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Last year, I bought a used zf from a member of this forum.
The zf should be refurbished and in perfect condition.
When I got it, some parts were broken, because of a worse packing for shipping.
This matter could be cleared with the seller.
Later my mother died and I had no time to make sure that this zf is ok.
Right now I see, that I have no tach gear , no switch for the rear lights and the side plates are not in the right position. I miss the long 2 screws !
I do not know, what to do now.
The seller is a lawer and I guess he dosent matter about me and my zf.
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Here's where to get parts.

RBT Transaxles....


Me, myself, I would not run the box without the two long bolts, because it is likely the case will leak. As you may, or may not know, there are shims that go with the long bolts that are necessary to align all the case covers.


You should look around and see if you can find the ZF Manual. You can find it for free if you search, or if you are a member of POCA.

Rocky
I know this is not what you will want to hear, but a refurbished transaxle that is missing the two critical long bolts would cause me to believe there was no refurbishment. If in fact something was done I suspect anyone that could leave out those two bolts would be challenged to properly assemble the internals to the transaxle, also.

Part of the assembly process for the bottom cover and the long bolts involves shims that must be properly set up. Just installing two long bolts at this point means you also are gambling on the proper installation of those shims. .

The back up switch is easily found as is the speedometer angle drive which I believe you are calling the tach adapter. You should be aware that the speedometer drive and speedometers comes in various versions and they must be properly matched to properly display mileage and speed.

Good luck.

Larry
Last edited by lf-tp2511
Eeker Eeker Eeker

Oh my God!

I just studied your first photo and it is beyond me how anybody could install the side plates in that manner. More than ever I fear you need a transaxle disassembly and rebuild before you can expect that transaxle to function instead of blowing up.

The person who sold you this transaxle is either very stupid or very dishonest.

I am sorry you became his victim.

Larry
Peter, knowing what you now know, I don't think you should use this ZF without someone knowledgeable opening it up and checking it out. The only person close to you that I can think of is Roland Jaeckal in Hamburg. Failing that, it needs to come back to this side of the Atlantic. If it turns out the seller misrepresented the state of this transaxle, you should give him a chance to make good, which probably means taking it back. Other options are selling it for parts, having it rebuilt by a professional or commencing litigation. I'm sure we'd all like to know who sold it to you. Use the forum to put pressure on the person who sold it to you. George, is that OK?

On a side note, I spoke with a Superformance rep at the Monterey Historics this past August. They are now using the Quaife 5 speed transaxle that's interchangeable with the ZF, in their GT40 replicas. I think it's called the ZFQ. He said there were problems early on but those problems have been solved and Superformance now uses them in their GT40's unless the customer insists on a ZF (RBT). He said the ZFQ does shift better than the ZF. He thought they were made in either the UK or Germany, which is better for you than shipping another ZF across the pond. You'd have to find out if they can flip it from the GT40 position to the Pantera position. Years ago they said they could but I've never seen it done. Good luck !
I agree with everyone else on here about getting a professional to look at it, but it seems like you could also put it in every gear and make sure it does what it's supposed to.

That may make you feel better or worse.

Use the knurled shifter control and a light grip with either a matching splined u-Joint, or a vice grip, and shift the tranny into each position.

Then turn the input shaft, and count the rotations on the drive flanges. You should be able to see if the ZF is...

a) able to shift / goes into all gears
b) doesn't lock up
c) turns in the correct direction.

Good luck

Rocky
Hi Simon, its a guy from Brussel. He sell me the ZF as a fresh rebuild transmission.
The ZF was at the repairshop in portugal, when he sell it to me. 4000 euro were only repair costs, he said to me.

the ZF was shipped direct from the repair shop to me.

It was packed very insufficient, so there were some parts broken.

A repair shop here in Austria looked at the zf and invoiced the broken parts.

The insurance from the shipping company negoate a price with the seller.

I take the money , but the seller was verry clever, of course he is a lawyer :

He handet out the money, and I had to confirm, that I am happy with the zf now and I will not have any claims in the future.

My mother was very ill at this time, so I hoped that the rest from the ZF is in good working order, so I signed the agreement.

thank you all for your help !
this is a copy from his email, when I asked him, what is done in portugal with the zf :

"Hello Peter,
the details I received on the invoice were :
- assembling and disassembling the gearbox several times to take measurements and finally assemble the gearbox and adjust all gears.
- rectify the whole assembly
- new parts,bearings, sleeves, syncronizer rings
- manufacture of different sets of pinions."

For me It sounded verry good! Frowner
Peter, I have some of the 'ZF manual' written in German, but not all the usual pages are present. There were several 'manuals'- for a dash-zero (GT-40), dash-1 (Mangusta) and dash-2 (Pantera). Not all of them are the same- parts vary, including castings and sequence of the work needed. For overhaul, even the best of them are only 40 pgs (in english) with photos that don't show critical operations, missing views on how one uses the factory tools for setting up, and so forth. This is from an actual printed-in-Germany (in english) factory manual. Available reprints are far worse.

It probably won't help you much, but one owner said that he found working on his ZF was very similar to overhauling a Ford top-loader 4-speed transmission from late '60s Mustangs.

Sent me your real e-mail address so as to not waste George's bandwidth on the Forums, and I'll compile what I have as pdf files. Just don't expect to read the manuals and then tear a ZF apart & reassemble it competently.
Peter,

Of course you should contact the vendor before you do anything. He might have sent it out to be rebuilt, paid the bill and didn't even open the crate before shipping it to you. If so, he might feel bad enough to take it back. That would be your best case scenario. He might want to hold the rebuilding shop accountable (which only he can do).

If he won't even talk to you about it or denies there's anything wrong with it, he's clearly a crook and you should do a service to all of us and say who it is.

Having it rebuilt is a last resort. If the chunks of metal in the photos are any indication, a rebuild might be expensive; very expensive. I'd say missing shims are the least of your worries, where this ZF is concerned.

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