I have a gearbox here that has a cracked bell housing, how easy/hard is it to replace the bell housing?

Hi James. Yes, if you are regularly going to be pulling heavy loads (relative to a 2CV, of course), then a lower ratio 'box might make sense. It'll give you more pulling power in each gear including top, although this will be at the expense of ultimate top speed - if you floor your car, it'll get up to it's max speed more quickly, but this 'max' will be limited by the screaming engine.

A higher-ratio 'box will, in theory, give more relaxed cruising with the engine revving more slowly for each gear. However, top gear 'pull' will undoubtedly be affected, and you'll likely find yourself losing speed more easily with hills, headwinds, etc. necessitating more gear changing.

Now, a high-ratio 'box with a tuned engine...

well one day i may look into a high ratio box, got standard on atm,

i dont want a high ratio box to go faster, just to be able to cruise at the top end speeds with less revs, as i get to about 65mph and feels like the spark plugs are going to start dancing on the bonnet at any second, i got my car up to 70 once, admitadly down a small incline, but engine sounded so loud etc thought i would ease off and drop back to 60, i dont tend to drive any faster than that, even down the scary a3, (scary for me in a 2cv) as i went down it about a week after i passed my test eek !!

well i dont have a hitch on my car, i want a hitch, could i make my own bracket up or do i buy one, whats the best option on that one?
how does the standard box pull weight wise?

To be honest, James, the standard engine and 'box are pretty optimally matched. If you were to change the 'box for a higher ratio type - enough to make a noticeable improvement in cruising comfort - then I think the loss of power you'd also get in top gear would soon become your new headache.

Just think of how much your car currently slows down going up even gentle-ish inclines on the A3 at the moment. And then think of how much worse that would be...

(Unless you fit over-bored barrels and pistons, of course. Or a high compression head...)


(Or both )

you are completly right

forgot about hill struggles

went up good wood hill the other day,too a huge run at 50 at it, after about 100 yards was in 2nd doing about 25mph still struggeling,

and meant to mention, ive been thinking this for a while, although its proabbly not possible, how amazing would a 5th gear be in a standard box ?!

If it were a genuine 'extra' gear, the same situation would apply - you'd be changing back down to 4th every time you approached a 1:100 slope...

Mind you, with a tail wind and a downward hill...

Give Peter Weber Switzerland a call if you want a 5th gear.

AFAIK, there is/was a Swiss chap called Eugene Weber who built 5-speed gearboxes using the standard 2cv 'box casing. He would custom build them using the ratios that the customer specified.