Hey guys I'm looking to put a 5 speed in the KE20 but i have been told that you can only use a starlet 5 speed and not a KE70 because the gear changer lever is futher back. is this true?

do a search and you will find all you need to know. it may well be in the knowledge base / faq too

No it's not true, you can use the box, you just need to cut the floor to fit the shifter through. Try and get a KE30/55 gearbox, the shifter is further forward.

Going to assume you're a kiwi when you're talking about starlets?

 

The starlet and ke30/55 K40 and K50 have the forward position shifter and will fit your tunnel. As philbey said using a ke70 box will require you to cut the hole in the tunnel further back.