hi guys
since for once I am not in a car I have time to post here
1) there is a big difference between a) a broken ball joint, and b) one which the nut came off. Ours was the latter (b). The first (a) comes from hitting something, which we didn't. I was able to put a lug nut on the balljoint and drive out, but max late. It was pretty hard to put a glowing red hot (yes, glowing) disc and caliper assmebly back into the a-arm. I got some nice burns. The driveshaft also came out because of the problem, but so it took time to put that back in as well.
2) Tom's gearbox is a H pattern Group A gearbox.
3) so far everyone speculating about this and that about my gearboxes doesn't know the whole story, and wish people would stop talking about stuff which they dont know. the 6 speed synchro gearbox is bullet proof. You can reoply to this and talk crap about what you dont know, but I know, and they are bulletproof. I have no hesitation driving lots of rallies on it as far as wear and tear goes. I already have (several last year, and nice fast time on ss5 at PFR with it).
4) what I have been running is homologated dogboxes. The reason I do it is because you gain over 1 sec/km using dogboxes. The problem is, there are only 2 current worldwide sources (yes, only 2) for homologated dogboxes for my car (because it is relatively new). One manufacturer is famous for known problems and phased out this design in April in favour of a newer "bulletproof" design. The other manufacturer has been working on small teething problems (hee hee) but the basic design is fairly solid. I have been going back and forth with both to help develop the boxes, and this problem hasn't just affected me but a lot of their other customers. A third manufacturer will be releasing a product in about 2 weeks. So you can see it is a situation of help to make it better or make up our own and then go through the whole process again.
5) yah I am frustrated but what can I do but keep trying.