Has anyone tried using an Alfa33 gearbox? It's a nice and compact unit, not too heavy either. Should make a nice transaxle for a BEC middy I think. It may not be a sequential gearbox, but at least you've got a proper reverse gear..

would seem to me an awful lot of effort to use it, when the bike gearbox is compact, 6 speed, and ready to go. Reverse really is useless with cars so light.

But it's no transaxle gearbox.. perhaps this would be easier to build?

Alfa 33 is not a transaxle either, it's a front wheel drive box.

Pete, I think it is a transaxle, just mounted up the front end, it also has inboard discs certainly in the alfasud guise

The Sud I had was a gearbox not a transaxle. It joined directly to the engine, just not transverse. 33 uses the same setup but without inboard disks and handbrake setup. Alfa 90 and 75 were the last to use transaxles and were rear wheel drive.

Guess people have different ideas of what a transaxle is. I would consider the alfa 33/sud a transaxle, as I would a VW beetle one. I heard you can swop around the ring and pinion in the alfa one too if you need to.
Rob

All the Alfasuds I ever saw were FWD and had transaxles, but maybe there were some specials built.

What's the difference between a gearbox and a transaxle? I thought the transaxle was a remote gearbox connected to the engine by a torque tube or prop shaft? Am I under a misapprehension. I was basing my assumption on the one I had which was a 1.5ti. Here's a bit from my manual.
Rescued attachment alfabox.jpg

as far as i know, a transaxle is simply a gearbox with two outputs, hence including the diff. ie all FWD cars have transaxles. I dont think it matters if they are transverse or longtitudinal.

It definately doesnt have to be remote, as all the FWD audis are described as having a transaxle

I have always understood transaxle to be a contraction of transmission and axle, meaning a transmission combined with a final drive. On that basis it doesn't matter where it's mounted relative to the engine, just that it combines the gearbox and diff. The definition currently on Wikipedia is the same, although Wikipedia is not always a bastion of accuracy

Dominic

Guys - you're missing one fundamental issue which I think Joel has already tried to point out

The bike gearbox is part of the engine. Fitting a transaxle gearbox would give you 2 gearboxes - a bit OTT perhaps

The only value of using a transaxle is you get a free reverse gear.

On the other hand, IIRC, the pell genesis in it's original guise used a bike engine with fwd rover box behind it. To reduce unnecessary weight, All the cogs were removed from the rover box except a single foward gear and reverse.

S

[Edited on 7/8/05 by stevebubs]

TheGeko's definition is what I've always understood a transaxle to be; it's a gearbox with a diff and axles.
The Renault 20, 25 and 30, Citroens etc. etc. are front wheel drive and run a transaxle, yet Porsches, VW Beetles, etc. etc are rear wheel drive and still run a transaxle.
The very last visible line of Pete's manual should be a warning to all those thinking of using an Alfasud box!