This looks real simple. It might be easier than I first thought.
  Getting the roll pins out with Jean's bigger hammer goes a long way
  towards making this viable.
Paul Lamar

I love your Rhino illustrations.

Would there be an easy way to show how the sun-gear
shaft/bearings fit   into this. With some sort of
vibration/damper/isolation between the   rotor-shaft and the sun-
gear I find myself puzzled as to how everything   stays where it is
supposed to be/

Robin No name :)

The same way Tracy does it.

Paul Lamar

The weak link so far has been the stock Mazda auto tranny flex plate.
Ed Carver is working on fixing that as well.

Paul Lamar
...and the pin holding the sun gear to the input shaft.
Mark
Yes and that too.
Paul Lamar
Thanks for the pics. are you still considering the bellhousing,
  or is it to mount on the front cross-member plate?
Graeme Riley


With minor modes it will fit either.
Here are some revised weight savings. The orginal weight estmate
was based  on a longer box. I cut the box length down to be the same
as Tracy's box.
The prop shaft and planet carrier combined is 3.9 pounds. The
current Tracy  shaft prop flange and ball bearing is about 9.2
pounds perhaps a bit less as  Tracy as drilled some holes in the
flange. A huge savings as the planet  carrier is not included in
Tracy prop shaft. On the other hand the prop  flange is replaced by
a large diameter aluminum plate to accommodate the  prop blade
pillow blocks.
The housing is 6.6 pounds which is less than the current Tracy 10 pound
  version. Not including a large spacer Tracy uses between the
housing  and the motor plate.
Input shaft and sun gear is 2.4 pounds.
The ring gear is 4 pounds but almost half of that can be cut off.
Planet gears, needles, shafts and spacers are .5 pound each for a total
  of 3 pounds.
Total is 17.9 pounds less the adapter plate and bolts.
The auto tranny bell housing is 8.9 pounds. Total about 26.8
pounds.  Jeff's motor plate motor mount is 6 pounds less spacers and
long 8 mm  bolts so that is pretty much a wash but the bell housing
has no motor  mounts. Motor mounts can weigh as much as 10 pounds
over what is needed  for Jeff's plate.
This box is going to save about 13 pounds over the current design.
  That has a large effect on the CG as the box is almost the most further
  forward of all masses.
Paul Lamar


Would seem logical to use Jeffs plate for a total of 26.8 lbs +
some hardware.  I'm looking at the RWS RD-1C right now at 44.5lbs.  Tracy
has his sealed bearing secured by a freeze ring and the front cover
plate.  In fact the prop shaft set-up looks like a diff axle.  We
might be able to back the rear bearing onto the planetary, insert the
shaft in the housing, then fit the spacer, front bearing and front
end plate.  This will ease assembly.
What lubrication does the planetary require?

Graeme Riley

Normally auto tranny fluid. I am leaning towards a separate oil
supply for the gear box. I suspect the planetary will transfer oil
from one side to the other by the action of the helical gears.
Perhaps this could be used to circulate the auto tranny fluid
through a small low pressure oil cooler.

Paul Lamar


How does the Ford GT Richardo trans circulate oil through the cooler?

Dale davies