Hi all, looking to fit 1300 xflow and 4 speed and am 'lookin forward' to buildin the chassis too!?!

Question: Does moving the engine/ gearbox rearward a bit make big improvements to the car??

Yes, you should try and get it back as far as possible.

Bringing the weight of the engine towards the centre of the car improves handling.

"Big Improvements" all depends on how far back your talking !

At this early stage in the design/build you can move the engine and box back to a position were the gear leaver is in a good place without the usual gear lever extension gubbins, too far back and the gealever will be behind you.

Be aware that the further back the bell housing is the less footwell space you will have, also how close the flywheel is to your ankles, I know that the 1300 Crossflow is not known for shearing flywheel bolts but the flywheel is spinning at 6500 rpm 1/2" from your feet.

On my car the flywheel is a couple of inches infront of the footwell ends.
On yours if the flywheel is by your ankles you could add some steel plate

I have also got steel plates either side of the tunnel around the UJ at the box end, you could design the chassis/tunnel box to have tube around the prop catching it if it did let go.

Probably just a couple of Kg extra weight but piece of mind.

ARP flywheel bolts are another insurance and on mine I am also dowling the flywheel, thats to take 7500rpm with possibly more in the future.

This may seem a bit paranoid but this early in your build you can do it now and forget it.

[Edited on 25/7/09 by snapper]

All the above
but a good guide is to have the gearlever level with the steering wheel.