These cars have a larger transmission tunnel than the three synchro cars
but even so the mouth of the transmission tunnel, particularly on the (UK)
passenger side, provides tight clearance for the clutch housing of the gearbox.
A section of the front of the tunnel has to be dressed in towards
the footwell to provide clearance.
I fabricated a new transmission tunnel to
accomodate the Borg Warner T5 transmission on a Buick bellhousing. Part of
the reason I did this was to facilitate placing the engine farther back toward
the car's center of gravity. I built this thing on the porch of a one bedroom
apartment - if I ever do another one I'll add beadrolling and darts for noise
reduction and stiffness improvements. Still, I'm proud of how it came out.
John Bourke
Close up of the underside of the tunnel after modification
to take the Rover 5 speed box - I did not want to hack my tunnel about to
take a dirty great steel box like all the pundits said I should - I cut through
the downstand seam where the bulkhead meets the tunnel pressing with an airbody
saw and removed it completely - I was then able to dress the tunnel up (very
difficult as it is of at least 16 gauge!) and seam weld it back together
again. It's not obvious but the std tunnel only dips down at this point to
make the spot welded flange possible - you can gain at least 15-20mm by this
method - which gives enough clearance for the box when using FACTORY type
mounts - not the higher conversion type mounts.
The tunnel section above the gearbox, this shows the lowered
section of the tunnel which I raised to fit the five speed gearbox.
A close up of the weld which I cut out and seam welded.
Shows the top of the tunnel inside after the modification
to fit the five speed box.
Shows the modifications neccessary to the gear lever aperture
- NB the new ring of captive nuts for the chrome bezel.
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Please note that I cannot give technical advice on V8 conversions but I can help you with
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