About 3 years ago I put a 5speed Ford Sierra gearbox in my TD and for
distance use it has been excellent. The first four gears are more or less
the same ratios as the original box , 1st maybe a touch lower, but between
4th and 5th the revs drop by around 350. the Sierra box ( you may know it
as Taunus ) is a little longer than the original box and you need to cut a
chunk out of the tubular crossmember to make it fit, and then form another
bracket to take the rear mounting rubber. Cutting the piece out brings
tears to your eyes but if you keep the piece you can weld it back in and
nobody would ever know should you later change your mind and want to convert
back. the gear shift also comes up within 1inch of the original so you do
not have to modify the tunnel much or change the carpet.
The prop shaft needs to be shortened too but thats straight forward. Since
then I have converted another 2 for club friends, one for a YT and the
other a TF. The bellhousing needs to be modified to take the Ford box but
again a straight forward machining exercise.
Regards
David Tinker
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