Fitting a 5 speed Sierra box to my Mk2 Escort

[Adrian Miller]

I'm finally looking at fitting a Sierra 5 speed box to my MK2 escort. Unfortunately I don't really have the skill or facilities to do this. Does anybody know where I can get it fitted or can put me in touch with somebody that knows what they are doing and would be able to fit it for me? I live in Brisbane so preferably within a reasonable driving distance. All I'm aware of that needs to be done when fitting the box is a new hole needs to be made because the gearstick needs to sit further back, a longer speedo cable is required and a mig welder is required to do the new mounts. I'm not sure if anything needs to be done to the clutch though. Any advice or help is most appreciated because I've been wanting to get this box and have it fitted for a while now and I don't care if I have to pay somebody else to fit it for me.

Cheers guys.

[stuart]

[Neville Bertwistle]

[Adrian Miller]

[Mr Hoarder]

The gearlever comes out in the correct place if the shell is an RS type.

[Mark Cogan]

Rob,

The Aussie RS doesnt have a long gearbox like the European ones, the gearstick hole is in the same place as standard Escorts AFAIK

[Adrian Miller]

Even better. What needs to be customised then?

[Mark Cogan]

Adrian,

I have done loads of these on Pommie cars but none on an Aussie spec one yet, so as far as I know:

if it's a standard Escort or an Aussie spec RS (not a german RS) then you will need to move the gearbox mounts further back in the tunnel, and also move the gearstick hole back, you will also need a different or shortened propshaft

the clutch spline is the same as standard 2.0 Escort, the clutch cable should be fine too, the bellhousings are interchangeable with the German gearbox so on euro RS2000's the alloy housing would be used, but for non RS cars the 5 speed bellhousing was identical to that on a Cortina so could be used just as well, you may need a longer speedo cable, one from a Cortina/Capri will normally do, I have found these cables have sometimes been fitted to escorts anyway

for the record if its a german/Euro spec RS2000 or MK2 Mexico it only needs the mounts to be done, and a speedo cable all the rest fits (prop tunnel hole etc)

Hope that helps

[Adrian Miller]

Thanks for the info Mark. It's just a standard Aussie Mk2 escort. It originally had a 1600 which i swapped for the 2 litre. I was planning on getting the box through Danny. So far it doesn't sound like alot needs to be changed to fit the box in.

[Roger Miller]

Adrian,

There are 2 articles in the tech section, on the way in here, covering this.