Hi Lawrence,
I fitted a T9 gearbox to my 1969 Herald 1360 Convertible last winter. As it is mechanically very similar to the Mk 3 spitfire I hope you will find this information useful.
Regarding the gear lever position, I did not modify the gearbox remote housing, but chose to shorten the handbrake lever by 1.5 inches.
Flywheel/clutch
Firstly, I fitted a modified crankshaft spigot bush, as the T9 has a larger spigot diameter.
A Spitfire 1500 flywheel was fitted (with bolt adaptors) to accept the larger Ford 23 spline centre plate (Sierra 1.6), a Spitfire 1500 pressure plate was used.
(no adverse effects on engine pick-up/smoothness)
Chassis/tunnel
I had to cut away small sections of the flanges on the main chassis legs to allow the gearbox some clearance.
The tunnel had to be cut back by a couple of inches - although this may be different on a Spitfire?
I had to modify the gearbox tunnel, although you can get T9 tunnels now. Modified tunnel carpet section will be needed.
A Cortina Mk 2 gearbox mount was used - fitted below the flange on the chassis leg to give enough clearance.
Gearbox
I used an adaptor plate, and modified bellhousing centre sleeve.
There is some drilling & grinding of the gearbox casing, and bellhousing required, to reduce this I used Allen headed machine bolts ( a more compact bolt head) to secure the bell housing to the gear box. Also some shortening of the input shaft may be required.
Prop-shaft
A new bespoke prop-shaft and speedo cable were fitted.
Please note that every installation is slightly different, and each owners level of mechanical skill/experience will differ.
My conversion took all winter with a fair bit of trial & error, I think the box came out 3 times to get things right !
The end result was a transformed car with a quiet & much stronger transmission, plus the benefit of a 5th gear which drops the revs by about 22%.
She will return 45mpg and cruise at 60mph at about 3000rpm.
Spigot bush Flywheel bolt adaptors Flywheel Bolts/nuts Clutch plates Speedo cable
Bellhousing centre (Rimmer Bros) (Spitfire Graveyard) (Namrick) Gearbox mount (Speedy Cables)
Adaptor plate (E-bay)
Prop-shaft
(Canley Classics)
Paul Ballamy