Somewhat of an odd question, but the RX8 6 speed has an excellent set of ratio's if you forget 1st gear. Sudo close ratio gearset. The RX8 shares the same input shaft diameter dimensions as an Escort so these gearboxes can be adapted to most Ford engines, crossflow, pinto, zetec with the bellhousing only needing adaption. Not a simple swap but IMHO much better than a type9. There are many easier options such as converting a type9 to a quaife or 3J gearset but the cost of a type9 box is just silly, approx $900. The RX7 5 speed is probably an easier fit as it has a removalable bellhousing but it doesn't provide the ratio's I am looking for. From memory the cost of a c/r s/c gearset for an RX7 box is very expensive, $3000.00 plus. Please correct me if I am wrong. U can buy an RX8 gearbox off ebay for as little as $500.00. Obviously there will be additional costs involve to mate it to a Ford engine, but that said it should work out to be less than any other conversion. So the reason I was asking about the tailshaft is because the RX8 tailshaft is carbon fibre and the RX7 is steel. I am able to shorten the RX7 tailshaft easily as it's steel, but have not considered how I can sucessfully modify the carbon fibre RX8 tailshaft. I may have to have a custom tailshaft made if I go down the RX8 road. I am aware that by all accounts the RX8 gearbox is apparently not as strong as a S5 RX7 box however I still think that it would be much better than the std 4 speed.
Any feed back would be appreciated.
Cheers
Craig