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Billet jc5 selector forks.



NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
As most of you will all know, I’ve probably stripped and rebuilt more jc5 boxes than I’ve had wanks (lots of!).

So thanks to Renault stopping making the selector forks for 1st/2nd gear and 3rd/4th becoming increasingly harder to get hold of, it pretty much spells the end of the line for jc5. Or at least it did…………

You’ll be pleased to know that myself and a very good friend have invested £’s in having a set of prototype billet forks made for the jc5. They will be going into a box for testing and evaluation around the end of February. The testing and evaluation will take around 9 months as it will allow me to monitor wear, and longevity after seeing continuous heat cycles.

Providing they are ok, they will then be made available. Price wise will depend on how much interest we get - for obvious reasons, the higher the numbers we get, the lower the cost will be. I may even setup a group buy on here.

Material spec is:
EN24T for 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th.
5th gear fork is 7075 aluminium.

Why billet? Well the standard selector fork on 1st/2nd and 5th have stupid nylon coatings over the end of the fork ‘fingers’. They get worn and fall off and allows for a lot of play in the gear lever - sloppy gear changes galore. The fork for 3rd/4th just wears out as they’re the ones under the most load - it’s a straight pull back into 4th gear, so you can do it stupidly fast and unfortunately, it just wears them out as they get overloaded.

Will keep this updated as we go. 👍🏻
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
Cliosport.net exclusive here folks. Billet forks are here with me and I’ve installed them in a test gearbox to make sure they’re ok.

The fit is like a glove, and the quality is bang on. And it’s safe to say, they look the part as well!

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Next step is to put them in the development gearbox and wave them on their way to see how they perform.

I am very confident though that they won’t be an issue.
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
Out of interest why ali for the 5th gear but steel for the others?
Good question! The original forks for 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th are made from sintered bronze. The fork for 5th is made from cast aluminium and has nylon fingers on the end of where it sits in the selector hub - similar to the setup on the fork for 1st/2nd.

With it being the fork under the least stress loads, and the fact Renault have been making them out of cast aluminium, we opted to go with 7075 aluminium. 7075 is also extremely strong.
 

PerthRS

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 182 CUP
Deadset. This is great. As this lengthens the longevity and support of the clio 1*2 platform.
Well done mate!
 

PerthRS

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 182 CUP
@NorthloopCup Question.
I'm not a metallurgist. So I am servierly over my head and ignorant on the matter.
Since the forks for gears 1st to 4th will be transitioning from porous sintered bronze to solid billet EN24T steel. Would this possibly create more wear onto the selector hub?
The forks being made of steel is logical as its incredibally durable/resistant. But would the addition of bronze shift fork bushings be desirable in the contact locations between the fork and selector hub? I've heard that Tremec (T56 and TR6060 specifically) use a very similar setup.
If bushes that fit the hub can be found off the shelf. Then it would future proof the gearbox even more so.
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
@NorthloopCup Question.
I'm not a metallurgist. So I am servierly over my head and ignorant on the matter.
Since the forks for gears 1st to 4th will be transitioning from porous sintered bronze to solid billet EN24T steel. Would this possibly create more wear onto the selector hub?
The forks being made of steel is logical as its incredibally durable/resistant. But would the addition of bronze shift fork bushings be desirable in the contact locations between the fork and selector hub? I've heard that Tremec (T56 and TR6060 specifically) use a very similar setup.
If bushes that fit the hub can be found off the shelf. Then it would future proof the gearbox even more so.
This is the reason why they’ve been fitted into a test gearbox mate. They will be inspected regularly so I can measure/monitor any wear going on.
If they don’t work, I’m personally not prepared to try and introduce bronze bushings into the design as it will only weaken the fork. Jc5 forks don’t allow for much of a redesign.
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
@NorthloopCup
Sorry for the tag.

Just thought about this thread. Have you got a 10month update on how the billet forks fared under testing?
Hi mate,

No need to apologise for the tag 👍🏻

So as it currently stands, I haven’t seen them again for the last time, but I’ll be seeing them in the coming weeks.

From what I’ve seen over the months, the selector fork for 3rd/4th gear was showing signs of wear. Since then I’ve spoken with one of my engineering mates, and he’s said they need to be heat treated to stop the wear. So that’s what will be done on the forks when/if there is a batch made.

Obviously having a batch made will depend on interest, as it needs to be viable.
 

NorthloopCup

ClioSport Moderator
I just want synchros that aren’t made out of the crumbliest of feta cheese 😭
They’re not as horrific as you think tbf. A lot of the problems come from people changing gear with zero sympathy, and also using s**t/wrong grade of oil.

I’ve been around them now long enough to know their weaknesses better than most. I could probably re-engineer the synchro rings to work significantly better/more efficient, but the outlay doesn’t match the reward.
 

Advikaz

ClioSport Club Member
They’re not as horrific as you think tbf. A lot of the problems come from people changing gear with zero sympathy, and also using s**t/wrong grade of oil.

I’ve been around them now long enough to know their weaknesses better than most. I could probably re-engineer the synchro rings to work significantly better/more efficient, but the outlay doesn’t match the reward.

You would think there would be a market for this…

I certainly would be game from a test mule, customer and potential investor pov
 


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