TR2/3/3A Tr3 club Toyota conversion

[prb51]

I've taken some pics of the tranny conversion one of our club members does for the TR3/TR6.
We'll drop the tranny in my 3 Monday.
It's a professional looking deal but done locally using my 4 speed box as the donor for the bell housing, flange, and shifter.
Interestingly the Toyota female coupler is a tight press fit inside of the Tr3 Flange when the tail is cut off, then welded in place (on the inside leaving a 1/4 inch lip), we've already done that and the pics are below.
The bell housing is cut 8" for the Tr3/ 8 1/4" for the TR6 from the exterior lip. You can see how the bolt holes by the clutch shaft area are used for aligning the new housing to tranny face prior to welding. The notches are in place to allow thru bolts that match the Toyota box.
We'll use a stock fork and shaft, friction plate and pressure plate.
The TR3 shifter will be cut and welded to the toyota shifter and inch or so above the box...we will relocate the shifter opening in the cover two inches rearward...it's not that noticeable in the cars I've seen with this conversion but not stock either.
The driveshaft is made rigid with circular collars lke Hermans unit with collars but they are steel rather than alluminum, more mass but stronger.
I'll post more when we do the deed Monday.

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[prb51]

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Man did I mess that up....here's the pics

 

[tdskip]

Interesting - let us know how it drives and any assembly lessons learned.

 

[TR3driver]

We'll use a stock fork and shaft, friction plate and pressure plate.

Stock Triumph or stock Toyota? I was under the impression the Toyota used different splines?

 

[prb51]

Randall,
I believe you're correct on the splines but it is a sachs (SP) friction plate the same size (diam-width) as the stock TR unit and costs a ton less than the replacement Toyota part.
The stock TR3 flywheel is used also.

 

[TR3driver]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[mrv8q]

....here's the pics

 

[prb51]

Ok, the 5 speed Toyota tranny is in and test driven (about an hour and a half at highway seeds on the trip home).
Honestly, I have no idea how I lived without that 5th gear. It really transforms the car.
I smoked a Miata that tried to catch me/pass me for about 40 miles. When he caught me at a traffic light (stopped) that fed onto a 65 mph state road he thought he had me but the quick shifting 5 speed and low end torgue of the TR3 just kept ahead of him and the legs of the 5 speed had me about a 1/4 mile ahead until I backed off. Way cool.
It took us about a morning to do the pull and the drop in. Everything was rather straight forward, we had to mess with dif size (length) pilot bearings because my crank thrust is .004 (new thrust bearings)and the Toyota shaft has a conical tip rather than flat as in the original....I don't know how the other 'kits' deal with that.
Turns out is was time for a new clutch anyways but the clutch housing was fine and the PO had the flywheel turned so it was a drop in without parts.
Here's the pics.
We did not have a 'kit' for the shifter so we cut the Toyota shifter about 1 1/2 " up and put a collar on it and welded the top portion of my shifter on. We also made a 1/4 " circular cut on the bottom 1/3 of the tranny cover so I could use the stock rubber shifter boot
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Of interest I guess.... in the third photo you can see the collar (steel not alloy) that secures the shaft from moving (the flex is now at the tranny output).
The angle drive is an MG unit modified with a Toyota tip into the housing and the stock non OD cable into the other end.
The rear mount is the Toyota mount cut in half with a metal plate over urethane.
The mount was mounted on the tranny and the urathane/metal piece bolted in place and the unit welded in place in the car. When the urethane wears out just unbolt and replace the urethane...no clearance problems.

Anyone with the Toyota 5 speed know what 3000 rpm in 5th gear is approx? How does one convert the rpm to speed with the new (really unknown as box markings don't ID one of the 4 ratios available) gearing?

 

[mrv8q]

Here's the pics.

Of interest I guess.... in the third photo you can see the collar (steel not alloy) that secures the shaft from moving (the flex is now at the tranny output).
The angle drive is an MG unit modified with a Toyota tip into the housing and the stock non OD cable into the other end.
The rear mount is the Toyota mount cut in half with a metal plate over urethane.
The mount was mounted on the tranny and the urathane/metal piece bolted in place and the unit welded in place in the car. When the urethane wears out just unbolt and replace the urethane...no clearance problems.

Anyone with the Toyota 5 speed know what 3000 rpm in 5th gear is approx? How does one convert the rpm to speed with the new (really unknown as box markings don't ID one of the 4 ratios available) gearing? [/quote]

 

[prb51]

Thanks Kevin,
The last pic didn't post above and shows the MG angle drive and welded/bolted rear tranny support.

 

[mrv8q]

The last pic didn't post above and shows the MG angle drive and welded/bolted rear tranny support.

Let's try this....

 

[billspit]

Who do you get to cut the plate?

Are the bell housings aluminum? and is the plate too? Sorry I have Spitfires.

Is this the Celica or Supra transmission?

 

[PeterK]

With my Supra HVDA, 5th gear 70mph=2700rpm, 60mph=2300rpm.

 

[prb51]

The plate is provided by the designer (Bill) and is fabricated in a local shop to his specs. He also cut the TR3 bell housing at the appropriate length with the needed notches. You need to sacrifice a TR3 tranny but now that I've driven this I'd sacrifice one a day.
The notches allow bolt run in to the plate.
The two guide bolts align the plate to the housing for welding and this is done by a local machinest at his shop.
Bill runs his TR3 tranny with half of the bolts absent to test for strength/weakness and no issues so far. Quite a few local guys have his kit in their 3's.
We dropped mine in and I drove it 100+ miles @ 80 plus mph no sweat.
The Celica/Supra trannies are externelly exactly alike as are all manual 82/85 Toyota trannies. You'd have to do an rpm test to tell which ratio you have.
I don't think it matters with the TR3 torque...mine feels as if it werre designed for the TR3 power curve.
Thanks Pete, I've gotta get the wife to drive ahead of me to figure some reference points...

 

[PeterK]

Kevin,

I just figured out that is a magnet (less hook) on the bottom of your oil pan near the drain (in the previous picture). Nice idea.

BTW, I verified my speedo with a chase car and 2-way radios. But we only spot check a few speeds + - accuracy.

-PK

 

[prb51]

Peter,
I remove the magnet when draining once the oil flow has begun. It was sitting around so why buy a mag plug.
I'm going to verify my speed in the same manner, although a friend said that tom tom and other GPS will indicate speed in certain programs, that might be interesting.

Pat (Kevin opened and posted my pics)

 

[BobbyD]

PeterK.....what's your diff ratio? When I did my HVDA conversion I also did the Nissan diff and went with a 4.08 for more "grunt". At 3000 rpm in 5th gear I'm going 67 mph. Still way better then 60 mph that I was doing with the 4 speed and 3000 rpm.

 

[kodanja]

my Ford “Type 9” 5 speed,

1st = 3.36, 2nd = 1.81, 3rd = 1.26, 4th = 1.0, and 5th = .825

5th @ 3k = 65mph...


Not as much winding on the highway as I had with the stock 4sp.

 

[PeterK]

PeterK.....what's your diff ratio? When I did my HVDA conversion I also did the Nissan diff and went with a 4.08 for more "grunt". At 3000 rpm in 5th gear I'm going 67 mph. Still way better then 60 mph that I was doing with the 4 speed and 3000 rpm.

I never counted but figured that it's 3.7::1 standard.

 

[Fastguy1955]

Hello PB51,


New member coming out of lurker mode... I'm in Michigan, how could I get contact info for this guy(shop?) so that I can get one of these setups? I'm staring a resto-mod on a 1960 Tr3a.


Mark