Different trans tunnels for BW35/BW65?

ewokracing

ewokracing

Active Member
I was chatting with someone the other day and I mentioned that I have a BW65 V8 car and am planning to put a Supra/Celica/generic Toyota W58 gearbox in. He replied that it's near on impossible as the BW65 cars had smaller trans tunnels than that earlier BW35 cars.

Anyone else heard/seen this? I thought that the trans tunnel stayed the same right through for V8 auto cars?
 
I'm pretty sure they stayed the same, only difference was the bracket for the cable shifter on the BW65 cars. Maybe your source was getting confused with the manual 'box cars.
I have fitted an SD1 5spd to a BW65 car and I know a guy that's done a Celica conversion on his so...
 
^ yeah I didn't want to say "no" as this guy has had a few of them, but I was pretty sure the base unit is the same.
 
I needed a little gentle malletising to the tunnel when I did my
BW35 to LT77 conversion, so if according to the post, the 35's
had smaller tunnels than the 65's then it would be really tight to
squeeze the manual boxes into the 65 tunnel.....

Somehow, I don't see Rover going to the cost of re-tooling to make
the Tunnel SMALLER due to a change. I could buy it if they HAD TO
make it bigger.
 
Which have bigger tunnels -autos or manuals ? If it's manuals as I believe if the conversion can be done on a manual , surely it's easy with an auto?
 
DaveHerns said:
Which have bigger tunnels -autos or manuals ? If it's manuals as I believe if the conversion can be done on a manual , surely it's easy with an auto?
Click to expand...

Autos have the bigger tunnel, the BW35 is a lot wider than the manual box. The auto tunnels stayed the same size with the gearbox change, which is why there's a lot more room around a 65 than a 35. LT77's fit in the manual tunnel, but there's more room in the auto one.
 
DaveHerns said:
Which have bigger tunnels -autos or manuals ? If it's manuals as I believe if the conversion can be done on a manual , surely it's easy with an auto?
Click to expand...

The tunnel is so much bigger on the 3500 vs the 3500S you can spot a fake "S" just by glancing inside the car.
 
All good points and some useful info in here. Thanks chaps.

Question that just popped into my mind - since I have an auto, will I have enough room for a 3500S clutch pedal and the corresponding brake pedal?

I have nearly all the bits for a W58 Toyota swap now, I might get it started in the new year.
 
ewokracing said:
All good points and some useful info in here. Thanks chaps.

Question that just popped into my mind - since I have an auto, will I have enough room for a 3500S clutch pedal and the corresponding brake pedal?

I have nearly all the bits for a W58 Toyota swap now, I might get it started in the new year.
Click to expand...
The pedals are in a unit that mounts on the firewall. You will need one off a donor car and then you need
to fit the clutch master cylinder. Brake master will stay as is, IIRC.
 
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