Reynard 90-H question

[gtwiss]

My Reynard 90-H gearbox contains "FT-3" Hewland internals. I know the car uses
MK-5 gears, however, am unsure about the 1st gear which is integral to the (pinion) shaft.
If I want to go shorter or longer for the 1st, what is compatible?.....FT200, or ???

Thank you in advance for any advice, input.

Best Regards,
Guil

[Charles Warner]

The 89/90-h Reynards use a variant of the F3A Hewland box. Proprietary case (I have a spare going cheap) using an F3A CWP and an F3A first gear. The rest of the gears are Hewland Mark 5 but the first gear is unique. The CWP is the same as the NST CWP but again, the first gear is unique. Used in Europe in the F3 cars. Not unavailable. TRE can get them for you but you'll have a hard time finding any for sale in the US on the open market. They can be sourced in the UK

Let me know if there are other questions.

[gtwiss]

Thank you for the reply and precise description of my gearbox(and predicament it seems).

Oh, and yes, that is "F3A" internals, my mistake.

Kind Regards,
Guil

[Charles Warner]

Guil,

Not sure what the "predicament" is . . . these are available. My suggestion is, depending on the tracks you frequent, you gear the car to avoid using first gear. There may be some tracks where that is not possible but, for the most part, you can do this. Then, first gear is only a paddock gear and used to get thge car off the grid. If you do need alternate first gear ratios you can call Andrew Britton,, Mark Bailey, or any of the UK based Hewland stocksts if you don't want to use TRE. You might be able to find a used unit over here. It's a good idea to have at least one spare ratio set.

[kala]

Hi Guil and Charles

Guil - Linda still has 3 or 4 1st gear sets at Shrimp and Peas Fabrication for the F3A. Charles is right about not really wanting to use 1st in a 90-H the only place we found it necessary was NHIS but it also depends on the speed of the rolling start, if you can be on the power in 2nd for a start you will be much happier with that car but you probably have to put it on pole to do that. Taylor has been a real help over the years getting parts for that box for us, but your box has all new bearings and pieces except for the gears you should be OK for this season.
Regards
Shelton