Muncie swap project

The biggest pet peeve of my car is the damn auto tranny. The car was far too cheap for me to pass up simply because it was an auto, so now its time to rectify this great wrong.

I did my research and found a great guy in Wyoming who had 90% of what I needed after he abandoned the muncie swap in favor of a 5 speed.

I have a brand spankin new M20 from 4gear, a new hurst shifter and installation kit, a new GM aluminum bellhousing, a new GM 30 LB 168 tooth flywheel, a new Luk 11" clutch kit, new pedal assembly, and a z-bar.

I have read that a 15LB flywheel would be better than the 30LB I have. Thoughts? The car is a street cruiser that will see a very occassional rip down the 1/4 mile with a mild motor. I plan on doing some upgrades, but I wont break 400 ft-lbs of torque.

Im going to pick up the late c3 bolt on z-bar linkage chassis bracket, all the linkages, the necessary bolts, the spring for the z-bar, a clutch fork, and the 32 spline u-joint (is that the proper name?) since I currently have a TH350 with a 27 spline output, the Muncie has a 32 spline output.

What brand fork should I get? Is there anyone I should avoid?

I want to get in one more drive before everything gets taken apart, but next week its coming apart ride or no.

What should I know before taking on this job? I have the AIM, the service manual, How to restore your c3 corvette and the internet for diagrams and procedures. What tricks are there, what wrench extensions etc should I pick up?

Thanks and stay tuned...

I'm running the L-88 nodular lightweight flywheel on my Vette. I would say its a matter of personal preference. When I installed mine I had to relearn feathering the clutch at take-off. It was less forgiving and I killed the engine a couple times. I think I will like it better after I install the 3.55 gears (running 3.08 now). However, I do like the way the engine revs quicker. Overall I think it is a positive but if I did a lot of drag racing I would stick with a heavier flywheel.

I'm running the stock clutch fork with no issues. Not sure what advantages any other fork could offer. You can probably get the fine spline yoke on ebay. They are sometimes listed as a TH 400 yoke.

Never did the auto/manual swap so I'm not sure what issues you might run into. Good luck!:thumbs:

Thanks for the response. Unless I hear otherwise Im sticking with the 30lb.

I am in the middle of the same swap on my 76. This car has a rebuilt 327 it is strong but not a killer motor. I am using the stock flywheel and 10.5 inch clutch. The assembly manual wil lbe your best friend, combined with a few hours of looking at parts diagrams on the Zip Corvette and Ecklers web sites.
I got lucky and got the whole setup from a guy that swapped from manual to auto (go figure...... to each his own). I had 90% of the parts including the 4 speed muncie trans. The biggest hassle so far is swapping out the pedals. You will have to pull the column, instrument cluster, and a large bracket that ties the pedal bracket setup to the cowel.
On some chevys you can just pull the pin and slip out the auto brake pedal, and swap in the cluth nd manual brake brake pedal. This wont work on the vette, there is just not enough room in the area to let you get the pin ou, and if you did you cant get the clutch pedal in. Trust me I tried.
When removing the bracket for the brakes you have toemove the 4 bolts that holdon the power brake booster, I left the brake lines connected and just barely had enough movement to pull it forward so that the studs came out of the firewall, you have ot get them all he way out because the pedal assembly has to come straight down, there is no room to move it back into the car and it will hang up on any part of the stud.
The pedal swap only took about 4 hours (but I am pretty good with this type of work). The biggest problem so far is mounting the bracket for the cross shaft. 78-81 used a bolt in bracket. I have it all lined up will bolt it down to the frame (the holes are not there) then have it tack welded once I get it going.

Well that is as far as i got. We are gonig to drive it with the Auto until the end of the summer then swap out the trans. It looks a little funny with an auto trans and clutch pedal but its only temporary.
Scott

Guys I will caution you on aftermarket clutch forks, you will find that even though they look like a stock fork there is actually a subtle difference in the shape, also and most important , the stock fork is made of thicker metal and is therefore stiffer, by about 30%. IF you have a HD Pressure plate you will find that the aftermarket arms WILL NOT DO THE JOB. You will only discover that after everything is installed and you try to drive the car, you may even get a few days out of it before it deflects enough to make it impossible to get proper disengagement. I learned this the hard way with a fork from Ecklers, my old Fork has over 250,000 miles of hard use and is still perfect. Have changed several retaining springs on it over the years but it still works properly.