The Cal-look Lounge

Hello,
My good friend recently passed away. He left a nice cal-look topchop beetle with unfinished 5 speed gearbox that was introduced here on the forum long time ago. As we were good friends,  I have been asked to help in finishing his car from point where he stopped.

Problem is that when you floor the gas pedal, gearbox pops out from gear.
In case you were wondering, engine is a 2332cc mill with CB wedge port heads, Weber 48 IDF's, FK-89 cam, 12:1 compression and Fat Boy exhaust - it produces about 200-210hp.

This month is exactly twenty years since I saw review of Greg Brinton's '67 bug with Berg 5 speed conversion and 217hp engine (Volksworld), so I wanted to ask what options do I have in terms of gearbox choice and longevity for supporting that amount of power (only for street use)?
Original idea was Berg 5 speed with close ratio for the first four gears and fifth as an overdirve (probably 3,88 R&P) with ZF LSD in a swing axle car. All parts have been sourced in USA.
I'm located in Croatia, and have access to all European webshops and parts dealers, and of course - USA webshops.
Can you recommend someone who can build / rebuild this gearbox in Europe, or give me building tips ?
I know about Cogbox and Bears Motorsports in UK, but maybe there is someone closer (Germany, Austria, France) who can do it or who can help?


Car in question:

(http://i34.tinypic.com/aypv01.jpg)


Best regards to all,
Doc

Hello Doc,

I am sure that Didi Wildhaber from Switzerland will be able to help. He is on the Lounge too with the the nickname "Didi".

Bye,

Tobi

Thnx Tobi, will try that !  :)

Mexx in Vienna also may be able to help
where are you located in Croatia (because i have a house near Zadar)?

I live in Istria (city of Porec), and originaly I'm from Zagreb.
Red topchop is also in Zagreb, but this is not a problem since I travel very often from Porec to Zagreb (sometimes with my Bug).  :)

if you want i can ask Mexx if he would do it

Thnx, I will pm you later about that, I have to meet other people involved in this project before I make a move...  ;)

Before you tear it all apart, make sure the gearbox isn't moving around when under load.  If it has rubber mounts, check to see if they are torn.  Does the rear of the engine have some kind of support?

Hi Bruce, thank you for your input,

Gearbox is already teared apart by the ex-owner himself, so nothing to do about it, I have it in parts.
From my knowledge about setup on the topchop, I can tell for sure that gearbox has additional support with mid mount, mounts are red urethane instead of rubber and there is also a HD transmission mount like this: https://www.csp-shop.com/en/transmission/transmission-mount-heavy-duty-301-255-111hd-15740a.html

Regards,
Leo