Alwyn678

Would you do it again? What were the total costs involved. Was it worth it? This is a project I have been considering for awhile and I think I am gonna do it this fall

norvalwilhelm

I did it, love it and the hardest part was replacing the pedals. As for bolting the transmission in it was a piece of cake. Go for the hydraulic clutch and everything is readily available.
Laying on your back under the drivers dash was no fun but bolting the flywheel,bellhousing and transmission in was no problem. The rear mount must be fabricated but it is only a shelf added to the existing crossmember. The speedo bolts up with an adaptor, the shifter either comes out in the middle or the lever needs modification.
I assume you are going for a overdrive? The wimpy and super T10 is only rated at 325 at best and has no overdrive.
The cost of the bellhousing, slave cylinder, master cylinder, brake line is about $300 CDN but the transmission is the big cost.
Shortening the drive shaft is no big deal, cost well under $100 and takes a morning.
I would do it again and agian. The driving fun factor went away up. For drag racing I would stick to the automatic.

Alwyn678

thanks for the Tips Norval......I was thinking of switching a direct replacement 4 speed but I guess it would make sense to drop the overdrive in. I have acquired everything that I need to do the 4 speed swap and maybe i should wait and do it when I find a 5 speed instead. What is the a decent 5 speed that I can put in without too much trouble and expense

Brettmc

Definitely go with an OD tranny.

Brett :thumbs:

Alwyn678

Yeah but I do not want to spend a Fortune on one so the task will be finding one that will not kill me $$ wise

72 Stingray

You can get Tremec TKOs for around $1600 (or 3550s for slightly less). May sound like alot, but how many times do you want to pull out and rebuild a lesser tranny? Once would be enough to make it not worth it for me.

I'm doing the auto-to-manual swap right now with a TKO. However, my car is in the middle of a frame-off so my job is a real piece of cake! I went the hydraulic clutch route too, much easier.

ImBatman

Norval and 72 Stingray,

Could one of you guys put together an exact how to paper on switching to a HYD clutch including all parts needed. I know that this may be a lot to ask but I really have no clue of what needs to be gathered up and how a hyd clutch system even works. Do you buy all the parts new or are there junk yard peices. I have already hung the pedals for the change so I want need them. I have a lakewood scatter shield that I was planning on using will it work?

Thanks


[Modified by BlackRat, 11:51 AM 9/11/2003]

marshrat99

:iagree: I'd also be interested in part numbers involved for the swap. Probably a lot of this forum's members are also interested.

norvalwilhelm

I wanted to hydraulic because the donor bellhousing had the slave cylinder on the side. The donor was a 85 one ton truck. So the donor bellhouing desides the slave cylinder.
I had to start some place with a master cylinder so why not try the 85 one ton truck. Just for starters. I turned out that when I removed the cover plate on the firewall for the manual linkage that the 85 one ton truck master bolted in perfectly, everything lined up and even the 2 mounting holes where drilled.
The only modification was the linkage and that involved cutting the master cylinder rod off shorter and running a die over for the threaded clevis. NO big deal.
A piece of brake line joined the slave cylinder and the new master.
The only thing left was a remote resovoir and any car at the wreckers can donate one of those. I just picked something up, mounted it to the firewall and joined it with a rubber hose.
I also used the donor clutch fork.
Cost about $100 for the master cylinder, a little less for the slave cylinder.
Really an easy swap.

Alwyn678

I have a list I will post it later

ImBatman

1. Is the Master cylinder that you used robust enough for performance driving. Or atleast what I am trying to say is how is it compared to the stock vette MC?
2. No problems with the Power booster?
3. How safe would you say the bellhousing is. I know you are running a pretty serious motor so I assume that it is adequate.

In a nut shell just go to a junk yard and ask for the BH and SC from an 85 1 ton. Then purchase a new Master syl for the same application. What did you get the resvoir off ogf and where did you mount it?

72 Stingray is this your same setup?

Thanks for the info Norval I know I really appreciate it and am sure everyone else on the forum doing this job does to.

:cheers: :thumbs:
Wade

IWAVE2

I did the conversion in my 75. The switch from a TH400 Auto to a Muncie 4 speed was really very simple. I used all factory stock components. Hanging the pedals was the most difficult thing, because you have to drop the steering columd and brake booster to get the bracket the holds them mounted. Other than that, you have to add the tranny mount bracket and shifter mount bracket to the cross member, weld the pivot tab for the clutch Z-bar to the frame and just bolt every thing up. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I got another automatic car. Infact I probably will in the future.

The overdrive trannies are nice, but they are pricey and a little more custom work is required to get them in. Factory components just fall right in and are very durable for the street.

I picked up a good rebuilt Muncie for $750.00 and probably had another $600.00 in the shifter, bellhousing , flywheel, New clutch and miscellaneous parts. Didn't have to have the drive shaft altered either.

I say go for it! Youl love it!

Jon

Alwyn678

Here is a pretty accurate list of what you will need for auto to 4 speed changeover

Pedals.......................
"z"- bar.......................
frame bracket................
clutch rod to z-bar.........
ball stud........................
z-bar to clutch fork........
clutch fork..................
403 bellhousing............
transmission..............
shifter w/rods............
flywheel......................
clutch plate................
transmission bracket....
transmission yoke.........
driveshaft.....................
floor gasket/boot...........
shifter plate..................
shifter boot..................

72 Stingray

Actually, I'm still in the process of buying parts myself.

1) I did buy the '85 1 ton M/C. As Norval has said before, there is an existing hole in the Vette firewall that the clutch M/C will fit through. The angle on the M/C mounting flange appears to be very close to the angle of the firewall. Other OEM or aftermarket units may also work.

2) Should be no issues with the booster. Biggest issue I found is that my used pedal housing had a different booster mounting configuration so I just swapped the used pedals into my original automatic housing.

3) As far as a bellhousing goes, I'm still thinking. Lakewood makes a 3rd Gen F-body SFI scattershield with the slave cylinder bracket on it. Since the 3rd Gens were not intended to use full-length headers (or big blocks), I want to confirm that this shield will fit my combo (i.e. the bracket is not in the way of the exhaust). I may end up just buying one and dry-fitting it to see if everything is ok. Also, I talked with the guys at McCleod clutches and they were very helpful. They have a stand alone slave cylinder bracket that can be bolted to a standard bellhousing or hydraulic throw-out bearings that eliminate the need for the slave cylinder all together. I will be buying my clutch and related parts from them.

fire427

keep an eye peeled to C3 parts section.. I almost bought a complete conversion kit including an M20 transmission for 1200 bucks.

Corz

Alwyn678

I am getting mine even cheaper :cheers: