Left Hand Drive 350

[TDIPLC]

Hi,

Does anyone know of a left hand drive conversion for the 350 please?

Thanks

Mark

[badredwedge]

Theres a LHD for sale on ebay in Texas so they did make em, I would think it would be quite a job, the dash alone would cause some problems, pedal box, steering,

Good Luck
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-T

Edited by badredwedge on Tuesday 16th January 17:38

[number 7]

Note sure about 350i's, but there were at least 2 450SE LHD.

7.

[digga951]

I've thought about this in the past and decided it would be quite possible to convert a 350, albeit time consuming and with a bit of chopping involved.

First off, a lot of the parts can be reused I think. The pedal box can be swapped to the other side, and as both the clutch and brakes are hydraulic, a simple rerouting of copper pipes would be needed. Throttle cable would be much the same, perhaps with a slightly different bracket made for the plenum. Steering column could probably be reused too.

A new steering rack would be needed, but as this seems to be Cortina based I'm sure it would be easy to find. Swap over some of the original fittings if needed, like track rod arms etc.

The original dashboard could be reused with some mods. I reckon that cutting out the glovebox and gauage panels seperatley and swapping them over would be possible, bonding them in with some fresh matting and resin from behind. A local trimmer should be able to make a suitable vinyl covering from the original piece. Re use the original metal gauage panel and walnut trim by turning them upside down like on the US cars.

The ECU may need to be relocated to the other footwell. This could be done by finding a broken ECU and ajoining part of the wiring loom from a scrap car. Take the broken ECU apart and remove the multipin connector. Solder the spare piece of wiring loom to the back of it to make an extension cable, with male ECU connector on one end, and female on the other. You should now be able to run this under the dashboard so that the ECU is in the new passenger footwell. The other relays can be easily extended too if needed.

Depending on the original layout, the battery and expension tank may need to be swapped over too, but this is just a case of a few little brackets, some rubber pipe and some heavy duty wire for the starter motor/battery.

Also need to align the headlights, and perhaps move things like the boot switch etc.

Probably sounds like a lot of work, but these cars are quite symetrical so I don't think it would be tooooooo difficult when you get stuck in. Get the steering rack sourced and the dashboard modified, and the rest is just relocating original parts.

Dan.

[WolfgangJ]

I have converted my 400SE to LHD.
You need a new steering rack and you must do a small change in the chassi to get the steering column down to the steering rack. The rest is just work and more work.
Wolfgang

[taimar78]

there were a large number of LHD wedges, particularly the 2801, plus a modest number of 350is, on through 450SEs (of which three were imported into North America) plus some which went to Western Europe so they are certainly out there, you just might have to look at little bit.

[TDIPLC]

Thank you very much for your repies guys - much appreciated

[micha]

5000,-US for such a basket-case.....good luck for the new owner....i think i should deal with TVR´s in US.....

[RayVonn]

There was at least 1 LHD SEAC.

[taimar78]

There was reportedly one SEAC that went to Canada. I don't know what happened to it.

[RayVonn]

[redacted]

[grady]

micha said:

5000,-US for such a basket-case.....good luck for the new owner....i think i should deal with TVR´s in US.....

And so cheap in the UK for TVRs in such fine condition (and did I mention with V-8s)! Someone needs to figure out how to flip the driving side for reasonable $$$!