BE4 conversion
 

for anyone wanting to convert to BE4 and not wanting to pay way too much money for a kit that can be bought from citroen, here are the parts you need

Clutch cable
Citroen part number 2150CE

Cable bracket to convert hydraulic to cable
Citroen part number 2151 90

clutch fork lever
Citroen part number 2117.58



they look like this


for the gear linkage, a standard lever from a BE 1 or 3 box
it looks like this


it needs heating up and bending to look like this


this fits on to the BE4 so it bends down the back of the box

for the gear linkage rods i used saxo ones but cut and welded to top one to fit and shortened the lower one (just measure the space between to blls and make the rods to suite) ill try and measure mine when i take the box out next week

you can use picasso shafts, the N/S needs to be cut and lenghtened by 10mm and the O/S needs cutting and shortening by 20mm(ill double check that as it was a few years ago i had it done


for hubs ues standard BE ones as fitted to 205, 306, 405, 406, ZX, BX, Xantia, Xsara (make sure you get the hubs form a BE fitted car ie 1.8 or bigger engine)

tyring to remember the measurements but iirc the BE hub is 46mm and the saxo bearing is 35mm so any macheine shop can turn them down to fit in the saxo bearing



this way keeps the bigger CV's so less chance of breaking them and you can keep ABS or Traction control by adding Sensor brackets

difference in MA to BE shafts


ABS sensor fitted


mounts can be bought from Pug sport france or made from scratch
i made this lower mount from 10mm plate steel and it uses a 205/306 Grp N lower mount


in a saxo/106 you can buy the gearbox support mount but noone makes them for an AX so i made it from scratch




hope it hepls :y:

so the oem clutch leaver etc is the same as what atspeed sell?

That's a good one for the stickies

good stuff

will put this into the FAQ when i get a chance.

Thanks martin.

very handy mate! been looking into this :y:

top post :y:

any chance you could measure the compressed lengths of the shafts?


many thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge :clapping:

Hi Martin, Its Steve (saxosteve from the other forum)

The clutch cable you have quoted, is that one of the 'auto adjusting' ones that have the wanky ratcheting mechanism?

Also instead of machining hubs down to 35mm, machine to 37mm and use later model saxo/106 wheel bearing. As the slight taper on the end of the BE shaft fowls on the smaller bearing if you use the correct thickness shim between.

306 1.8 16v shaft on nearside is a direct fit.

im useing ax gti bearings with my own shims and they dont rub
is the 306 shaft as thick as the picasso one and does it have the same abs ring

I still have some quiafe atb,s for the be box
£440+vat--not many left now

Yes Martin the 306 shaft is the same tubular construction as picasso item and has the same ABS ring.

I suspect the shims you are using may be marginally thicker to prevent any fowling occuring. I then daren't say that the same length of shaft would be ok on your setup thatn mine as your hubs and outer CV's could be slightly different distance away.

You havent answered my question about Cable either Martain!?! :P

the thickness of spacer has no bearing at all on how long the shafts need to be as the position of the bearing does not change at all.

but the position of the shaft relative to the drive flange will change.

all the spacer does is move the flange further out through the bearing, the CV clamps against the inner face of the bearing...

unless you use longer wishbones it'll be the same length shafts.

yes steve it is the self adjusting cable for now untill i sort out a shorter non adjusting one

i cant remember the thickness of the shims i as did this conversion about 3 years ago, way before the atspeed kits were about

The correct Citroen part number for the Cable operated clutch fork is:

2117.58

The numbers are incorrect on the citroen part system, so when you order what you think is the cable arm (says 2117.66 which is incorrect) you end up with a hydraulicly operated arm.

Hope this helps people in future.

Steve

Couple pics of my Billet Alloy lower mount.

Couples up with an M12 rose jointed torque link, approx 145mm centre to centre.







Cost- £0 ;)

you missed out: tooling, material, machine, training, coolant, leccy, measuring devices, own time, etc...

nice work though!!

What wishbones are these?

VT wishbones were wider than the ones on my 1.1 AX forte. This may alter the driveshaft length.

They look like poverty spec ones.

they will be mk2 ax gt ones or saxo ones, you can get some that have been drilled and tapped for an arb or some without. Same dimensions as the saxo vt*/axgti etc

they do look like the vt non OE replacement ones, not seen the ax ones so couldnt compare.......

as ryan says there ax gt ones so i can run the mk1 gt arb
as the mark 1 shell wont take the drop link arb

they are the same size as vt ones as i had a set fitted when i converted the box then realised about the arb so had to convert back

I forgot to mention the food i had eaten a few hours before hand that had been digested.. then the enrgy used to provide my brain with useable energy to allow me to operate my arms to carry out the activity?

:P

crikey :wall:

I have also spent the time to find a suitable... manual adjustment cable that is a direct fit without any modifications to the bulkhead mounting/pedal attachment point etc. Also the picasso cable is very long and looks untidy in the day, this is the perfect length.

part number firstline part number: FKC 1078

;)

Do you have a pic of the cable? Does it have a metal end?

Nick

Subscribed!

I cant see a BE4 fitting mine as the Cituning manifold position's the turbo very close to the MA gearbox nevermind a BE4 :n:

Having seen these pictures I think I am going to have to eventually make do with MA inc LSD & TRS's uprated driveshaft, maybe...

ManC

Going to be going and getting a BE gearbox soon from a scrapyard near me, What parts should i get apart from the gearbox?

give martin (tweeqd) a PM or search for his threads he made a list of all the parts you can get so you dont need to buy an expensive branded kit :cool:

Well if i can get my car somewhere i can start work on it, i can maybe try making the mounts up at work or something so theyres abit of money saved.

Which is the speed sensor needed rather than using the BE one that will give the wrong mph?

Also where can i get the clutch cable bracket from, not the fork. Is it available off another car?

Probably worth just getting a new one from Citroen or it should come with the gearbox

Will have to see what cars come with cable rather than hydrolic clutches to get one from.

good thread tweeqd thankyou for putting the time into doin this thread,good insight of how the conversion is done :)

I think some of the later boxes (2005 ish maybe) dont have a speedo sender in, it was ecu managed. Mine has a blanking plate in it that looks very OEM

some good info, i might have a bit of info for this thread soon. just want to make sure it all works ok first.

just read this again very usefull information.

steve-thankyou for going to the trouble of finding the cable part no - but dont you think it would be worth running a cable with metal ends seen as the clutch is quite a bit stiffer than standard? just thinking of fit and forget purposes like.

cheers

Whats the benefit of this BE4 conversion?

Cant say ive heard of it before?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but they are more suited to higher powered conversions as they are stronger and I think Martin also said something to me about gaining better traction over an MA box but not sure about that.

think it was earlier then that tbh, just stripped a BE out of an early 307 and thats got the blank fitted

ive used a FIRSTLINE cable the same as steve mentioned with an AP twin plate clutch for ove 1k now and had no problems

the box can take more power and there are hundreds of gear ratios to mix and match unlike an MA