Ben's75

Guys - I'm currently doing a ton of work on my vette - transmission rebuild, re-exhaust, re-everything. Wah. Liar seller! Anyways - the guy whose shop I am mooching has a 71 coupe in his lot - piece of junk body, bumpers long gone, you know the drill. However, there appear to be some salvageable parts on that car. Namely, the 4-spd manual setup, and possibly the exhaust (specifically, the headers). I have big aspirations for my car (a 75 L-48), but a tiny little budget. Would it be worth my while to try and buy some of these parts off him? If he'll let them go, he'd let them go cheap.

Question 1: the tranny - how impossible would it be to wedge a 4-spd into a car that originally had a th400 in it?
Question 2: the headers - they appear to just have surface rust, and I could just bolt on some new pipes. Don't look like anything spectacular but quite possibly a bit nicer than the stock manifolds... duh.

Thoughts? Worth my while?

Ben :confused:

ken markusa

My 2 cents I wouldn't pay more than $20 for used headers and I'm not sure I'd do that, you can get new ones for under $100, as far as the 4speed stuff you will need everything clutch ,bellhousing, console plate etc. plus you will need to weld a bracket on the frame and probably tap the side of the block for the clutch cross shaft you need a lot of parts it's the kind of swap that could nickel and dime you to death.
Ken :cheers:

Gordonm

The trans is not a problem. You need to get all the pieces from the donor car. It will fit no problem. It is actually easier due to a removable cross member as 4 speeds do not have a removable member.
The headers like was said before do not pay to much for them. You can get them coated and they will look like new. The coatings are not cheap but they last a long time.

BB73Chris

So, what needs to be done to a TH400 crossmember to make it accept a muncie? nothing? a lot? I'm very curious about this (like to know how hard something is when I'm dreaming about it...) :steering:

Ben's75

ditto to that question /\ bolting stuff together is no problem for me - I'm just scared to death of cutting. Any cutting required to make everything fit?

And thanks for the tip on the headers - any clues as to how much a coating costs? Assuming we're talking ceramic or Jet-Hot or something similar...

Ben

djcwardog

Ceramic coating could be expensive. CHeck your block for a threaded hole for the cross shaft stud. Check his block for where to look on yours...