I bought a ready built hybrid MT75 off ebay last year. This one is built from the front casing of xr4x4 and the rear end and internals from a scorpio diesel.
Its 8kg lighter than a type 9 and the great thing about it being a diesel box is that it has a longer 5th for better high speed cruising, ehem I mean fuel economy. 101mph@3500rpm!
Here it is next to the type 9.
As you can see, the MT is wider and taller, but it fits in the capri trans tunnel without modification. The gearlever is under 1inch further back, but lines up with the opening in the trans tunnel, just needed the "lift for reverse" mechanism cutting off, to fit through the hole.
For the conversion i needed the following parts:
2.9 4x4 flywheel and clutch (3kg heavier)
35mm engine rubber mounts, to drop the engine down to aid trans tunnel clearance.
Custom propshaft with sliding joint.
Short peice of metal rod to make new gearlever (the sierra lever is far too long and bends backwards too far, I also wanted to use a capri gearknob)
Granada electronic speedo (MT75 has an electronic speedo sensor)
With all the "lift for reverse" white plastic surround cut off for clearance:
Here it is offered up under the car with the type9 crossmemember fitted. I decided it would need 30mm spacers and the bolt holes were out of line by under 10mm.
Shorter engine mount rubber next to the original:
Modification to xmember for lower mounting:
Crossmember spacers bolted up:
Yes, the gearbox to ground clearnace is 32mm less than standard, but the exhausts are still the lowest point under the car, so it will be fine.
Then it was a case of fitting the standard prop shaft, and measureing how much longer it needed to be to meet the MT75 flange. I took the capri prop to propshaft services near heathrow and told them what I needed, and a week later they posted this back to me:
It cost £128+VAT. Its a lot of money for what it is, but I had no choice unless i want to keep blowing up type 9s.
My 50p custom gearlever, threaded at each end:
I got this all bolted together and the car drove! However there was a vibration comeing from the middle of the car at 40mph+, abit unpleasant and I started cussing about that expensive new propshaft!
After abit of thinking I realised that as the outputshaft on the MT is in a lower position, the propshaft was running at an odd angle. If the propshaft geometry is wrong, they vibrate! To correct this i needed to space the prop center mount to bring everything back into line...
And job done! From the inside you cant tell its not standard and the shift is nice. The gear ratios are so much better for aceleration too, they are similar to 2.8 4speed ratios. It seems more lively to drive now, plus once the funs over, shift into 5th and it becomes a relaxed motorway cruiser. It should be very under stressed on a 2.9 12v, until I start running big power! hehehe
