Hi guys,

I have aquired a 1600 kombi gearbox for the baja and i have been told it's a commercial one, out of a ute or panel van i guess and it's supposedly stronger than the other 1600 boxes? It seems to have different side plates, they look stronger than the ones on my other 1600 box.... Just wondering if there is any difference between it and any other 1600 kombi box? ratios etc?

Cheers
Mick.

Get a picture.
The very early ones had a series of bolts retaining the side bearings and had a few design issues that mean avoid!

Later ones were better,
but the last ones had stronger 1st gear,
factory welded hubs on 3rd and 4th,(like 1800s),
and coarser tooth crownwheel and peanut...count the teeth to ID it as 38 crown wheel teeth and 7 on the pinion.
(most 1600s had 43 and 8 teeth).

What ever you have ended up with , even the early bogus ones,
are still stronger than any bug box...unless it is worn out of course....1968 means it is 42 years old!

yeah, it's the one with the crown nuts.... It was the cleanest one in the pile of 6 that he had so i grabbed it. he said if it don't work just come back and grab another one. what were the issues? and will they affect me with my application? i'm only throwing about 70hp at it with 31" tyres? also can i change the bell housing over to my later one so i can use the new throwout bearing i already have?

thanks again
Mick.

Yes, later bell bolts straight on.

No real problems except the pinion bearing is retained with a big circlip.(instead of a nut)
I does the job no worries...even with your power.

They are more a pain when it comes time for a rebuild because some of the parts are obselete.
Later ones with screw incovers make it easy to set the diff where-as yours uses shims.

Oh,...perhaps remove the nose cone while the box is out,
and replace the plastic shift ball.
You can get steel or brass ones...most volksy shops have them and a gasket.

ok, thanks dave...You had me a bit worried there i thought i'd bought a dud! will see how it goes.

thanks,
Mick.