Clutch lever/pivot angle

[don58van]

That's a good photo. The backplate/sandwich plate seems to be the thick type as fitted to 1098cc engines (for e.g.). The thinner pressed steel backplate as fitted to 948cc engines would move the gearbox forward 6mm or so, but that doesn't seem to be quite enough to account for your misalignment and clearance issues.

Perhaps there is something different about the bell housing/adaptor casting (compared with Chris Ryder's).

Now we need Chris to tell us how that compares with his installation.

Don

[don58van]

Ooops! Double posting. Second deleted.

[philthehill]

The 1275cc rear engine plate (MG Midget) fitted to my Minor is 8mm (approx) thick - so even if yours is 10mm that 2mm difference is not going to cause the amount of miss-alignment that you are experiencing.
You should just be able to slide your hand between the steering rack and the gearbox adapter bell housing.
Is your rear gearbox mounting the right way up and the right way round? Though it does appear to be impossible to fit upside down looking at the link.
Unfortunately my adapter bell housing/Ford gearbox is different to the one fitted to your car so any measurement I give is not going to be of help.
Anyway we are slowly eliminating the possibilities so we should soon identify the problem.
Phil

[The Black Baron]

Agreed, Chris' setup would help.

Thinking about it, given that the gearbox needs to be moved forward (clutch lever angle, floor pan not fitting), would it be the end of the world to rotate the engine mounts to buy us that extra inch or so that we are missing. We don't think it will foul the rad.

[bmcecosse]

That's what I would do - you say it's tight against the rack anyway. Or- just move the towers forward by drilling new holes.

[The Black Baron]

Yeah, it's right on top BMC.

Going to try the prop on in a minute to see if that will go on or not.

My only only thought was that if the gap at the back of the engine to the baulkhead is okay, could it be the actual grey casting that is incorrect/too deep.

The only other thing I suppose, is that by moving the mounts forward or swapping round, we will have to bend the stay bar 'eye' on the battery box to make the angle shaper, then profile it more to avoid the tap.

[bmcecosse]

Well - it's not going to move that much to bother the steady bar - but easy enough to reshape it if required.

[The Black Baron]

Prop on, gives us as ear as dammit an inch between where the UV and the gearbox seal.

If we move the engine and box forward as we most likely are going to have to, will this be in far enough?[frame][/frame]

[bmcecosse]

Depends how much is IN there ? Probably need to make a spacer piece between final drive pinion flange and the prop flange.

[philthehill]

Jack
The distance from the centre of the U/J (front of prop-shaft) and the rear of the gearbox casing around the output shaft should be no more than 60mm when the suspension is in its neutral position (not compressed or suspended). Any more than 60mm and there will not be enough of the splined tube (which has the U/J on its rear end) inside of the gearbox and which has contact with the gearbox output shaft splines. Considerably less and there is the possibility of the splined tube hitting the gearbox casing when the suspension is compressed or leaf spring wind up occurs.
Check the (60mm) diamension with the axle in its lowest possible slung position (jack under body) and also at its maximum possible upwards position (the car well loaded).
I was very careful when fitting my type E gearbox to get the distances/clearances right and had my fabricated prop-shaft made to provide the 60mm distance when the axle was in a neutral position.
The length of my adapter bell housing including the steel adapter plate is 180mm and that gives adequate clearance between the adapter bell housing and the steering rack with the engine mount towers fitted as standard.
My gearbox rear mounting uses a virtually standard Minor gearbox cross member using the original gearbox cross member chassis mounting / holes/bolts with a 1/2" spacers between the chassis/body. The actual rubber mounting is a Minor rear spring pad / plate with a cut down eye bolt bush fitted through its centre and the bolt is the standard Ford item screwed into the Ford gearbox and lock wired for security. It works very well.
Below are some photos of the output shaft fitted to my type E Ford gearbox, the adapter bell housing and the modified Minor crossmember:-


[frame][/frame]

[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[The Black Baron]

So this evening we moved back to the engine/bel housing location issue.

Lifted up, removed the mounts and found we had quite a bit of forward movement between the rubbers and the mounts. Looked to damn near line up. Did it all back up in the new position, let it down and the thing settled straight back into the steering rack. Only pleasant difference now is the engine and gearbox seem to have rotated clockwise (from the front)! Gah!

We both thought that reversing the mounts would throw it too far forward, but I think we'll end up trying that way forward next week.

While I'm here, the clutch looks to be sat quite high in relation to the floor- the pedal is also very stiff. Too stiff for the new fibreglass cover to hold it, I would think. What is the score with adjustment here?[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[The Black Baron]

Finally! Everything in and lined up correctly!

In the end we had to cut a small section out of the bellhousing and make a new blanking plate to clear the rack which we did last week.

All back in this evening with the mounts the original way round and magically everything now lines up. Prop all connected up and nicely sat into the gearbox.

A big thanks to all who have helped on here so far and especially to Jonathon for his time and advice outside of the forum.

Cheers guys! Now onto the next stage!

David.