The Elva factory records show that our Elva sports racer was originally equipped with a Hewland Mk III five-speed transaxle.
Hewland was started in 1957 by Mike Hewland. According to an old Road & Track article, the legendary “Mk” series of transaxles was started in 1960 and was first used in a Lola Mk 1.
These transaxles were initially Volkswagen Beetle-based magnesium cases that Hewland modified for strength, serviceability and the ability to make quick gear changes under racing conditions. Some 10,000 of these early Hewland units were said to be made and were used in many mid- and rear-engine formula cars and sports racers from the ’60s through today.
When we found our Elva Mk VI, we were told that the Beetle-looking transmission that came with it was a Hewland. We later learned that it was not. It was just an old VW Beetle transaxle.
Finding a Hewland transaxle this old would be nearly impossible. The smart move, then would be to just buy one of the readily available Mk 9 transaxles from a later car.
But that wouldn’t be original, would it?
We got a tip that the crew at Michaels Vintage Racing, a top Elva shop in New York, might have the correct transaxle for our car. A call confirmed that they had one, but it was in pieces and they could not vouch that everything was present and in working condition.
We still bought it, along with a Coventry Climax FWA block and a bunch of other miscellaneous mechanical parts for about $6000.
When we dragged the Elva home, we had no idea parts would be so expensive, but It was soon obvious that we were not playing in the mass-produced MG or Triumph league anymore–we needed an expert.
The crew at Michaels recommended Scott Young. Scott, formerly of Hewland supplier Taylor Race Engines, had recently struck out on his own and was rebuilding Hewlands and similar transaxles full time.
When we contacted him, he admitted he was extremely busy but said that if we sent our parts to him, he’d take a look and let us know if they could be rebuilt.
We dutifully sent everything and waited. After a bit of nudging, Scott quickly told us in all his years of rebuilding Hewlands, he had never seen one this old.
He had our transaxle for more than a year as he worked on this odd situation but, true to his word, did return it. He charged us about $1000–about enough to cover parts, we figure.
We are not going to begin to tell you how to rebuild a Hewland, but do have some pictures of the process, including what we started with and how it turned out.
As you will soon see, what makes this part of our Elva’s restoration even more complicated is the fact that this transaxle was originally equipped with inboard rear brakes. And, yes, while we found a few pictures, we had no idea where to find these parts.
Once again, however, we were rescued by one of our readers. More to come on this later.
Comments
wspohn
SuperDork
1/6/22 12:15 p.m.
Interesting.
Too bad the days of being able to order up a custom gear for $100 from a small manufacturing shop in England are long gone.
I briefly owned a mid engine Porsche powered sports racer of indeterminate origin (the seller called it a Python, but that was a special built for the street and I never did manage to track down exactly what I had). It used inboard Porsche ally drums drilled for lightness, and the case was early VW. Sold it on before I did any more research - wonder if it had a similar transaxle to yours?
In reply to wspohn :
It was probably similar. Most specials back in the day used this gear box.
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