Just curious who has tried Wevo and Vellios? I know the Vellios is a bitch to install and adjust, but how is the feel between the two when properly installed? I am also curious who has tried a real 916 trans and can compare? I know the doctor has a real 916 but still prefers the 901. I agree the 901 as a four speed on the track is nice but it sucks on the street. Slipping the clutch to start off in second with my 3.2 is a hassle and doesn't work very well on hills.

I drove a 911 belonging to one of the former workers of WEVO and must say it was a very nice system. He had the shifter and the tail and it all was so smooth.

However, this guy also has everything trick on his car so I can't say all of them would turn out this way.

I have the Rennshift on my 901 and love how it feels. I would think think you could find gears to work in a 901 if you did some searching for much less than you would spend on a 915 box. But that's just me.

Dang why does it suck? why can't you use 1st?

I've got a 3.0 going into a 901.....

I have a wevo 915 in my 914-6 and drove another 914-6 with a velios 915. The velios shifted very nicely. According to the shop that rebuilt the 915 for my car, the velios is hit or miss. Metal may need to be added or removed from parts in the kit to make adjusting it even possible.

My wevo will be good once I fine tune the linkage. I bought the linkage from patrick, but didn't like it so I mod'd it. There is no adjustment possible, and the required tolerances are tighter than you might think. I've sliced and rewelded the linkage bar a couple times to get the length just right. But I need to slice it once more to fine tune the clocking.

Regarding the wevo, they may have invented a better mouse trap, but it is a tail shift. Your box needs to be good and tight or it may not work well. As an added measure I had linear bearings installed on the main internal shift rod which were only used in the early 915. I also used turbo synchros which engage more easily to minimize binding due to slop.

Is this a case of "I heard 1st was weak" without more thought? Are you wanting hard launches off the stoplights? If not, why slip the clutch to start in 2nd? Just go easy on first. No suck.

The problem is that 1st is So quick that its just useless when you actually have some tq behind the engine. I know i've used it in my v8 before pulling up hills, on trailers, ect. but I've never actually used it on the street unless for some reason the trani wouldnt find 2nd or 3rd.

Basically w/ a v8, by the time you've fully released the clutch your already ready for 2nd gear... Whereas in 2nd gear its just a hair longer release time and your golden. I really dont find 2nd gear all that bad on the 901. Its about as long as 1st is on a 944 turbo..

Mark, I will hook you up if you let me know what you want. As for the rest of this, just learning

From what I have read, the Vellios kit is a direct copy of the factory 916 shifting setup. The quality is hit or miss, though, and I'm not sure how you can really tell from just looking at the bits.

The Wevo may be a tailshifter, but those guys really know their stuff. Remember, the Six tailshifter does not have the motion-reversing go-around-the-sump bits that the Four tailshifter does, so a lot of the potential for slop is removed right there. And the Wevo uses a Six-like setup, and deals with the motion reversing inside the tail housing. With some really nice parts, from what I have seen of them.

Vellios availability is also hit or miss. I don't know if they're currently shipping or not. Wevo seems much better about having stuff on hand, or making it quickly.

For a variety of reasons, I think I would prefer the Wevo setup to the Vellios one if I had a Six with a 915 box.

--DD

look in the 'vendor' site.. .. Martin in the EU has an very nice set up .. please read up on it. If I dd not have other projects and commitments. I would buy me a spare set.

Yep.. this is the problem that I have. I used to have a stock 901 with a 2.7 with webers and everything was perfect. After installing the euro 3.2 first is too low and worthless. I am also scared to jump off the line in first because of its known weaknesses with bigger motors. No I don't drag race at my age, but I do like to autocross and getting a good start is nice. A V8 or 3.6 would probably start off better in 2nd and not be as much of a hassle than my 3.2 because of the diference in HP. I am probably pushing close to 240 HP. Since a stock euro 3.2 is 231hp and I am running headers with no catalytic converter. That might be an option to change to a slightly lower 2nd gear and just make a four speed out of it.
Thanks for all the feedback!!!

Thanks, I have been reading his thread, but I didn't want to post this in his thread. I am very curious if Martin's solution is worth the money over velios or Wevo. I am looking forward to someone trying it out and providing feedback!!

Good point. That's exactly what I do. On flat ground I slip the clutch and start off in 2nd. On an incline or hill I baby it and start off in 1st. Its just a hassle. Paul had the same problem with his 3.6. I didn't notice any problems with my 2.7. I think it just a problem with 3.2 or bigger motors. Paul had the same issue with Project 914 3.6 in Excellence.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...c=97480&hl=

What about the '69 901 four speed I have sitting here. Doc told me the gearing, but I forget, I know it should have an "H" 4th gear?

