Morning

Before diving in and kicking myself any views welcome.

Would like to fit a remote gearshift to the back of my type 9 to allow more space to dash/dials

The only thing stopping me is the front upper chassis rail before the tunnel angles up. The remote will fit but any movement in the gearbox will result in the remote banging agasinst the under side of the rail

Would welcome peoples opinins on the following options.

a) cut the offending rail out, how structurally essential is it?

b) cut some of the underside away to increase clearance below rail

c) cut the rail out and replace with some thick steel strip, would be bolted as I can't weld

or alternatively leave it the hell alone as the car would fall to bits

Would welcome views from anyone who is more knowledgeable than me *not difficult) or maybe someone here has already done it and would appreciate information on how they went about it.

Thanks as usual and look forward to seeing some of your finished cars at the weekend and stealing plenty of ideas

Nigel

Can you gain more clearance by lowering the gearbox mounting to drop the tail of the gearbox?

Hi Nick

Thanks for replying. The gearbox mount is already attached to the under side of the mounting lugs welded to the chassis rails.

Does anyone see a problem with spacing it further away from the lugs using penny washers as an example.

As pointed out by Nick this may give me the clearance needed. Any problems with the gearbox being a a permenant downward angle at the rear?

Just goes to show, throw a problem out there and people will come up with solutions you never considered even if they are obvious with hind sight

Thanks again

hi there
i had a similar problem
i just cut out the offending member and rewelded further back (about an inch)

I can't claim to be more knowledgable, but do have some experience.....

Same car MK Indy Pinto and I have a remote gear extension fitted and working.

Originally I tried to lower the gearbox by spacing the mounting down by about 25mm. This worked, everything cleared, however, this put the exhaust under a lot more strain. If you think about it the rear mount of the exhaust is further back than the rear gearbox mount so should be lowered as well. In my case I couldn't 'adjust' the angle of the exhaust enough by rotating the pieces if you know what I mean.

I finished up cutting out the rail, with the intention of replacing it a little further back. Problem is my car is finished and I don't want to strip things out to weld in a new piece so was also thinking about bolting a piece of steel in.

Now I'm not saing this is safe or correct but I havn't quite got round to replacing the crossmember yet...... and everything seems to be OK.

John.

just cut it out and weld it back in further back... (or get someone else to weld it back in for you!)

hth
Steve.

many thanks for everyones input, it's given me food for thought.

Notice that both John & worx are local to me as I'm in Ellesmere Port just outside Chester

Thanks agian for the assistance

I cut the tube out, MK at MK said OK to do. I made up a gearbox mount for my MT75 using a plate and some Mini exhaust mounts (little bobbin size things with studs each end) they work really well and small size means they can be squeezed in small spaces.

thats cool mate, we'll have to meet up at some point! I was in Chester last week!

I met up with Derek (Jubal on here) and he is a top bloke with a nice sorted car - we only went for a quick blat about and played with a few bikes, but are going to meet up again soon over the upcoming months I'm sure!

Cheers,
Steve.

quote:

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Originally posted by jabbahutt
many thanks for everyones input, it's given me food for thought.

Notice that both John & worx are local to me as I'm in Ellesmere Port just outside Chester

Thanks agian for the assistance

---

If the head man at MK is happy with the crossmember not being there, I'd just cut it out and leave it.

Don't think mine is going to go back in now.

Nice to know there are some others local, you're welcome round here anytime......

John

John many thanks for the kind invite I'll definately take you up on that.
The same of course goes to you and Worx/ any other builders in the area who wish to pop round to the Ellesmere Port area for a visit.

This site is great not just for sharing technical info

[Edited on 4/5/07 by jabbahutt]

LIke some other people, I just cut out that cross piece and haven't replaced it (on advice from Mac#1). Not worries so far

Can you not make a piece that fits underneath the chassis rail like U shaped ]_/[ with the chassis rail in the middle of the U.

Thats how ours is, although the box is spaced down and the exhaust angled slightly downwards to get it all under

You're not far from me either, i work for chester wholesale news (other side of motorway to cheshire oaks) and live in leasowe if you ever need any help.
tony

I did mine just after Zetec did his and I also phoned Martin (before the seperate companies were set up) and said it was fine to remove it. If your worries you could get it welded back in in a different place.

thanks to everyone who took the time to help with this question. Ran it past MK at Stoneleigh and for everyones information it is as posted above, it's fine to remove that chassis rail completely.

Mad Butcher, thanks for the offer of assistance, I live just past Cheshire Oaks on the housing estate next to the Blue planet aquarium, you'll have to pop over and impart some knowledge to me, it would be muchappreciated and welcome.