Hmmm - I've been peering into my transmission tunnel now my car's stripped down to the almost naked chassis, but with the engine, box and
bellhousing still in place.
If I were to modify the passenger footbox a little and widen the transmission tunnel by 3 inches (more or less) at the expense of the right-foot space
to wriggle, I could get my bellhousing and therefor engine (cast, pinto, type 9) a good 4" further back in the chassis.
Bearing in mind I'm converting to duratec as part of this build as well as putting an alloy bellhousing on (RWD) which looks to be the same shape
as the cast one, more or less, I think I can nicely move the mass back with little modification - a little angry-grinder, welding and panel beating.
I'm going to be fabricating new exhausts as well, so that's a chance I can accommodate, and the steering column man need a jiggle aboot, but
I can live with that.
Your thoughts?
It sounds reasonable enough as long as you are careful to reinforce the chassis if you remove anything which contributes to its stiffness.
You can't beat a bit of chassis chopping! My favourite pastime!
Shouldn't be a problem. My Fury has a wider tunnel, it came from Fisher like that if you were fitting a V8. You can get an idea of the width in this album https://picasaweb.google.com/107546850034467009420/GearKnob#
I moved the engine back in my seven to fit a zetec. All seemed ok but when I came to fit the exhaust manifold it all got very tight aginst the bulkhead and starter. Remember measure twice cut once. Good luck.
One thing I noticed when fitting the engine into my Fury was that the lump sticking out of the bell housing for the cable clutch was the limiting
factor in how far back I could push the engine. I still got it well back but did wonder whether having a hydraulic clutch and different bell housing
would have let me go another inch or two.
It might be a simpler mod than chassis chopping.
So great replies:
@Scudderfish - thanks for the pics - I've got a blog running for this (furyrebuild.co.uk) but it's not
well populated with posts yet - just got going - is it OK if I link out to your link?
My plan is to just make the passenger footwell narrower at that one spot.
@macc man: There's plenty of room in the fury for manifolds - i'm going to be fabricating a new one as part of the build regardless, so will
take that into account - the fury exhausts basically come out of the block horizontally for a good 50cm so I have room to manoeuvre - still, good
advice and taken on board.
@Rocso - you're not wrong - I had real battles getting my engine first time around - it came on an alloy bellhousing but getting it sensibly back
into the chassis meant the clutch lever arm fouled the chassis, so I shaved the manifold but couldn't get it back. So I went back to a cast one
to move the engine back and everything fitted well. I have about 1" between the starter housing and the bulkhead (not good) but that was the
appropriate distance to give clutch lever arm clearance. I'm going to be changing my bellhousing regardles so i may as well sell one of the kids
organs and go hydraulic clutch at the same time - this will narrow the bellhousing and allow me to move it back - i'm handy with an angle grinder
and welder, so don't mind chopping a bit to get it in.
part of the build will be adding in bolt-in cross members at the bottom of the tunnel as well to make it a closed space rather than a u-shape. lots of
strength for little £££.
Your thoughts, gents?
Help yourself 
My picasaweb site is full of random photos. If there is anything in particular you want, let me know and I'll post it up.
Regards,
Dave
quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
Help yourself
Regards,
Dave
MakeEverything: This link is for you. It's text from bash.org, and is probably work safe. No pictures at least. It may give you a giggle:
http://bash.org/?572066
take a gander at these:
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