I've been thinking about getting a fiat 850. I like the look of it but I'm not stoked about it being four speed and it has a CCW engine
Would the Porsche 914 transmission I've got in my shop, be strong in reverse? rotating the engine 180 degrees so it's reverse facing and putting a CCW engine on it.

thanks,
Quentin

Running the 901 (aka 914) transmission input shaft backwards reverses the thrust loads on all of the shafts due to the bevel cut gears. That reduces the life of the transmission because those surfaces were never designed to be thrust bearings.

That's why they made reverse rotation cams for the corvair engines they installed in dune buggies. The VW transmission needed the input shaft turning the correct direction.

I know nothing about the FIAT. What Clay says is true, but if the FIAT is a light car, it will be less of an issue. Still far from the optimal design, though.

it is a light car ~1600 lbs. one of it's major laments is that the engine is CCW so one must get a new trans to put anything else in. VW or Porsche 915.
is it possible to flip over the differential in the 901 tranny to make it rear engine-able for a CW engine?
thanks

Possible, yes, but all gears and r/p will. Be turning with forces on the wrong side of the gear faces. Not an issue in higher gears, but for the r/p and the low gears it is a lot of strain.

However, 901 boxes are fairly cheap so you may not care about longevity.

My dad bought a 1971 850 new, paid 2100$ for it. Two years later the transaxle had issues and it cost 750$ to repair. Fun car, no rust protection, when I was installing a rollbar found some italian sandwich bags and rubber cement containers left under the rear package ledge. :lol4

I do recall the trans being a very quick, short throw application.

Quick? Short throw? Whazzat?

What that is is a possibility with a well built 901 with a short shift kit

Short shift as in close gear ratios?
R/P?
and was that a yes on differential reversability to replace the rearward CCW engine with a CW engine

running on the coast side of the ring and pinion is bad too. never designed to run under power that way. that is the weak side of the gears.

i have a chunked front set of diff gears from my jeep to prove that pulling another rig in reverse is bad juju for ring and pinions.

If the engine can be mounted transverse, check into Honda transaxles. Up through the early 90s at least their engines also turned "backwards".

I don't know of any longitudinal-mounted Hondas that have that same reverse rotation.

--DD