The 'E' Type Forum

For the Aussie Members.

My E-type has a home made V12 conversion that was done about 20 years ago. It is a 5 speed Getrag out of a 96/97 VS Commodore V8 SS - the box was new and sold by HSV as a result of that company converting Commodores to their specification.

The conversion has a home made 10mm steel adaptor plate, the flywheel is Chev mounted via a 1" spacer and has the Commodore clutch with standard Commodore hydraulics and master/slave. The clutch pedal is straight commodore mounted on the standard pedal box and works fine. I have the gear lever coming out the correct spot.

The conversion works OK but has not been used much and I doubt its long term reliability, particularly at higher revs due to the flywheel spaver.

So I want to pull this out and replace. Now if in the UK or USA it is pretty straight forward as a few options are available.

Here in Aust is a T5 based kit for the 6 cylinder but probably works ok in a 12 - it is very expensive but I know who actually makes the box for the seller.

So options would seem to be to go to Dellow and get a V12 housing, flywheel and clutch etc also from them - but what gearbox?

Mal Woods Transmissions put together the T5 boxes for the above Jag kit. He is happy to do me a T5 with the right extension housing and gear lever in the correct position. He is also happy to do a T56 Six Speed but that is getting into unknown territory.

Simon (vee12eman) has a Getrag 265 in his but I know very little about this conversion here in Australia - other than Simon's very informative post - I am not sure where to source components for that conversion and Dellow do not list a bellhousing - from Simon's and other posts on here there does seem to be a bell housing available (Jag?) but probably not here in Aust unless I can source a V12 Getrag 265 locally.

The other obvious gearbox is the Supra W58 box which Andrew (Abowie) has in his XJS. Now Dellow does not have a listing for a bellhousing for that box but there does seem to be something out there that suits - just have not found it. I am waiting for Dellow to call back to clarify. I have talked with Bill (angelw) about this box and he says it works well but still not sure on the bellhousing.

So they are the Aussie options as I see it - I am leaning towards taking my engine with current Commodore gearbox attached up to Mal Woods and getting him to fit a T5 (would love a T56 but that is into too much unknown territory) - he has his own rear extension and the gear lever in place. Through discussion about T5 based kits on this forum I am happy with the T5 but know very little about the Supra and know nothing about getting a Getrag 265 box here.

Yes there are other options like buying a kit from UK/USA but they are not the topic of discussion in this thread. They are expensive landed here and due to distance are hard to get followup support if there are issues - so prefer to source locally so please no discussion like " why not just buy from the UK?" - I know that option but not local options.

So - to the Aussies - what are our options here in Aust.

Thanks

Garry

Garry Wrote:

The other obvious gearbox is the Supra W58 box which Andrew (Abowie) has in his XJS. Now Dellow does not have a listing for a bellhousing for that box but there does seem to be something out there that suits - just have not found it. I am waiting for Dellow to call back to clarify. I have talked with Bill (angelw) about this box and he says it works well but still not sure on the bellhousing.

Hello Garry,
I have a Supra W58 with a Dellow's Bell Housing. Dellow used to supply Supra Gearboxes, but the last time I spoke to them (a few years ago), I was told the supply had just about been exhausted and I believe they swapped more to Ford Falcon gearboxes. Given that they once supplied a Bell Housing for the V12/Supra combination, they may be able to be talked into making one (or more).

If they won't go the whole way and machine just one, if they will supply a blank casting to you, I have a program for the Bell Housing to Engine and Supra Gearbox to Bell Housing bolt pattern; accordingly, I can machine it for you.

Regards,

Bill

Thanks Bill - remember we discussed the Supra box a while back and I still have supra boxes in my ebay favourites. There is a guy in Sydney (Windsor I think) who does W boxes and is a reasonable price.

Dellows gave me a call back and yes they do a bell housing for the Supra W series gearboxes (all W boxes are the same box but the different numbers annotate different ratios - the W58 box is the one for a V12). I asked Dellows (the guy I spoke to said he has worked there for 55 years) about blank bell housings and they do not do them.

I have been googling Jag Getrag 265 gearboxes (site:au) this afternoon but nothing came up - the search did refer me to the Commodore 5 speed I have in now but while it is of the the same class of box, the 240/265 I am not sure what one I have - it was marginal with the original 5 litre V8 so my guess it is a 240 as it is different to the pics of the Getrag 265.

So the decision is what gearbox - given the lack of Jag 265s in Aust that option is not a good one - so a Tremec T5 or the Supra W58 is the decision to be made.

Cheers

Garry

PS - I need to come down to Ballarat sometime and have a look around

https://dellowconversions.com.au/?s=jag ... mit=Search[/url]

I have a T5 box in a 3.8E type and it's nice. I haven't driven the XJS much, but that box too (W58) is nice to use.

If I were thinking about a V12 E I'd probably go with one of the Ford boxes; T5/T56/TKO600. They're likely to be more available here I think.

Obviously it would depend on whether the gearbox actually fits in the car....

Thanks Andrew - I would like to go a 6 speed T56 but without having one to do test fits and without a short rear extension housing it will be all too hard for me. I know the T5 goes in and has a short rear extension and the gear lever is in the correct position so it is the obvious choice.

I also know the W58 goes well behind the V12 but I do not know of one in an etype. Again test fitting would be needed and that is hard without a W box in hand.

Cheers

Garry

Garry Wrote:

I also know the W58 goes well behind the V12 but I do not know of one in an etype. Again test fitting would be needed and that is hard without a W box in hand.

Hello Garry,
I can lend you one if that helps.

Regards,

Bill

Thanks Bill - I will keep that in mind.

Garry

Garry, I’m an “if not broke don’t fix” sort of person. if it was properly done (balanced, spigoted, etc.) yr existing Getrag should have no reliability problems?
My understanding: Commodores had Getrag 260’s with GM bellhousing & different appearance. Ratios believed to be:
Getrag 260 and 265’s: 3.83/2.2/1.4/1/0.81 (265’s used in 3.6L XJS’s a bit higher.)
Supra W58: 3.28/1.89/1.27/1/.78
T5 ratio’s: 2.95/1.94/1.34/1/.73 or .63 or .8
Imo Getrag and Supra 1st gears would be tediously low for V12, particularly with 3.31 diff? Supra marginally better than Getrag but not enough to justify the change-over cost?
Imo changing from Getrag to Supra would not increase the value of an e-type. But changing back to Jaguar (4 speed + 2.88 diff) should imo: increase value, be less expensive to implement and be much nicer to drive. By the numbers v12 torque + 2.88 diff seems to really be the sweet spot …

Hi Colin - I agree if done correctly the Holden Getrag 260 would be good enough but the conversion was home made and in my opinion not good enough but understandable when it was done well over 20 years ago. eg the bell housing is too long and required the flywheel to be spaced out and the chev flywheel does not have the same number of holes as the jag flywheel (about half but they line up with the jag flange holes) - simply I dont have confidence in it.

I have a 3.07 diff which is well suited to a T5 - so decision is whether to buy one of Spitiri's T5 Kits for about $10K or take the engine etc up to Qld and get Mal Woods (he provides the gearbox and rear housing to Spitiri) to fit a T5 for me - price unknown.

I agree with the first gear ratio comments ref the Getrag 265 and Supra but doesnt seem to worry owners.

Cheers

Garry