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Re: Elan 5sp again

To: Keith Gustafson <gusmach@shore.net>
Subject: Re: Elan 5sp again
From: "Erik V. Berg" <erikb@elrond.sp.TRW.COM>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 1997 04:25:57 -0700
Howdy, Keith.
You wrote:
>Went down the street and measure a 240z 4sp that was laying around. The 4-5
>change in a z car is supposed to be a bolt in so it should be similar in
>size. If anyone is curious it is approx 31" long, bellhousing is integral,
>the gearbox is a bit potbellied, 9" tall and ~8-1/4" wide about 14"  from
>the bellhousing. The shifter is all the way at the back, so something would
>have to be done. By my [very] crude measurements, without jacking the car
>up, it should fit in there. The 'pot belly' would still be in the Y area of
>the chassis. Hmmm... 

Thanks for the info, Keith.  31" long is OK, and I guess the integral 
bellhousing might work (although starter and clutch cylinder locations
could very easilly turn out to be problems...) 

Well, 8-1/4" wide (in the area where it would be inside the straight, box 
section part of the chassis?) actually does *not* sound very promising.

It has been a while since I measured the inside width of the frame, and I 
(stupidly) have never brought this in to work after writing it down, but I 
doubt that dimension would fit in a stock frame, and there's little chance 
whatever that it would fit in the (tighter) Spyder frame.

Having the shifter all the way at the back is not good, either.  Does the 
shifter sprout directly from the back of the case, or is there a separate 
remote change housing? 

Have you got a loose, stock frame that you can measure, for inside width in 
the central box section area?  I've got one, but it is at a location that I 
probably won't be going to until next weekend or so....

I could be wrong, and my track record with off the cuff comments has been 
*really* bad rccently,   ;-)    but I don't think it is a happenin' deal.

Didn't the Datsun Roadster 5 speed 'box have a separate bellhousing?  I 
think this widget might be the one to look at, in Nissan/Datsun land,
because it was supposedly smaller, and was supposedly available with 
some pretty good ratios as well.  (Second hand, unconfirmed info so don't
quote me....)

I'll try to remember to measure the inside width of the stock frame, next 
weekend.

Regards,
Erik Berg


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