This fall I drove my 61 210 into the garage for what was suppose to be a quick winter make over, and what happened to that plan I'll never know. Now I have the motor sitting on the engine stand the nose out back of the garage the rolling frame parked in the drive way and body on a four wheel swivel dolly I made up. The body was stripped of everything then sand blasted to barre metal inside and out, I have replaced both rockers inside and out, front and back floor pans and welded in several patches where needed. I plan on installing a overdrive transmission at reassembly but now is the time to rework the trans tunnel. I have read Bob Silvius (is he Sil that post here) article about installing overdrive in a PV and using his measurements and taking some of my own off the M41 I can figure out where to start and stop the tunnel expansion but can't seem to figure out how much more clearance is needed on the outside diameter. With out the transmission in place it is hard to figure out how much room is needed for the overdrive bulge. Also is there any reason to have this part removable. Would be easier to just weld it in place but will make it removable if need be.
Mike
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1968 122S 1990 240 DL 1959 544 1961 210

http://www.georger.com/gds/t5_transmission_conversion.htm for full sequence of Pictures

Not a 210 but 1956 444

Same Idea and I cut a larger area after I did an M41 to fit the T5

Welded a border if 1/4" full circumference and made a fiberglass cover.
Carpet hides a lot but it looks good when finished.

Christopher "virgilthevolvo"

I have read Bob Silvius (is he Sil that post here)

Yeah, the same idiot. ;-)

The dimensions I gave in that article (To make the M41 fit, I cut out a chunk of tunnel 8-1/4" long starting 2-1/4" aft of the shifter hole and 1-1/2" into the floor boards on either side. I also cut the floor of the remainder of the tunnel back to where the emergency brake bracket attaches to it.) are still pretty much right. You could probably get away with cutting 1/4" less into either side without having the "football" rapping against the tunnel wall, but I wouldn't do it. It sometimes helps to be able to wriggle your fingers into that space to retrieve a wire or some such.

Paul, as usual, went about the whole thing a lot more professionally and neatly than I did by freeing the tunnel section right at the fire wall and reattaching it there once he had made the modification. I love the job he did, but you know what they say about cat skinning.

There is no reason why you couldn't weld the replacement piece into place. I used screws because, at that time, I didn't have a welder that could handle the sheet metal without burning big holes in it. I could have riveted it, but I figured that screws would be just about as strong and would give the added advantage of removeability which might come in handy if I ever wanted to lower the OD without pulling the engine. (The rope trick.) As it turned out, I did remove it once to fiddle with the 4th gear contact switch.
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"62 PV544 (B20, M41), "71 142E, "93 240 Classic Wagon.

Bob-

The last picture was Richard Pattee 445's modification. My P210 still has a big hole in the tranny tunnel, which be open up some more to fit the 122 tunnel in it.

I agree, it's great looking work. Here's another picture of Richards 445 tranny tunnel with it opened up.



Paul

Paul,
Oh well, that just goes to prove the validity of my "idiot" remark. I should have read further down your post. You had made it perfectly clear which work was whose. Are you planning on making yours just as pretty as Richard's? I love to see perfection, even if I never manage to achieve it. You may have noticed that whenever I post a picture of something I have welded it looks slightly out of focus? Well, there's a reason for that. ;-)

Bob S.
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"62 PV544 (B20, M41), "71 142E, "93 240 Classic Wagon.

Bob-

I'm going to open up the tranny tunnel some more on my car, but I don't think the final product will look as nice as Richard's.

I really would like to keep the tunnel removable (to get that pesty lockout switch), but welding it up would make it so much easier.

Paul

I'm in the middle of doing the same thing to my '61 P210. Here's a couple of pictures of what I've done so far.

The first one is a before cut as per Sil's measurements:




The second one is after I cut the tunnel (Not an OD tranny installed yet, but you can see the output shaft of the M40-the cut away looks about right):




I bought a 122 tranny tunnel from somebody that was going to use it on his 445, but he went with a custom tunnel.



He sent me a picture of the finished work to his 445. Looks nice!




I hope it helps.

Paul