... it's occured to me that if I were to use another type of gearbox, I would lose the centre engine mount. That would be a blow so I'm holding back on that idea for the moment.

On my way back to the kettle, I walked past a small digger in the yard and my gaze fell upon a cable which has sent me scuttling back to the drawing board......

Using the slector and shifter levers on the right hand side of the box will make the run of the cables too tight. I'm not sure yet but, I think that the 2 levers pivot on rods that extend far enough to protrude from the left hand side of the box and, I'm guessing that the levers were put on the left for the export models. If I use the 2 left hand positions, the cable runs will be much shallower and less prone to stiffening up.

So I'm definitely thinking about a cable - or more accurately, a solid-wire-in-a-cable arrangement, to operate the selector and shifter levers. The other reason for exploring this avenue is that in my semiconscious state, I didn't take into account the fact that there's  nearly 12" drop from the floor of the car to the 2 levers. This would necessarily involve negotiating a few more corners with the bellcanks and levers - more lost motion and more lost sleep.

I've collected the front engine mount kit of parts from the laser-cutting people; they've done a really nice job but, what is it that I'm just not getting about rulers? Luckily, I'm pretty handy with a file and soon had the front and rear pieces nestling in the chassis. Tomorrow, I'll firm up the assembly with some tack welds and mark out ready for drilling.