im rebuilding a 1975 1200 ute in SA that has been sitting in a paddock for the last 15 years. i am making it all original with the the standard a12 engine because i need to get it registered and later on i was planning to dump a ca18 or a sr20 in it. that means i would have to modify the trans tunnel for the bigger gearbox i was thinking of replacing the tunnel now while the car is rolling shell instead of cutting it apart when the interior is all nice.is this a good idea? and would i be able to get the car registered with the bigger trans tunnel.

thanks

if you do a good job of it no one should notice when it comes time to get it registered

ok then. have you got any suggestions on what sort of trans tunnel i can use that would be big enough for a ca18 or sr20 gearbox i still want to be able to keep the original heater box in.

thanks

if you want to keep your heater box still, use 120y or 1200 auto tunnel (see my build) auto 1200 tunnel plenty room, just make sure its welded fully 20mm's over laping both side for enginnering.....

cheers mate you've been a great help. at first i will be putting in the original a12 gearbox.what would i do about the shift hole would it have to be relocated for the ca18 gearbox?

I was going to use a 180B auto tunnel, it's just that bit bigger without being huge...
I have it for sale at the moment, It's all cut out ready to go - I cut it the same length as the floor of the ute (front to back).
Just read your from S.A... PM me if your interested anyway $80.

if you use a stumpy gear box the shifter should come out same spot as stock a series one.

You can use almost any tunnel if your fabrication skills are good enough ,the last one I did was a Z18 turbo using a Bluebird Tunnel (Jap import front cut used the tunnel as well as the firewall section)also used a Girling remote master cylinder setup as used on formula Fords etc,master cylinder was mounted on top of the steering column mounting section and the original 1200 clutch pedal cable hookup lines up perfectly to actuate a master cylinder mounted in reverse position,This particular Ute was a Burgundy colored one featured in Fast Fours and rotaries that I built with the Owner a mate of mine and when it was sold the new owner put it in the Mag and claimed he and his mates built it.Magazine ran a retraction apology about the article 2 months later small print on like page 67 if anyone remembers that particular car,also done CA 18 turbo and 4AGE conversions in 1200's back in the early 90's,as well as preparing a number of competition 1200's over the years