the main ratio only by using OE parts.

About the gearbox change:

You can find nice articles on our web site:

http://www.zsiguli.hu/

Unfortunately most are on Hungarian language. Like this: http://www.zsiguli.hu/index.php?action=cikk&id=78. This change is similar to the Australian one , but not so nice. The person referring 2103i or B’‚©la/Bela is me.

Also something about available ratios for 124 family.

http://www.zsiguli.hu/index.php?action=cikk&id=143 with link!



But in English:
http://www.zsiguli.hu/index.php?action=cikk&id=289
http://www.zsiguli.hu/index.php?action=cikk&id=278


Regards

B’‚©la

[Slawo2000]

Hi B’‚©la

Are these dogclutch 5 speed gearboxes still available in Hungary ? What are their prices ? And what about their reliability ?

Regards
Slawomir

[2103i]

Yes available. For reliability: cca. 100-120 Ladas incl. the famous VFTS is using it on differnt races like rally, slalom, hill climb, rally sprint... Also used oftenly for Fiat DOHC engines up to NA 2,0.

Regards

B’‚©la


Edited by GC, please do not refer to prices on this site, as stated in rules please read see GC V/W

[Slawo2000]

Could you please send me a direct contact to you ? I would like to discuss some details. My email is: skon2000@wp.pl

Regards
Slawomir