Lego Builder Designs, Constructs Working 6-Speed Transmission
Plastic gearbox works down to synchros and H-pattern shifter.
As automakers build ever-more-complicated gearboxes like a 10-speed automatic, so too do model builders. At least one Lego fanatic has documented the six-speed gearbox he’s built with Lego Technic bits. This isn’t any off-the-shelf kit, mind you. This was designed and built by a 17-year-old Swedish kid and it’s wonderful.
If you build a Lego car as a kid, an engine was an anomaly, likely, or at least rarity. That says nothing of a model transmission, let alone one that functions.
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This six-speed gearbox will readily transmit power from the electric motors that you can purchase with the advanced Lego Technic kits. What’s more: the input and output are reversible so the builder can fit it easier one way or another simply by turning it around.
The level of detail impresses us greatly. Not only does it have synchros, it also works in a proper H-pattern. It engages a bit like a dog box with straight-cut gears, so no clutch pedal necessary for the Lego driver.
While he hasn’t built a seven-speed gear stack yet to match a C7 Corvette, you could easily replicate your C6’s manual transaxle with this in model form. If classic Corvettes are more your thing, the same builder also has built a four-speed gearbox out of Legos for your early Corvettes. Or heck, maybe you want to go drag racing in something other than a Corvette; you could build a two-speed gearbox model like a PowerGlide. All of these builds come with instructions and parts lists that you can find on the builder’s website.
We think it’s great to see young people building models like this; the Lego six-speed designers of today will build the cars of tomorrow. And with this kind of attention to detail, we sure hope to find this young Swede designing and building things in a few short years.
