1969 Triumph Vitesse *Megasquirt EFI on motorbike ITBs!*

[vitesseefi]

Nov 24, 2009 1:18:44 GMT mdh said:

Just been reading a post that says the Mt75 is a shorter box than the type 9 - maybe that would be a better swop?

IIRC fords use the same bellhousing, so the same adaptor would work???

No.... MT75 nearly all have bellhousing cast in a unit with the casing. The T9 has a bolt on bellhousing and the adaptor plate is used to adapt the gearbox to the Triumph bellhousing. You can buy casings without bellhousings for the MT75 gearset but they're not cheap....

As mentioned before you can shorten the remote on a T9 fairly easily. You remove the tailshaft housing and carefully saw off the remote. You shorten the link tube as much as you dare (about 65-70mm is possible). The link rod is shortened by exactly the same amount and a new hole drilled for the roll-pin which must be in exactly the same plane as the original hole. Weld remote back on further forward and reassemble...



Nick

Edit: I used an ex-Supra W58 which fits quite nicely but is alot of work if you are too mean to pay for a bellhousing kit. Some more info here under special interest projects

www.triumphowners.com/registry.cgi?section=triumph&vehicleID=574&i=0

[mdh]

nick - youre a hero! youve done all the things i keep talking about in the pub!!

I bought a supra box yonks ago, but was put off by the cost of a bellhousing from a certain tr6 specialist.

Ive also got a set of bmw m3 throttle bodies and a megasquirt ready to fit!

;D

[vitesseefi]

Thanks..... one mans hero is another mans looney of course

You can get TR6 - W58 bellhousings from Dellow (Australia), Conversion Components (NZ) and Herman Van Den Akker in USA. None of them are very cheap (and they want to sell you the whole kit, much of which is not very useful for a Vitesse/GT6 owner) but they are cheaper than the UK TR specialists. There is also a man in NE England somewhere (Stuart of Classic Conversions if memory serves) who sells parts from one of the above suppliers. He wanted about £ 600 about 4 years ago which is alot less than the TR suppliers (£ 2.5 K I saw ) but still seems like alot for a bell housing and odd clutch bits. The W58 box is nice though and should stand up to anything a Triumph lump can throw at it.

If you can find whichever Toyota it is that has the W series gearbox and the starter / clutch on the right, I think you stand a good chance of making it fit with a modified engine backplate. I've not been able to find one though or even identify the vehicles that use them - I've seen pictures though.

Nick

[mdh]

Really? Ok, youre my kind of looney then ;D

Given the state of my finances atm I think I'll be going for the cut and weld option on two bellhousings.

I was planning on using a centre mounted clutch slave, so starter motor positining wont be as much of a problem.

After that some bigger front discs and four pot calipers will help stop me.

Finally, getting rid of the transverse rear leaf and swing axles, in favour of a twin wishbone setup, is on the cards.

[MrSpeedy]

Usefull how to on the linkage shortening there - might just have to do that
Clutch is now a hybrid of original cover plate and release arm gripping a Sierra 2ltr (same diameter, 215mm) friction plate. If all my measurements are correct ( which they probably aren't ) then the original slave should match up with the arm to operate correctly !

Gearlever is due for some straightening action in the vice to see where it ends up, but I rekon prob not to far from where I want it somewhere near my left thigh !

Maybe fibreglass front ends were not so rare 'back in the day' (i was lead to believe they were), but you try finding one now !!

[mdh]

Seem to be in short supply now.

I remember them being unpopular before because they didnt fit very well....

[vitesseefi]

I think you can probably still buy them new.

This lot used to do them
www.honeybournemouldings.co.uk/index.htm

don't list them now but probably can make to order. There are a couple of other possibilities too but memory is failing me at the moment.

Nick

[mdh]

I did have a look at them tother day, but nothing was listed.

I'd rather try and knock the dents out of my bonnet for now.

[blueadept]

Nice job with the Ford Type9 box, I've gone down a different route...



Took some modification of the Chassis, but at least it's still triumph...

[MrSpeedy]

Well, time to drag this up out of the bowels of hell.

Updates;

Gearbox adaptor finished and fitted to the 'box itself. Notice the extra bracing welded to the bellhousing. Looked a bit weak to me;





Original release bearing and arm fitted. The bushing needed to be bored out by 0.025" to fit over the type 9 nose;



Finally the 'box fitted in the car. You may notice i have done the chop job mentioned above on the remote gearchange. ( Not the easiest but got there in the end )





And a pic of the hybrid propshaft i made up. Once this is all proven, i'll get a proper shaft made up;



Waiting now for a slave cylinder rebuild kit to arrive and i can try the clutch.

Rear brakes need attention (somethings catching) re-fit the interior, change the bonnet for the 'glass one, do some rather wild mods on the wheels/arches/altitude relationships, and then MOT time ! Yay Me !!

Gonna go and make it run now !!

[mdh]

Nice work Speedy!

[craig]

Excellent work! Be prepared to have it back out a few more times yet though. When i did the gearbox conversion on my Viva it was a case of 3rd time lucky. Is your selector shaft hole blind? The link in my sig covers all the trouble i had from page 3 or 4.

[MrSpeedy]

It's already been in and out a few times to make sure everything fits where it should, so next time it comes out should be for an engine swap.
Re; the selector shaft, yh, i bored a hole in the bellhousing and then pressed in a blind tube to seal it off.

[xgenerator]

Interesting read and also nice to see another 69 Vitesse on here. I will be fitting a similar box on mine but with a zetec engine as well.

regards Mark

[mdh]

Xgen - before you stick a ford lump in, try the 6 pot. Its a great engine.

[MrSpeedy]

Right, mini update !

Due to the cr@p weather and dark evenings, i'm trying to crack on with stuff in the workshop instead.

Soooooo, Clutch slave cylinder honed, resealed and rebuilt ready to fit to bellhousing.
Also turned my attention to the new engine and as i'm aiming for around 150bhp, i thought i'd better do something with the cylinder head. So i did this;





Not opened up massively, but a lot of smoothing and blending, particularly around the valve seats and guides. Should release a few more ponies. I haven't got any 'before' pics but the combustion chambers are a lot smoother and the plug holes are opened up a little.

Some months ago i snagged a tubular manifold off of ebay,



but it was missing the final 2 into 1 collector. Not knowing who's manifold it is, and being a tight b@stard anyway, there was only one thing for me to do. - Make one !!

A few pieces of 16swg sheet steel, a piece of bar in the vice and plastic hammer and a little tin bashing later i had these;





Then over to the welding bench and half an hour later this appeared before me ;





Problem solved !!

[apbellamy]

good skills

[MrSpeedy]

Little more progress. Well, more like playing really !! lol

Anyways, on with the pics;

Inlet ports, sorted



Combustion chambers sorted



Inlet manifold sorted. This is massively re-worked to remove the obstruction of flow to no.s 2 & 5, bored out to 1.75" and matched to the head, followed by a thorough polish



And finally, painted all internal unmachined surfaces




Just bagged me a pair of CD175's to take care of fuel delivery duties.

[BenzBoy]

Crackin' work! I like the gearbox conversion.

[DutyFreeSaviour]

Glad this was dragged back - excellent detailed info on the conversion. Any more pics of the inlet manifold work? Looks like you really know what you're about....... well done fella.

best of luck through 2011 with this.

John