hi, does anyone know anything about these transaxles, specifically about the diffs in them, are they Ford ones or did hewland make them?
Also can you convert them from 4 to 5 speed easily ( by that I mean cheaply!)?

There is nothing cheap about a hewland!
I don't think that you can convert from 4 to 5 gears, but the gears themselves are interchangeable so you can vary your ratios for different circuits.
You will also find that most are straight cut gears, which means no syncro and you will need to match your engine revs to the road speed, otherwise they simply won't go in.
This is normally a race car box so is more precise that your road car.

being based on teh vw box they dont like much over 13 inch wheels with sticky tyres , it breaks the output flange cover/sides , you see this on vw boxes , billet side covers .

the vw boxes have magnesium cases , but i think are slightly different .

lets say if your using it n a high power application , over 200 hp, it wont last very long .

and as above , nothing cheap about hewland - look for spares for a mk9 , if its any good , itll have a proper price tag on it aswell .

As said not cheap. Based on an upside down beetle casing. available in 4 an 5 speed versions with different gearset cassette and rear cover to suti. friend of mine ran one in a sports 2000 lola with a 190bhp vauxhall xe and he lifed 2nd and 3rd as they broke regularly with the torque (around 160lb/ft iirc). Staffs (later bought out by elite) made a box using the same gear cluster but it could handle more power as the shafts were better supported and stopped them flexing which is why the gears broke as the shaft flexed towards its limits and the teeth would slip and break off with the shock loadings.

I haven't checked lately but a reasonable box used to set you back £12-1500+ depending what gearsets and spare ratios it comes with. Also being a megnesium/alloy casing they can be a real pain to weld when the start to stress crack from the power/flex. a xflow, pinto or standard zetec is probably about their safe limit - say 160-170bhp without masses of torque.
As said some have different side plates to suit the application depending on tyres or simply installation ie subframe mounts/rear suspension setup etc.

Ned.

ps if you're building an alfasud sprint/hillclimber surely you'd never need to use 5th? my mate ran his vauxhall with a 4 speed as the torque spread (although near the limits of the box) made it very usable across the rev range and less gearchanges so more time on the throttle..

[Edited on 8/12/07 by ned]

cheers Ned, as you say I probably won't need 5 gears, I was just wondering what exactly the differences were.
The engine is a 1700 alfa boxer, plenty revs 200+ bhp but probably no more than 150 ftlbs torque, which is less than Hewland rate the boxes for
I was planning to use the standard alfa transaxle but converted to dog engagement but I am having no luck finding s/h bits and new ones are beyond my budget.

BLS automotive in lincoln , ask for tom or phil

Hi this link. HEWLAND. May be of some help . remembered seeing it when looking on their site yesterday.

Cheers Matt

have now found out that the cam and pawl lsds in these are diabolical when used on a fwd car so looks like its back to the alfa box!

what about audi boxes, they are longitudinal fwd, lots of autograssers use these instead of hewlands