Conversion dilema

[pupinabox]

I have been working on my conversion all summer and am getting pretty close[:D] I have run into my first real "OH %#$@" moment. Yesterday I began the process of mounting the engine and transmission. After alot of fussing and new vocabulary words, I have the mounts for the subframe in and about half tight. The transmission is supported by a floor jack. As I raise the floor jack I am noticing that the holes in the transmission mount are not going to line up with the bolts coming thru the body. The holes are about an inch forward of the bolts.

WHAT???

Now I noticed that the trans mount on the TR8 is sort of angled and it looks like I could turn it around and things might line up. Is that possible?

The other option is the mount on the TR7 is straight and maybe a swap would fix things up. (I think this is the one that will work, but I don't know)

Another option is drill new holes up thru the body. Don't like this one for the pain in the butt factor, and the old and new holes may be to close together for comfort.

Any thoughts in the old knowledge base here?

The other thing I am kind of worried about is if the driveshaft is going to fit. The 8 shaft is just a little shorter than the 7 shaft, and if the two shells I have been working with are identical, it would stand to reason that the shaft will be to short. I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Any thoughts? I will report back as progress is made.

[IMG=left]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/353.jpg[/IMG=left][IMG=right]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/tr7005.jpg?t=1271517043[/IMG=right]

[jeffremj]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Another option is drill new holes up thru the body. Don't like this one for the pain in the butt factor, and the old and new holes may be to close together for comfort.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">When I fitted the V8 with a 'proper' TR8 subframe, the transmission mount was further back. I just drilled the holes around 2" to the rear.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The other thing I am kind of worried about is if the driveshaft is going to fit. The 8 shaft is just a little shorter than the 7 shaft, and if the two shells I have been working with are identical, it would stand to reason that the shaft will be to short.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">As the gearbox is now 2" closer to the axle, the TR8 propshaft will be OK. What you now may find is that the gearlever is too far back and hits the bodyshell. I shortened the gearlever remote.

[pupinabox]

OK. I have all the proper mounts, etc. as I am just moving the goodies from a TR8 into the TR7 frame. I have the subframe bolted in snug, and I put the driveshaft in with just the bolts to hold it in place and it looks like it is going to bolt in ok as there is a little fore and aft play in the what I assume is the BL version of a u-joint. The funny thing is that the trams suubframe ALMOST lines up with the mount bolts. It looks like I need to just kind of expand the size of the holes just a couple mm towards the FRONT and everything should fit ok.

I will check the gearlever situation.

[IMG=left]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/353.jpg[/IMG=left][IMG=right]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/tr7005.jpg?t=1271517043[/IMG=right]

[Marsu]

I have only ever seen the TR7 gearbox cross member (RKC308) and all the conversions I have seen have re-drilled through through the body to align with it.

It looks a little ugly when exposed from under the carpet, but seems to do the job. Depending on which side of the subframe uprights the engine mounts are placed the new holes are somewhere between 1/2 and 1 inch from the original holes.

Someone I spoke to a while ago suggested that the TR8 gearbox cross member (not sure of part number) is angled (more V shaped) so that it aligns with the original holes.

If you have one of these then you are lucky - use it instead of the TR7 item.

Following are pics of RKC308. It would be great if you or someone else could post pics of the TR8 item for comparison.

[pupinabox]

I will get a picture up with it installed (hopefully). I need to charge my camera up first[:(]

[IMG=left]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/353.jpg[/IMG=left][IMG=right]http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t194/pupinabox/tr7005.jpg?t=1271517043[/IMG=right]

[Marsu]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by pupinabox</i>

... The funny thing is that the trams suubframe ALMOST lines up with the mount bolts. It looks like I need to just kind of expand the size of the holes just a couple mm towards the FRONT and everything should fit ok.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Can you overcome the need to enlarge the holes by swapping the engine mounts to the opposite side of the subframe uprights?

[REPLIC8]

Here is my gearbox with a proper TR8 rear mounting. The way it's fitted is correct & should line up with the bolts in your transmission tunnel. Have you got the engine mountings correct? The rubber mountings should be behind the brackets on the subframe, so towards the rear of the car.

[img][IMG]http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr92/REPLIC8-2008/small_P3210367.jpg[/img][/img]



Andy
1981 UK SPEC TR8

[pupinabox]

Engine mounts are correct and to the rear of the car. I finally just re-drilled the holes and everything is mounted up. I was really scared that the air clearner on top of the holley carb was not going to have enough clearance for the hood, but just got the hood on and it does!!! (can't be by more than 2 hairs, though)(and the hood release works, too)[:D]

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