DOJJ - i may have spoken to you at a ford show.
i went to a classic ford event at battlesbridge with my mate scott a few years back and met a couple a people on the classic xr stand... there was a black xr4 with a 3litre 12v in it and he told us how he'd worked on it and replaced 5th gear like we're talking about... and i thought to myself, why the hell is there not more people doing this? ... and both myself and scott agreed it was a good idea.
We walked away with an inspired grin on our faces.