Can’t remember why exactly it had to come out but I vaguely remember that it had to do with the clutch. I opted to take the complete engine out instead of fiddling inside the cabin with the gearbox and overdrive.
As I took it out when it had been installed, I left all the mounting rubbers/brackets in place including the special one under the overdrive.
In my case it was the front underside of the oil pan that was the “bottleneck”. When that section had passed the cross tube, it could move backwards a bit and the harmonic damper and pulley stayed on the block. I removed the carbs, manifolds and the oil filter as you can see on my photo.
Just take your time for this operation Roger: if I can do it, you certainly can!
Yes there should be a gasket between the gearbox and the bell housing.
The bell housing looks to be machined to incorporate a drain back into the gearbox in case oil gets past the seal. If the gasket is missing oil could creep between the two surfaces.
Thanks for the mounts etc. advice David and Bob, that’s very helpful.
With regards to the gasket, the only machining visible is the hole for the rear of the countershaft. I would seal this against the bellhousing with a little carefully applied RTV normally. Otherwise, I have to remove the input shaft front cover, insert full gasket and refit front cover. I don’t know if there are any thrust clearances here that need to be maintained? A gasket has been used between the front cover and the casing, but it doesn’t cover the rest of the gearbox to bellhousing surface. What’s the best approach? I guess I could make a gasket to cover the full area but fit around the front bearing casing rather than under it.