Triumph Repair: Transmission identification, triumph spitfire 1500, gearbox number

Question
Hi there!

Love the collection of answers on this site, unfortunately can't find anything to help me out quite yet. I have a 1976 triumph spitfire 1500. Among other things I'm working on, my reverse gear is shot and i have pulled teeth out through the drain plug. A local classic car garage recently gave me what they believe to be a spitfire transmission, however it is missing the gearbox cover plate. As I understand it this is where the gearbox number would be, so at present I am unable to confirm that this will work in my car. We found a few numbers on the side, one being PKC0461, but after looking up info this doesn't seem to be the correct format for the gearbox numbers.

Any guidance on this issue would really be appreciated, and if there are any other ways to ID this gearbox I would love to hear it. The garage assured me it is from a spitfire, and it looks legitimate. I'm hoping not to run into any large surprises, lol.

Thanks so much!

Answer
Hi Hugo,

The transmission number is stamped into the main case on the top next to the cover plate and the Prefix to the number is, "FT" for US versions and "FR" for non-US versions.

This does not mean he is wrong as there are other British cars that use that gearbox. The only way to know is to pull yours out and compare them.

Howard