I don’t have a definitive answer but rather a suggestion as to what it means….. apparently it is now possible to buy all the panels separately to build a mini. So would that be a reconstructed mini? Thanks Ian (Obviously buying a new shell is cheaper)  

I use the pkpass' all the time, saves me logging in to all these pesky apps, which inevitably have logged out just when you need them. Not c or c++ that would be way more obscure, nice friendly JSON (JavaScript object data ) that is, the computer programmer in me is fascinated by the info they have included in that json, must not go probing MSUK network... must not go probing... In all seriousness, maybe I'm overzealous  in my data protection but, as much as we are a trusty bunch of people, theres some personal info in there you might wanna delete it from a public facing internet forum.

Few grammatical mistakes in that I’ve just realised so I apologise for that- it’s late. i forgot to add a picture of the clutch release bearing shaft, this is the shaft ‘mid’ modification, unfortunately it’s the only picture I have but you can see what I’ve had to do if you compared it to a factory shaft  also this is by far the roughest part of the project, I’m not super proud of the workmanship here! But it does function as intended so it’s ok

Hello! As the title suggests I am putting an mx5 gearbox in my 76 spitfire. i reckon im about 80% through the job now. it was clear to me when i set out on this journey that it would be split into two parts; making it work and making it fit. so to make it work i started by making a rear engine plate to fit the mx5 bell housing on the end of the triumph engine. I have a friend who works in an engineering place so I kind of cheated here, he scanned in the bell housing bolts using the mx5 bell housing to engine plate gasket. He then scanned in the triumph engine plate mounting bolts using the plate it self. He centred the two scans around the centre point and got it laser cut out of 8mm mild steel. Probably could have gone for half of that thickness in hindsight. Great, engine, meet gearbox. next up was the clutch assy. The factory triumph flywheel is a little too big to fit the mx5 bell housing. So I opted to use the mx5 flywheel clutch and pressure plate. I intended to weld and re-drill a factory mx5 flywheel to match the triumph crank PCD. However, the mx5 flywheel is cast iron which is notorious for being unpredictable when welding. It cracked. The mx5 flywheel was a no go. So back to the drawing board I went.  eventually I ended up getting a gt6 flywheel (bigger clutch than the spitfire) and knocking off the ring gear and machining the flywheel down to suit an mx5 ring gear. This way I could still use the mx5 starter. I used a tr6 pressure plate and a factory mx5 clutch friction disc and luckily the mx5 clutch is about the same size as the triumph one.  now I have my clutch assembly.  Now the mx5 input shaft sits 10mm inbound of the bell housing so the shaft is too short to meet the spigot bearing, too short to meet the friction disc and too short for the clutch release bearing to meet the pressure plate. Either I had to extend the crankshaft, which i didn’t want to do, or shorten the bell housing. The mx5 gearbox is a very long gearbox as is so I didn’t mind loosing a bit of length as it would make life easier down the line when it comes to gear stick position. So I cut the gearbox, Removed around 25mm, got both sides on a friends mill to get the surfaces flat and had it welded up. The input shaft protrudes by 15mm ish, it’s enough to meet the spigot. I had to take a few mms out of the centre of the spigot bearing to meet the mx5 input shaft. I also had to take the flywheel centre out to 26mm to clear the input shaft. now the assembly sits much tighter in the gearbox. Massive oversight, how on earth am I going to get the clutch release to work. There are concentric conversions for the mx5 out there but they are expensive, not fit for purpose and I like to ‘make do’  so I hacked it to bits, shortened the shaft of which the release bearing slides and shortened the fulcrum to match. I then had to recess the shaft back so it has more travel backwards, hopefully pictures will help explain. This is all done with a grinder btw. I also had to open up the hole backward where the clutch fork slides in. Since the clutch and release mechanism has all been moved back, I am hoping to be able to use the factory location for the mx5 slave cylinder on the side of the gearbox. I did think that the clutch fork was a little bit low and might have trouble clearing the chassis when installed but naturally I ignored this intuition and carried on regardless, (foreshadowing) I got the gearbox in place and bolted it to the engine, I had to cut off a massive knobbly bit on the right side to make it fit as well as a few bits off of the bell housing that seem to stick out for absolutely no reason. i turned my attention to the prop shaft, i already had a short and modified prop as I’ve got a Subaru r180 diff in the back. I got an mx5 prop cut it roughly, got the triumph prop and cut the end off of that so i only had the modified uj/flang that fit the diff and got underneath the car and just eyeballed how long it needed it to be. The mx5 prop has a sliding shaft so i can afford to be a little imprecise. Anyway turns out my guess was pretty good as it is exactly where id want it, welded that prop shaft up and that’s that job done.  No, I’m not getting it balanced. Yes I’m aware it will probably kill my diff bearing at somepoint but I am doing an engine swap down the line and will have the body off and I’ll make good on these parts at a later date. Right now I’m up against a time limit and I need this done asap as I’m borrowing the mrs car to get to work!  Next up is the gearbox mount. I used the factory mx5 gearbox mounting location and used a modified spitfire O/D gearbox mount and made a mounting base out of 3mm steel just in front of the middle chassis reinforcement.  Now is time to get the shift location right, as it’s far too far back on the unmodified mx5 box. First step is to split the box and remove the gear shift housing. Shave it down and machine (flap disc grinder) the area I’m moving the housing to flat so it can fit. I cut the selector fork down and it’s golden coloured outer sheathing, only about 2mm is visible from the outside now.  I had to drill and tap mounting holes for the gear shift housing. There is basically nothing in the end housing of this gearbox so sticking two bolts down into it is totally clear. When reassembled I notice some flex when shifting into 2nd/4th/rev from the housing as I was only mounting it using the front bolts, so I made a triangular steel reinforcement which negated that flex. I then cut the gear stick itself and rewelded it at an angle like the original gear stick as you’d punch the dash if not. So now I’ve come to fit the gearbox properly with the flywheel and entire clutch assy. Turns out the clutch release fork does not, in fact, clear the chassis and the chassis will need to be modified to fit, nothing horrendous just an inch or so section of flange off of the chassis should do it, I’ve also make the release fork/arm as narrow as possible so I only have to remove a little bit off of the chassis. I haven’t modified the chassis yet as I decided that was a job for a different day. Now would be a good time to mention the modifications I’ve had to do to the body and chassis to get this box in, a little bit of chassis flange tapped down by about 5mm on the left side of the box to clear the bulgey bit of the gearbox, little bit off of the bulkhead to accommodate the starter section of the bell housing and a little bit just below that for the clutch release fork and slave cylinder. Not too bad really. This job is ultimately much larger than i anticipated but I’m fed up with the triumph gearbox, I don’t like the way it drives, I’ve broken 3 of them even after fully rebuilding one of them so I decided I had to make a change. I’m also in the process of building a 2498cc turbo tr6 engine to fit in and the standard triumph clutch arrangement and gearbox is no where near up to the task of handling that sort of power. mx5 parts are great as they are plentiful, well built and very cheap. I bought this gearbox for £40, mx5 flywheel for £30, mx5 starter for £15 and the prop for £15. You cannot argue with these prices, the starter tested perfectly working and I’ve had a look inside the gearbox and the gears look pristine. For that sort of price I could replace six 5speed, more robust gearbox’s for the price of one recon triumph box. There is no arguing with that price. Also the mx5 feels fantastic to change gears. Stock gearbox weighs 46kg, mx5 box weighs 35kg Stock flywheel and clutch weighs 10.5kg modified flywheel and clutch weighs 13.1kg So that’s us up to date on my little project, I’ve attempted to upload some pictures let me know if it’s worked! Cheers, Sam

