V8 Se5 Scimitar - Fitting the engine and Gearbox...
Clearly cutting of footwells is involved!!!
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I made a template to ensure plenty of room would be left for the engine, and an extra bit to clear the manifolds. The position was determined by the front pulley, fitting behind the steering rack. On a suggestion from Sam, the fibreglass was cut around 3 sides and folded in, and riveted in place using Ally sheet, prior to being glass fibred over - I was going to remove the Alloy plate, but I left them in situe.
SAFETY NOTE: Around the manifolds I left bare Ally to prevent any risk of fire overheating etc, and give maximum clearance.
Mounting engine and gearbox
The transmission tunnel
needed some cutting to raise the height locally, which I was not expecting.
The engine / gearbox mounts had to be fabricated mostly from 3mm sheet,
but the gearbox mount also used bar/plate - lets just say it is sturdy...
Here's some info on fitting autoboxes »
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The gearbox mounting is completely different style and position (further back) for the LT77 gearbox, so I used the original 4 mounting bolts at the front linking to Chassis centre cross member at the rear.
Note: The LT77 (early Rover SD1 5 speed) or R380 (later, found on MGR V8, TVR's etc) are both suitable but you will need a Sherpa type shift linkage to get the gearlevel into a suitable position. Apparently Jaguar used the Rover gearbox for a time and made a very refined short shifter, but they're rare as! See below for example of difference between short Sherpa shifter (fitted) and SD1 shifter adjacent (not fitted).
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See "Other" page for important extra jobs you'll need to tackle...