I am not going to argue here, but ...
I have broken several late (LHD Euro spec 7's) they where all a straight swap.
Did have the problems you mention with a late US spec car [:p]
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<font color="blue"><i>1976 TR7 FHC (currently being restored ...)
1980 TR7 DHC (my first car, a.k.a. Kermette)
1981 TR7 FHC (Sprint engined a.k.a. 't Kreng
</font id="blue"><b>[url="http://www.tr7beans.blogspot.com/"]<u><b><font size="2"><font color="red">Click this link for a full version of my blog</font id="red"></font id="size2"></b></u>[/url]</b></i></center>