Killer1200- my first brilliant Idea was a honda vtec uniill I found out the bloody things run backwards, but I'm still here fishing for originality.... I've got "approval in principle" for a CA18DET conversion which has a lot more potential, but the CA's are getting a bit long in the tooth and arent going to look too flash in 5 years time

Pro240C- I had thought a bit about the gearbox issue- celica conversion was the obvious choice...... Is it just a matter of grafting a bellhousing (with appropriate spacing and alignment) onto whatever gearbox you want?? Perhaps somthing from the light commercial range . Then match the clutch to the gearbox and machine & redril the flywheel to suit?
I am pretty sure the gearbox for the MIVEC is the same design, bellhousing etc (just doifferent ratios) as the rest of the mitsubishi front drivers, cos there is a mob over here that does conversions into lancers & mirages. Finding a cheap donor bellhousing from a knackered gearbox should not be to difficult.