EVERYTHING WRONG with the RX8 gearbox conversion in my Mk1 Escort! 🤔 

As you have the engine and spare gearbox, and there is plenty of inspection holes in the bell housing, trial fit the box onto the engine without the clutch and that way you could look into the input shaft through on of the holes to see how it sits in the bearing in the flywheel, as you would be able to see how much of the input shaft actually sits within the bearing, or isn’t as the case maybe, and while the box and engine are bolted up out of the car you could inspect the fitment between the adapter plate and bell housing from the inside of the housing and externally ?

All good, and very methodically thought through Marcus..... lets hope your problems are sorted 👍

Ah yeah, I'd definitely grab some MH hot wheels 🤔🤣 Glad you had a good birthday 👍

Thank you Marcus for your sharing of this video. Cheers

you dont need an expert to tell you why you are killing clutches ha ha ha - Great Video as always ! happy Belated Birthday Fella ,

Happy birthday Geezer

Lots of good analysis. Spigot offset seems mist likely and combined with a bit of misalignment. Need to make sure non of studs protrude or it won't tighten up properly - put a steel ruler across. Like the comment from other poster about the plate being a bit thin round the bottom - hard to understand without being able to see the whole thing - have a look at that and ask Jonathan. Perhaps have a go with what you have then think about improving the plate design with Jon. Release bearing plan sounds good. Look forward to seeing how these challenges all turns out, and the next video. Enjoy! . . . and more importantly - Happy Birthday!

Happy belated Birthday Marcus, been following you for a while mate. Good Man!. Loving your Videos Pal. 😃 💯 👍

Happy Birthday, mate!!

Sounds like great customer service I’ve been thinking of getting one from there for a while now and now my mind is made up thanks for the recommendation

Idea to check the engagement of the input shaft in the input bearing: Bolt/mount the gearbox up but with the grease still packed in the bearing, flush with it's face. When you remove the gearbox check how much grease has moved. Also, I think i'd rather "caress" the sump with a soft mallet than grind it. Ally is pretty soft, should get you a few mil clearance without cracking. Happy birthday M8

Just shows how a number of very minor things can add up to a more serious problem. The Perfect Storm I suppose. Great video by the way. Very informative and extremely well explained 👍👍👍

Happy birthday digger fix all the things you said ya bi right mate.!

Best of luck Marcus

happy birthday Marcus.

Happy belated birthday Marcus

Happy belated birthday mate

Hello mate, massive fan of the channel, keep up the honest, funny and informative work😁 Can i ask, what year mazda rx8 did your box come from?

Would it work,if so would be a lot easier to shorten the slave cylinder push rod,to get some play

Happy belated birthday ,, for your clutch release arm adjustment you could just shorten the pushrod on the slave cylinder or slot the slave cylinder mounting holes so you can slide it away from the release arm to adjust the tension on the thrust bearing

adjustable rod from the slave cylinder to the fork arm just like they had with the mk1 mexico cortina most of the early fords was like this thinking about this most early hydrolic clutch systems had them to set them up right.

@marcus hayes thanks a lot for mention :)

Happy birthday mate, welcome to the 38 club, two years and we both hit the 40 mark

Happy Belated Birthday mate 🎉👍 a good few things to be trying there, hopefully you'll get it sorted!! As other comments could you not weld the lower dowel to the plate? Also try a wooden dowel to pop the bearing out, that's the same method we use 👍

Happy birthday bud,all the best! Great work 👍

I would be interested in buying them

I'd say that the plate isn't flat on the block. Reason being is how much it bends out at the bottom unless its al bolted down. It suggests its being pushed out.

How did you overcome speedometer on the rx8 gearbox?

We always used a bit oak shaved down to spigot bearings diameter as a punch caused no damage and easy to get out. Happy Birthday and will you need a adapter fitting for zimmer frame.HaHa

Hello Marcus. I fitted an rx8 box to my escort and I was told I had to machine 15mm of the gearbox bellhousing to make sure the input shaft was will engaged correctly and for clutch to have the correct pressure. It might help you

Happy Birthday mate! 👍😎

You’ll get there mate , every day is a school day 👍👌

Wishing you a very happy belated Birthday Marcus 🎶🎊 (Danny lon 89)

Really seems lots of hassle,why not go type 9,are there real benefits from using the Mazda gearbox

Why not just make the slave arm post adjustable and leave it? Take the current post out & drill and tap with a lock nut - assuming you don’t need to machine the casting to make clearance.

Happy belated birthday 🎉mate , the hot wheels would be a great idea to do for sure , I just got the boulevard rs1800 mk2 and the zebra striped escort cossie , I got them imported from Thailand from Gavin squint and it’s mint

Happy birthday mate, get yourself an old input shaft to get spigot bearing out,you can also use it to line your clutch up when refitting, nnever failed me yet

Happy birthday Marcus sorry for the lateness ....

