Now my post is three hours to late, anyway.
The idea with the first gear wheel makes sense if it is easy to change. Whether the whole gearbox can be changed as one piece of the V8 so easily you have to check first, Richard.
Just as an example, that you have to look carefully. I would like to change my 4/4 to an MX5 NC 3.5 six-speed transmission. But the release fork has been changed at MMC for the 4/4 from bottom left to top center. There it is directly connected hydraulically. For this purpose an extra new opening was milled into the upper front transmission housing. Maybe the 3.7 Roadster has similar modifications on the gearbox, maybe not.
