Gearbox and Bellhousing

[Neil Jones]

Hi
I'm about to replace the gearbox in my S3.  The new gearbox I've got has got the clutch slave on the drivers side of the bellhousing, whereas the gearbox thats in the Landy at the moment has the clutch cylinder on the passenger side.

So my questions are...
Is the gearbox itself the same?
Can I just change the bellhousing across to fit?
and how tough is that job?

Thanks

[ian_s]

can you get photos of the new one? its sounds a tad weird to me

[dave_2A_2.25Turbo]

What engine is it?

[lrmike]

Clutch slave on drivers side (UK) is a series 2 / 2A unit, the slave on the passenger side (UK) is a series 3 unit.  Unfortunately, the slave itself and the release mechanisms are entirely difefrent, plus most (if not all? ) of the series 2 / 2A were non-syncromeshed 1-2, whereas the series 3 were fully syncro.  Never tried switching the bellhousing, but it may work??  Check the input shafts to be sure they are the same, that would be an important difference.

[Canada Al]

you can swop the bell housings around , its not difficult . I mean , it depends on your experience . I did it . SIII box onto SIIa bell housing into SIIa FC .

[Neil Jones]

Ok
Canada Al.  I have been looking at wheter a change can be done, the book that I've found talks about swapping a S3 Gearbox to a S2/2a bellhousing, it mentions that the oil seal on the back of the bellhousing is a different arrnagement.

It appears that the way to get around it is to change the first motion shaft and primary gear from the S3 box.  The problem being is that chances are those are the gears that I broke and until I go for the swap (as I dont have a garage or anything) I can't check (also time is an issue).

Did you have any problems with the oil seal?  Is there any more advice you can give?  Thanks

[Canada Al]

Its been a while so bear with me . The bell housing fits on the same four bolts into the main box . the input shaft is the same size I think . if not then you need to use the SII input shaft so the oil seal will fit . I seem to remember its the same size though .  I think all i did was to fit the SIII bellhousing onto the SII box . I dont remember having any problem with the input shaft , but I did have to muck around with the clutch mechanism . in the SIII its a  black plastic thing and in the SII its a small casting . I think this casting may hold the seal that you mentioned . I do remember it as being a straight forward job  .
My advise when doing any series landrover box is to remove it from underneath . carefully cut out the gearbox cross member and weld it back after . Or fix the ends and weld brackets onto the chassis and bolt it in place ( just like the military 109's ) . Doing it this way means you dont have to remove the seat box and it come out easy next time . cos there will be a next time .....oh yes I guarentee it .....I've don so many i've lost count ..... Good luck . Let me know if you have any other questions or you don't understand me ramblings .....Al

[Neil Jones]

Thanks for your help.  I'm not sure about it, so I've sourced an S3 box, which I'm about to collect.  Will be advertising the 2a box on here later!!