Good morning from Italy, info about Rover, please help

[gianlurange]

Hi everybody,
I'm Gianluca from Italy, I live in Tuscany (near Firenze) and I'm  in your very complete forum to ask some infos. To start, greetings to you and to your great Land!
I'm a British car's enthusiast, I have an MGB GT (1976), an MG TF 135 (80° Anniversary, 2004) and two Range Rover Classic (2.4 TD 2 doors 1986, 3.9 V8 4 doors 1991) and now I'm making a swap in my MGB.
I want to swap a Rover K engine, because I like very much this engine (in my TF is around 160 hp, with Lotus Sport camshafts, sport stainless steel exhaust, metallic cat, direct air filter, original head ported, Emerald ECU+LC1 wide band controller). I think it's very nice to drive, very light and also reliable if you fix HGF in the right way (now I'm over 149.500 Km on my TF).
So....the MGB K conversion is almost popular in UK, but using a Katerham bellhousing and a Ford gearbox.
The Katerham bellhousing is almost expensive, the "right" Ford gearbox is not so popular in Italy and also with this configuration the powertrain is too much short and it needs also the modification of the heater matrix complex.
So I've tortured Google and I've discovered that FSO also used Rover K. Great news!!! A K engine car RWD, perfect!
I've some good friends in Poland and so now I have at home a brand new FSO bellhousing. With this bellhousing and an old engine I'll start, in next days, to study the position of the new brackets and the doubt is:
I use the original gearbox, adapting the FSO bellhousing, or I put in the car the FSO gearbox?
If the FSO gearbox will fit I'll be happy to use it and to build a new propeller shaft (more easy than adapting the bellhousing to te original gearbox), but I need your help with a measure.
I need to know the distance between the gear stick and the end of the bellhousing, as I've drawn in the picture attached (the picture is of MGB gearbox and engine originals. But not mine....these are too much clean  )

Can you help me? Tahnk you very very much, grazie!!!!

[Jaro]

You need to use the bellhousing to adapt the FSO gearbox, not the original one.

About your distance issue- I don't think anybody over here will be able to provide the measurements you need, as far as I know nobody has ever used an original MGB gearbox in their FSO Polonez. I recommend you try your luck on some MGB/DIY Catheram themed forums. However, if you need any measurements of the FSO parts, I think people over here will be more than happy to help. Not me personally however, I own an OHV engined Polonez.

[gianlurange]

Thank you Jaro, for your answer. 
Sorry if I wasn't really clear in my 1st message, I make a resume:

- I know about the MGB conversion with Katerham powertrain but, as I wrote, I don't want to modify also the heater matrix and heater system, if possible
- I have yet the FSO/Rover bellhousing at home
- The distance that I need is about the FSO gearbox (the picture of MGB parts is only as an example, because I don't have such a picture of FSO parts) and I ask if someone of you can take this mesaure (maibe someone has engine and gearbox dismounted in his garage)
- adapting FSO bellhousing in MGB original gearbox is possible, but with a great work and this is why I search to put directly FSO gearbox in my MG (but I have to be sure that the gear lever will be in the right position)

Ciao
Gianluca

[Jaro]

If you just need that distance for the FSO parts somebody over here should be able to provide the measurements without a problem, just wait for some time, not everybody has an engine and a gearbox coupled together laying around

[gianlurange]

Yes, I just need the distance in the FSO gearbox 
For sure I wait, I can imagine that it's not so common to have this parts at home....but I hope.

[banned]

If you will decide for FSO gearbox, you must remember to order your friends to buy gearbox from Polonez 1.4, most popular FSO gearboxes for 1.6 engines cannot be put together with K series.

[gianlurange]

Thank you for the advice Sparrow, in fact just yesterday I was talking about it and asking to search only the Rover FSO gearbox.
I've found in the forum this pic and measuring the bellhousing I have at home I've calculated that the lenght, of gearbox+bellhousing FSO/Rover, could be around 53 cm.
I know this is a very empirical measure, made with a comparison, sorry. 

[banned]

I've checked this out, I can't tell you what are the exact measures because I've measured it on a car, being under it, but the unknown measure in the photo is about 51-53 cm, and total lenght is approximately 58cm

[gianlurange]

Great!! Many many thanks. 
If I stay between 50 and 55 cm. I think I can make an almost easy swap.
We'll see....in the middle of March I think I'll be in Poland, maibe I could have time to choose a gearbox.
A question: this gearbox is an evolution of the Fiat?

[banned]

I guess... They took this from 125p (polish version of 125 with modified old 1.5 OHV from Fiat 1500), they removed a hydro-cluth and thread guides, later they added a 5th gear. Same or almost the same gearbox with different housing and roller clutch was used for Rover engines. So this is an evolution of the Fiat, somehow.

Those gearboxes are very cheap, second-hand about 70 zł (less than 20 euros or something). Second gear synchronizer failture is quite often but new synchronizers are avaible. Generally it's a bit oldschool when you use it for the first time, but it quickly turns out to be very quick, precision and reliable, it's impossible to miss a gear, no matter how quick you change them. Thanks to a direct connection of stick shift with selector it gives very good feeling of cogs so even allows you to change gears without cluth. The only problem might be that a 200mm cluth is probably the biggest you can put in there, but I'm not sure.

[gianlurange]

No problem with old school gearboxes, in old English cars are like agricultural gearboxes!
And Fiat school is not bad.

[banned]

Comparing to Fiat Panda 2003, Honda Accord II, and Kia Cee'd it's the best gearbox I've ever used.