I don't know that I've ever read about anyone using the A4LD bellhousing. It is odd that an automatic has a removable bellhousing and that the part is normal enough to adapt but it is actually a very nicely cast piece and not too hard to adapt. A T-5 would be fairly straight-forward to adapt to that bell.
The transmission is a Toyota W-58. They come in non-turbo Supras. It is a wonderful transmission. They shift nice, have good ratios for a sporty car and are physically reasonably small. The size is very important for the Datsun installation. The W-58 comes in three or four different shifter positions. The one I have is the shortest. With the engine shoved way back like I have it in the small car I needed a short bellhousing to shifter dimension.
I still need to make arrangements for a clutch slave cylinder and throw out bearing. I'll use some kind of a concentric cylinder. Since the bellhousing was from an automatic there is no provision for for a clutch slave. Final layout and position of the slave cylinder will depend on what I do for a flywheel and clutch.
Normally,after I do a build like the adapter I know at least a few things I would do differently the next time. This went just like I planned and all worked out well.
If anybody else gets a wild hair to adapt a Toyota transmission let me know and I'll loan you the transmission drill jig and delrin bushing for the bellhousing.
I did this adapter a year or so ago. I'm now working on fitting the engine in the car. I've got it well back and in the process I cut away a lot of the firewall. So, I'm making pieces to close the firewall.
Since the cars were setup for an inline 4 they just took the direct route for the steering column. So the stock steering shaft came through where the left head is. So, I made a junk yard run and found a column from an 83 Toyota Celica. The dimensions are very similar to the original column but it is setup with a lower bearing and U-joint at the firewall. The original went through the firewall to the right of the brake pedal assembly. I was able to move the column to between the brake and clutch pedal. Interestingly enough, since they ran the original column from the drivers position directly to the steering box which sits much closer to the center of the car the original column actually sat at an angle to the centerline of the car and the steering wheel was a little closer to the driver on the right. I've driven these cars for years and never noticed it. With my new column the wheel sits perpendicular to the centerline of the car. I got tilt and some stalk controls in the deal as well.
Charlie
