Club 80-90 Forums

How can you tell whether you have a 5 speed or a 4 speed gearbox? Is there a code stamped somewhere?
Van was bought as a 5 speed and the housing unit under the gear lever was missing The gear lever it self was a 4 speed stick with a 5 speed knob plonked on it Presuming it to be just the wrong stick fitted I have bought a 5 speed housing but am now getting paranoid about which box is actually fitted and need to check before buying any more 5 speed parts.Pics would be nice
Thanks
Mark

the code is stamped on the box about 4" below the reverse switch housing and a quick check on the various online lists will tell you what it is, but if that's not legible the easy test is to feel the front to the gearbox at the top where the mount bolts on with it's four bolts, if there is a 1 1/2" round protrusion going forward in the cut out in the mount plate it's a five speed, if it's a four speed the end of the case is flat and just the four mounting studs. The gap between the plate and the end of the case is only a few mm on the five speed too, on the four speed it 10mm

Thanks mate,I`ve been outside to have a peep,It seems to be a 5 speed The gap between the case and mount is only a couple of mm.As for the code the only readable bit is "AS126" and its got a protrusion (if I`m looking at the right bit )
did you mean this protrusion?

that's the thing, though actually meant the smaller protrusion between the two top studs
could be aas or as? box, first one is a diesel lsd box, both wheels in the air turn one the other one rotates the same direction, or any of the AS? boxes which have the slightly higher second gear that discourages you from pulling away in second, some of which are also lsd, normal diff turn one wheel the opposite one goes the other way.
only way to be certain what it is is to pull the bellhousing off and find the stamped final drive code on the side of the crown wheel and also check the number of turns of input shaft required to rotate diff in top gear to work out wether it has a .82 or .85 gear in there.
If petrol and original then the bellhousing will tell you wether it was originally fitted to a 2.1 or a 1.9, the offside top lug will have reinforcing pieces in it on a 2.1, 1.9 is bare alloy as the lug isn't used to fit anything to, except on syncros

Thanks a lot mate,at least I know it is a 5 speed now
Cheers