Transmission fail

[Phillip Wendt]

Well, i was driving today and to make a long story short, my friend which wanted to try my car, got the stupid idea of wanting to make a burnout in the car. Before i knew it he reved up to 4000 rpm and popped the clutch, this resulted in a horrible crunch sound and now the car is acting very wired in first gear. It seems like that the first gear isnt working anymore.

My questions are:

Where can i get the car fixed - Either People from the club or A Garage ? (near kopenhagen,fyn jylland)

@Hans - You Told me you had the original  engine and box, does it work and what would you be charging me to buy it of you?

- How much are we looking at For at new gearbox for this type car + THE GEARBOX is leeking oil? !!!

[andyowl]

What a "Crazy" friend! Find a new friend with more mechanical sympathy!

I purchased an official Talbot reconditioned gearbox for a Bagheera for around 200Euro 6 years ago but this was in the UK.  I drove it today for the first time!

I would suggest you find a specialist gearbox repair company and get your existing box repaired. Parts should still be available as many thousands were made by Simca, Talbot and Peugeot.

I have just asked my local gearbox specialist to rebuild a Bagheera 'box which has at least one damaged bearing and poor synchromesh. I will report back to the forum when the work has been done. They do not expect any problems with getting parts.

Andy Owler

[Phillip Wendt]

Thank you.. yeah what a friend! But im thinking about if it might be cheaper, easier and better just to change out the whole powertplant from a-z and then install it. Since the old one is running poorly. And by the way, where can you pick up a racing camshaft? Polytecnical ?

[andyowl]

Changing the whole unit is a good idea if you are confident that the unit(s) being fitted are in good condition.

My competition Bagheera differential failed (broke in two parts) and I decided to fit a combined gearbox and diff that I had in my store. BIG MISTAKE! I assumed they were OK but I could not remember where I had got the unit from. Maybe from the car we had scrapped because of too much rust, or perhaps one I purchased with many other Matra spares 15 years ago. Who knows? Bagheeras are not scrapped because the gearbox is faulty are they? Always corrosion is the problem.

After all the trouble of fitting and re-assembly I drove it down the road for the first time. The synchromesh was terrible and there were grinding noises from somewwhere at  the rear. Heart-breaking!

I removed them again and took them to the gearbox hospital. They found at least one bearing in the gearbox had failed, the synchro rings were very worn and there were no shims to stop the primary shaft moving backwards and forwards. The diff was found to be OK but I was not experienced enough to be certain. If I had asked them to check the condition of the units BEFORE I fitted them, (around 120Euro) I could have saved myself so many hours of labour. To save time I have now fitted a reconditioned gearbox and used the diff they had checked. They worked OK the first time!

Unless you are an expert (and I think you said you were not expert) I think it is worth paying an expert to check it for you. If he gets it wrong you can always take him to the court! Then you can put in the labour knowing it should be OK for many years.

Andy Owler

[Spyros]

And by the way, where can you pick up a racing camshaft? Polytecnical ?

I'd ask the Cat.

$$$ but 7 different profiles

[Anders Dinsen]

I'd ask the Cat.

$$$ but 7 different profiles

Catcams are pro's, but why not go to someone who knows the engine? Politecnic has been involved in a lot with these cars, I'm sure they have experience with what works and how. E.g. carb jettings. With CatCams I suppose you are on your own, and many options doesn't always mean better solutions...

/Anders

[Spyros]

Politecnic is not the old company involved in racing murena.
They don't have a nice reputation anymore
As for the camshaft, they are just a reseller of a local company who will reprofile an old worn camshaft.
This mean a big limitation in the maximum lift and very limited possibility to modify the phase.
Machining like this

As you can see they had to go deep to manage the lift.
This with the old material well known to worn easely


CatCams is machining their profiles from bare steel. They can produce the profile you want.
They are specialised in camshaft.
They don't only offer camshaft byt cam followers, springs, retainers. For other engine, specialy build milimetric pulleys ...
Ask the Simca rallye community and you'll see that CatCams knows very well our engines.
I still need to close a Simca 1200 engine blue printed and equiped with a 6300111 profile. I can insure you that the quality is totaly different.

[Phillip Wendt]

hmmm.. i wil just stick to polytec... thats the easiest.. as im not an experienced mechaninic... that saying that i know a lot about cars.. just dont know a lot about this car and engine.. is there a manual for the bagheera series to in english ?

[Anders Dinsen]

CatCams is machining their profiles from bare steel. They can produce the profile you want.
They are specialised in camshaft.
They don't only offer camshaft byt cam followers, springs, retainers. For other engine, specialy build milimetric pulleys ...

Ok, I'm convinced! You should be too Phillip

/Anders

[andyowl]

is there a manual for the bagheera series to in english ?

Most English speakers use the manuals produced by the Haynes Company in the UK.

Their manual for  the Chrysler Alpine (manual 337) is the most common but the Talbot Horizon (manual 473) also has similarities with the Bagheera and some parts are more up-to-date. I found recently that the instructions in the Horizon manual on how to adjust the gearbox/differential shims are different to the Alpine manual (they seem to have corrected apparaent errors in the Alpine manual).

I have also heard of a Haynes Manual for the Simca 1100 although I have never seen one.

None of these manuals is specific to the Bagheera but they are the best general manual there is. Suspension and most engine/transmission items are the same as the Bagheera.

Phil Kitch is the Matra Enthusiasts Club UK specialist on the Bagheera and he has written, and updated, a specific repair manual for the Bagheera, covering both Series 1 and 2. There are 31 pages covering the things that the other manuals don't tell you such as how to take the body panels off, chassis numbers etc. The latest version is the "3rd Edition with 2007 minor revisions". It is available through the club for a very small price (given how useful it is!).

I use all the above frequently as well as the French language offical manuals and a Delcourt Parts Book (maybe still available too).

I also have an original "Drivers Handbook" in english although it was damaged by water after the windscreen started to leak around 1982! You would be welcome to have a photocopy or maybe I should scan it and make it generally available?

Details:

J H Haynes & Co Ltd., Sparkford, Near Yeovil, Somerset, England, BA22 7JJ
Website address to follow (or Google)

Contact Phil Kitch through the UK club.

Andy Owler