Hi Marcos , with the changes in the ULEZ regulations for London coming in to force next month will you be getting a ULEZ compliant car for day to day use ?

Do the hotwheels

7:30 RX8 Gearbox

It's great to find things out about the gearbox and on ur backplate. Could you weld that dowl near the sump on to the back plate so it does not push against the sump? When bolting the gearbox to the engine.

Happy Belated Birthday Fella 🍺🍺

You have to turbo one of you escorts

Happy birthday to you

Happy belated birthday 🎉🎉🎉

Happy birthday young fella, 30 year's ago I was working on my mark 1escort but it was a 13 hundred but changed carbys and exsort's and put a hot cam in it was ok for a bit and mag wheels on it , but now been working on my Rav4 it's been a pain because of not checking parts properly I got the wrong part's for the transmission but it was ok what I looked at , then I was waiting for new engine mounts but the delivery company lost them , lucky I got my money back but will still get new one's later as just want it back on the road, just wished I didn't start with it and spent the money on a mark 2 escort as I can fix those faster than the rav4 but that's life with car's, and hopefully will start saving for later project's for the future??

Hi mate. When you've got all your new Bits on. Do some measurements to make sure that the input shaft is sitting perfectly in the spigot Bearing. Don't Guess it. Socket & short Extension is also good for Removing spigot Bearing. Love the Videos.

Hi Marcus, my backplate is thicker than yours and I welded the threaded dowls . Mine fouled the sump, I took some of sump off for clearance. Centrifugal slave cylinder is a good idea as well.

Belated birthday Marcus

You should be able to change the input shaft bearing when you're sorting the clutch arm pivot. Should be behind that bolt on cover I think. Happy Birthday from one Gemini to another ♊😁

Hi Marcus, belated happy Birthday ! The two counter sunk Allen screws near the head which have caused splitting of the adapter plate probably have a different shoulder angle to the angles machined in the plate, so when the Allen screws are tightened they cause a wedge jacking effect which cracks the plate relieving the imparted stress.. This can be checked by removing the plate thoroughly cleaning the screw holes and the screws,, apply engineers blue to the screw shoulders ( very light smear) fit in the holes and rotate by hand. a full smear of blue should be seen in the plate counter sunk holes. Your precision Engineering work shop could check and rectify as needed. Put a straight edge across the bell housing, then measure how much above the line of the straight edge the input shaft stands proud , I suspect that the input shaft spigot bearing shoulder is too proud and pushing the spigot bearing into the crank shaft, if too long it will be loading not only the gear box input shaft bearing but also the crank shaft thrust bearing hence its importance, fit the new spigot support bearing slightly sticking out from the crank shaft and bolt up the gear box, if the spigot bearing is pushed hard in after gear box removal, suggest you contact the adapter plate manufacturer for further advice ! The 4 paddle clutch plate centre is mullered because it has no springs to absorb shock loadings, the splines are softer than the gear box input shaft splines so are wearing to the point of slipping. The transmission shocks usually absorbed by the clutch will manifest as above and premature failure of the gear box teeth then the differential and the half shafts. Welded differentials do the same thing from the other end ! Regards from another Marcus

Just buy a BGH semi helical. Rx8 box is a faff, heavy, too low a first gear and way more transmission loss due to larger gear drag.

Definitely be interested in the hot wheels of Maude 👍 hit me up when they are available

Check Haynes manual the Ford original ones fit exactly get the Ford bolts try burton power

if RX8 gear boxes are getting more rare, could you try rwd gearboxes from 350Z, S2000 or MX5?

Happy birthday you old git🎉

Maude for me please , love that car

That plate is way too thin and running without the gearbox dowels is definitely causing the spline problems and wrecking the whole clutch, obviously way too much flex between the engine and gearbox, no wonder the spigot bearing is Knackered and input shaft has way too much twisting loads on the gearbox input shaft 😢

Y don't you use bmw e36 gear box 328 one is bullet proof

Hi Marcus and your beautiful girlfriend Cat 🐈‍⬛, i really enjoy watching your videos, they are very entertaining and interesting 🤔 😊

Appy burfdee

The reason you killing clutch you drive like you stole it and being chased by police

A marcus am doing a ztec focus engin with a rx8 box.a bud what did you did for flywheel and clutch and preasure plate .and your mazda box mount.and that adapter plate.hit me up with that info .please and thanks.

You need a hybrid release bearing use the rx8 carier and a type 9 brearing ive just done it today

7:10 the clickbait stops