I was scrolling around marketplace about a year or so ago and stumbled across a footnote in a for sale ad about a GT650 prototype.
One popped up on the GT40 website a few years back with all the bells and whistles. People were a little hesitant to buy them.
I did a little digging and eventually spoke to the engineer at Ricardo that was part of the development team. They were intended for the first iteration of the Ford GT relaunch, back in 05. They had to make a transaxle for now, GT650, and one for the production cars, the Ricardo 7003-GT.
For the GT650 they took the trans for the Jaguar XJ220, added a 6th gear, changed the shift mech to accommodate for the 6th gear, and a few minor cosmetic enhancements.
I bought 2 of them for next to nothing, 1 has a broken input shaft and is a parts trans, the other is solid. The transaxle has a magnesium case and is insanely beefed up. It makes the G50 i have look like a toy.
It has a final drive of 3.36 and mated to a TT V6 it had a top speed of 217mph. The only clutch available is $3K and it's an old unit that was saved as a spare. I contacted AP Racing and they provided me with the schematics for the clutch with part numbers. With a company like XClutch, they can manufacture a clutch and a flywheel spaced to fit any need.
I contacted a few Ricardo "experts" for help with getting the boxes inspected, and possibly getting another shaft made...but they had no experience with it and wanted nothing to do with it.
I have a shifter lined up, after speaking with Dan at Numeric Racing who welcomes the challenge. It also works for the 996, 997 series transaxles. It has a hydraulic throwout bearing and a built in cooling pump for the trans fluid.
The gear shift mechanism, seemed to float freely left and right, but it would engage in the 1,3,5 (upper positions), N, and 2,4,6 (lower positions). I was hesitant to remove the cover, but when I did I found that the pin securing the mechanism to the selector forks had sheared off.
I haven't invested a ton of money into this project, as of yet, but it is pretty exciting. I learned a lot of the Ford GT's history and spoken to a few of the guys that brought the project back to life.
I know Fran had a pretty good lot of Ford GT Ricardo transaxles for sale at one time. Word is the original Ford GT transaxles had an issue with, IIRC, 2nd gear and so to deal with the warranty issue on those cars Ricardo sent a replacement batch of transaxles to Ford and they swapped them out for customers. Then the original transaxles were repaired and became available for the after market crowd. I think Fran had like a dozen or so of them, but that was quite a few years ago.
Sounds like what you have may not be part of this production batch?
I have made axles for that retrofit a few times. I can also make the input shaft you need if you are OK with a couple thousand $$ for that? Custom one offs are pricey. Especially in 300M these days.
I think that price is on par for what this transaxle can be. I wasn't sure if I was going to replace the shaft or keep this second box for parts.
This wasn't part of that batch. Those were based on the design of the 7003 units. The synchro's were a bit rough in the 2nd gear change from what I read. Even in the newer models they had issues.
The GT650 was a separate entity. They took an established product and put a 6th gear in to make it more modern. The old shift mech was a mechanical rod. The new mech is cable shift based.
He still has a few of them. I spoke with him about them not long ago. The flywheel, spacing, adapter, starter, and axles are still open items. The bellhousing has enough meat to drill a new pattern, I'm not sure how thick the adapter plates are, but the trans being too long could be a concern. It doesn't measure much longer than a G50.
I know I can get the axles through you. I have a potential buyer for the G50, and that would cover almost all of the costs to get this unit up and running.
In case you're unaware.....if the output shaft locations are the same on this transaxle as the standard Ricardo box in the Ford GT's, you will need to do some chassis mods to get the axles to clear.
Shane Vacek
VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC www.vraptorspeedworks.com
Turn-key GTM, SL-C & Ultima GTR Built to Your Specs!
Offering a full line of GTM Upgrades and Custom Parts
Opened the tail housing to see the gear selectors. I think I have them figured out. I tried to find a picture of the shift pattern in the XJ220, but there are not a ton of pictures out there.
The selector would free spin with no restrictions. There is a roll pin that was broken in the tail housing, so it would never engage. I grabbed an M6 pin from work and it fit perfectly. It springs back to the middle from the left and the right and all gears engage.
Thanks: 
Likes: 
Reply With Quote