I have 3.0 w/cams, RSR 9.7CR pistons and 40 webbers so I could be pushing 220HP when I'm done. Street car maybe the odd AX or DE, but not likely.



Not quite sure what you mean Doc, gearing wise?

There are options and there is some "conventional wisdom" that isn't.
At risk of boring the shit out of many folks, I'll repeat some stuff and add some new. We ran my old 914 at AX for 5-6 years with sticky R spec rear tires and 5-6 years with 10 inch rear slicks with a 901 and never had a trans failure. There's a recent dyno graph below for you high power guys to look at. I broke 1 CV joint in this period...period and that was 11 years into the sequence. I agree with the
"useless" 'A' first for many but if you have 7K rpms to play with, it ain't too bad.
The big problem for us was the shift to 2nd unless the car was going in a semi straight line.

Options:
A 'B' or "C' first gear makes it useful. The cost is around 600 bucks for the gear sets. Talk to Ottos. A new reverse gear comes with a complete set.

We eventually eliminated 1st gear entirely last season and used the standard 'F' gear for starts......a side benefit is 57 mph before shifting. Launching the car requires some
disregard for the driveline. With the latest set-up...lightweight clutch/flywheel and 12 lbs of rotating weight gone from the trans, the launch sequence is rev it to 5K & side step the clutch. This gives 2 nice black streaks 10 inches wide & bout 40 feet long. If you have more power & traction than us'n, this thread is not helpful.

The dyno graph is interesting. In search of quiet (looking for 93db) Brit found torque using a standard 911 airbox with a few mods.

"We eventually eliminated 1st gear entirely last season and used the standard 'F' gear for starts......a side benefit is 57 mph before shifting. Launching the car requires some
disregard for the driveline. With the latest set-up...lightweight clutch/flywheel and 12 lbs of rotating weight gone from the trans, the launch sequence is rev it to 5K & side step the clutch. This gives 2 nice black streaks 10 inches wide & bout 40 feet long. If you have more power & traction than us'n, this thread is not helpful."

OUCH.... The ability to apply Torque would depend on how sticky the tires are. With hard old tires and my mild V8 the one and only time I side slipped the clutch in 2nd at about 3000rpm did in my ring and pinion. The 901 has stood the test of time and all other abuse..... maybe it was just ready?

The tires are 10 inch wide R35 Hoosier slicks. Us'ta light em' up using a 'B' 1st gear for a few years.
The crux of my post is if you keep a 901 in good shape it will last indefinately against more torque that is generally accepted.
Gary Chapman has a WEVO 915 in his 914/6 and loves it....it's in good shape also.
His check writing skills are far superior to mine......it cost the same as 3 maybe 4 tricked out, pick your gears & LSD, 901s. You can abuse a 901 & get away with it, but you can't neglect one and have it live. I think the latter is very common.

Here is my non 914 specific advice.


There is a man on honda-tech, his name is Racer Steve. He heat treats gearsets for us 400-900hp FWD import racer people. Reasonably priced also. I'm sure you can find other sources on the internets too.

His methods and some case braces allow us to run these dinky FWD cast gearboxes for a long time with 26" slicks, and insane power levels behind them. Oh, ARP bolts in key spots help too, between the diff and ring gear.

From the few pictures I have seen of a 901 opened up, a good gearbox with minimal wear should be able to hold a good amount of power and torque reliably, 1st gear aside assuming you guys are right.

My next gearboxes are going to get that treatment along with hand fit hubs, sliders and syncros all tweaked to be smooth.

/ * disclaimer */

I know nothing about 901's yet, just trying to toss some knowledge and ideas out there.

Good to hear that JP, seeing as I have 2 fresh rebuilts sitting here and I'm building one for my bug which is also going to be a 901 with the big type 4.

Man did we seriously hyjack the posters thread or what

No problem!! I appreciate all the feed back and personal experiences. I also forgot that unless you have a 904 mainshaft you cannot change 2nd gear. The previous owner put $8k into the 901 trans in my car. I am curious if it has a 904 main shaft but I doubt it. It does have an aluminum billet plate, limited slip and trans cooler in the trunk. Professionally setup for the track. I should just put up with it and be happy. The $8k included all the labor.

the 916 box I have now shifts like crap. It's old and worn out. Since no one made replacement parts not much you can do about it.

I should have the parts martin makes pretty soon. Once installed I can give ya an idea of how well it works.

Martin seems to really know what he is doing so I have alot of faith this will make the car shift better then new. Having Chris and Ed do the work sure won't hurt either. Fingers crossed.