Automotive vehicle drive train

A housing assembly for an automotive transmission unit comprising,

• a first housing, a second intermediate housing and a third housing,
• said first housing having at one end a first substantially planar attachment face with first and second portions and at its opposite end a second substantially planar attachment face which is substantially parallel to the first face, said first portion being adapted for connection to an engine housing and second portion being adapted for connection to a cover for a differential unit,
• said first housing including a partition wall which divides it into substantially isolated first and second spaces, said first space being adapted for receiving a power transmitting means and said second space receiving a bevel pinion for transmitting torque to a differential unit,
• said second intermediate housing having substantially parallel first and second planar attachment faces located at its opposite ends, said first face of said second housing being connected to the second face of the first housing,
• and means for supporting portions of different shafts of said transmission unit on said intermediate housing,
• said means comprising:
• first bearing support portions located on said second housing at a position adapted for receiving interchangeably a primary shaft of a manual shift gearbox and an output shaft of an automatic gearbox,
• second bearing support portions located on said second housing at a position adapted for receiving interchangeably a secondary shaft of a manual shift gearbox and an intermediate shaft driven by an automatic gearbox, third support portion made as an integral part of said second housing for receiving one end of said last named shaft,
• fourth and fifth bearing support portions on said second housing at said respective first and second planar attachment faces for supporting a shaft having said bevel pinion of a differential unit;
• said third housing being connected to said second face of the second intermediate housing and being adapted to receive a said gearbox and including means axially aligned with said first bearing support portions for further supporting a shaft which is received by the first bearing support portions.