Today's been a productive day!  I've always been confused every time I read the haynes and factory manual on setting the dizzy drive gear endfloat but after reading it once or twice, it clicked. The factory manual has a much better way of explaining it than the haynes, I'd forgotten as it had been so long. Anyway valve clearances set to 0.010", everything rotating nicely and all timing marks in the right places etc. I'm happy.   I also managed to get a few other bits fitted, new water pump, the ally housing was vapour blasted so its like new. I hope this water pump works, the first time I built the engine on startup I had coolant pissing out of the week hole on the pump, brand new unit, wasn't happy. the pictures are screnshots from my instagram so excuse the captions. I trial fitted the 6 2 1 and wrapped it with heat wrap. YES Yes i know its a waste of time and I'll end up with a cracked manifold it's not the best performance boost so providing it lasts a year or so, enough to save up for a decent stainless 6 3 1, I'm happy. Or so long as it gets me a good picture of the manifold glowing cherry red after an intense drive. Over the next week I'll get the manifolds fitted and the bonnet back on. I was worried about fitment issues with the starter motor, but there's plenty of clearance so shouldn't be an issue.

Thank you! I can nearly see the light at the end off the tunnel!

Phew, this is what I ended up going with anyway

The Jag season has started and my wallet has reported me for assault. 180km round trip at: (small trumpet fanfare) 10mpg. There are no words....

Unless I am getting confused the interesting line is ; ‘ reconstructed a classic vehicle ‘ .