RHD vs LHD differences?

[Mike Drew]

Hi guys,

While at Daryl Adams' house after the Road America love-in, I noticed that his LHD SPF Mk 1 also had the windshield wiper on the 'wrong' side; that is, the drive mechanism was on the same side as the steering wheel (offset to the side of the NACA duct).

I then looked at some photos, and it appears to me that the RHD SPF cars have the wiper mechanism on the correct side (same side as the steering wheel), meaning that SPF either has two molds for the nose, or molds the RHD and LHD wiper cutouts individually on each nose they make?

We know the RHD and LHD chassis are mirror images of one another, at least with respect to the center spine, which is offset to the right on the LHD cars and to the left on the RHD cars.

What other RHD vs LHD differences exist? Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

What other RHD vs LHD differences exist? Inquiring minds want to know...

Your wife rides on the "other" side!!!!

 

[Mike Christian]

Hey Mike,

Why not ask SPF? They should be able to list them for you.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Randy V]

My RCR is LHD - the spine is offset by a couple of inches to the right side of the chassis. That not withstanding - it's not a SPF..

From the publications / pictures I've seen -
Shifter - On the LHD, the shifter is on the spine. On the RHD, there were some cars that had the shifter on the spine as well but most had it on the right sill.

I think it was part of customer preference...

 

I have a RHD MKI and a LHD MKII. First...MUCH easier to pass with LHD. RHD you cannot "peek" around the car in front and then nail it. By the time you are in "peek" position, almost the entire car is in the oncoming lane!
Less room for both the driver and the passenger in the RHD. RHD with the rod shifter is awesome and muc better than the cable setup on LHD.
RHD= slightly harder to get in and out...shifter in the way.

Brian

 

[Mike Trusty]

There actually a LOT of differences in the cars. To mention a few:

1. The afore mentioned wiper. The wiper motor is on the right side on the RHD.
2. All of the sheet metal associated with the dash is reversed.
3. The front bulkhead sheet metal is reversed to accomodate the steering rack position difference.
4. The firewall between the driver and engine is reversed between to two different drive types.
5. The heating and air conditioning units are opposite hand.
6. All of hte refrigerant piping up front is opposite.
7. Placement of horn, washer bottle, etc. are opposite hand.
8. The stock SPF fuel system and sending unit locations are the same.
9. I guess you could say that everything behind the engine firewall is the same between the different drives. Everything in front of the firewall, including the firewall, is opposite hand.
10. size of the driver seating position on the sill shift is smaller as mentioned by Mike in another post.
11. Wiring is somewhat different due to the difference in hand. It appears that they use the same main wiring harness but do some interesting looping behind the dash to make things fit. It fits much better after doing away with this undersized wiring harness and doing it properly.

 

[Terry Oxandale]

Has anybody placed the shifter on the sill of a LHD? (left hand shifting)?

 

[Steve C]

Terry,

See center rod shift as fabricated and installed by Olthoff (works great, has positive feel):

Steve

 

[Terry Oxandale]

Steve, firewall photo shows more than I understand. I may contact you offline to gather more information on that portion.

Thanks,

ox