Auto to manual transmission conversion and more

[mrvette]

I got my plumbing done for the hydraulic throwout bearing. My only complainant is that you have to install the transmission and bellhousing as one assembly.

I hadn't thought about that (putting the trans/bellhousing in assembled). I suppose that's the downside to a hydraulic bearing.

How difficult was that to do?

The way I look at it there, seems like it could be split install with out issue...??

and I can't see it any worse than handling some auto tranny....

I still would split the bottom off the exhaust loops to facilitate removal of the cross support entirely....

 

[Fuelie74]

I got my plumbing done for the hydraulic throwout bearing. My only complainant is that you have to install the transmission and bellhousing as one assembly.

I hadn't thought about that (putting the trans/bellhousing in assembled). I suppose that's the downside to a hydraulic bearing.

How difficult was that to do?

The way I look at it there, seems like it could be split install with out issue...??

and I can't see it any worse than handling some auto tranny....

I still would split the bottom off the exhaust loops to facilitate removal of the cross support entirely....

It is more difficult installing the manual transmission with the bellhousing attached than an auto transmission because it has to be back further to get the input shaft to clear the pressure plate and in the disk.

It isn't that bad to do it, but you must drop the rear of the engine to get the clearance to make the room. This means that you have to take the exhaust loose so the rear of the engine can tip down. I also found out the hard way that it means the dist. may need to be pulled. I broke my ignition module and ruined the pigtail from contact with the firewall. I am running a remote coil dist. from a 92 camaro.

Once you tip the rear of the engine it will go in easily with the bellhousing attached!

 

[Fuelie74]

Well I am making very slow progress right now. I finally got the right speedo gear for my transmission after 2 weeks. The company sent my order to GA and the customer in GA's order to me. I was thrilled to say the least! Then I took the time to sort threw some electrical issues. Installed a new circuit board for the 75 tachometer in my car and ran new wires for it. It will be wild actually having a working tachometer again!

I found that the transmission yoke was to close to the floor after all. So am much as hated to I decided to cut the tunnel and make alittle bit move room, besides my floor was damaged and cracked there already.




I also decided that since all of the carpeting was out now is the time to add some insulation to keep the heat down. I am using reflex.

 

[Fuelie74]

Its been a while since I updated this but, I finally got the little stuff done and got the transmission swap finished up for the most part.

I had to use a 90 deg adapter for the speedometer cable because of the transmission crossmember but, was able to use the original speedometer cable.


Here is my shifter. I used the factory Camaro shifter and a factory Mustang shifter that a friend gave to me to make it. The handle is still undergoing some rework to get the angle and height just right.



Mounted and plumbed my clutch reservoir. The reservoir came off an early body style S10.

 

[Fuelie74]

Now that its most of the way done and I have been able to put some good miles on the car this last week and holiday weekend! 605 miles to be exact!

I must say that it is night and day difference between the TH400 and the t5 transmission. Wow this car is a lot more fun to drive now, but there will be a gear change for the diff coming soon now. The 3.08 must go for something a little bit steeper like, 3.73 is coming to mind.

The speedometer is also right on. Well it reads 1 mph fast at 60 mph according to my GPS.

So far I also am very happy with my manual brakes! We will see in time if I still feel the same way once the newness wears off. I do seem to use them less also now that I have a manual transmission. I can really tell that the current organic pads suck and are on the list for change very soon.

For the most part everything turned out good. I did have to replace the new brake M/C after only about 50 miles dew to is leaking out the rear. To do this over again the one thing that is sticking out in my mind that I would do different is the clutch M/C. Wilwood makes basically the same M/C I used with a reservoir built in and its priced almost the same. That would of been much easier than finding a location to mount my S10 reservoir. Not sure how much room a power brake car would have for that M/C but, a manual brake car has plenty of room.

Hopefully I can get my center counsel bezel finished up this week so I can be completely done with this part of the project.

 

[Pacha]

27266[/ATTACH]

I am doing the same as you (but with a Ram Hyd t/o bearing):beer:
Maybe is too late and I am not thinking clearly, but your clutch master looks like it is upside down???

 

[Fuelie74]

You are correct my MC is mounted upside down. I mounted it that way because it worked best with my plumbing. No reservoir on the MC so it really doesn't matter how its mounted. So far I have about 1,200 flawless miles on the hydraulic clutch setup.

 

[denpo]

Newbie plugging in...
May I dare asking why 'reverting' from hydroboost to manual brake?

 

[JeffP1167]

Joining a mustang shifter without the rubber isolators is frueling. You will feel every vibration and everything else through the shifter. when my 93 mustanfs bushings went bad I welded the shifter together and hated it even worse then sloppy bushings.

 

[Fuelie74]

Newbie plugging in...
May I dare asking why 'reverting' from hydroboost to manual brake?

I thought they were oversensitive. In short I found it way to easy to lock up the tires on a high speed panic stop.

 

[Fuelie74]

Joining a mustang shifter without the rubber isolators is frueling. You will feel every vibration and everything else through the shifter. when my 93 mustanfs bushings went bad I welded the shifter together and hated it even worse then sloppy bushings.

I am not sure what rubber isolators your talking about. I had aluminum bushings in around the bolts that hold the lever to the mechanism but no rubber.

Shouldn't be to annoying since you are only supposed to have you hand on the shifter when your moving it.

 

[JeffP1167]

Joining a mustang shifter without the rubber isolators is frueling. You will feel every vibration and everything else through the shifter. when my 93 mustanfs bushings went bad I welded the shifter together and hated it even worse then sloppy bushings.

I am not sure what rubber isolators your talking about. I had aluminum bushings in around the bolts that hold the lever to the mechanism but no rubber.

Shouldn't be to annoying since you are only supposed to have you hand on the shifter when your moving it.

Those bushings took place of the rubber isolayots and when you grind a gear or miss a gear make sure you let me know hahaha

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Are the holes for the automatic crossmember mounts, just threaded holes in the frame or are there weld nuts in there?

Nice job on the conversion. Do you have a neutral safety switch on your pedal assembly?

The through bolt simply uses a nut, the 2 bolts that go up in the frame are threading into weld nuts, those square nut plates. They are welded inside the frame rail. Real PITA if they break loose

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Well it's starting to feel like Christmas in March. My new to me C5 master cylinder just showed up. That reminds me I am missing the master cylinder studs for the pedal hanger. What size are they supposed to be?

I think they are 5/16, use wheel studs

 

[Twin_Turbo]

Looks like it was worth double checking. The holes do have weld nuts inside the frame. So now I am really looking for advice on this one. What would be the best way to go about this problem? Possibly a thread rivet insert?

Get a metric tap, I think a metric size was the closest size a little bigger than original and you can simply tap it for new bolts.

 

[JeffP1167]

Looks like it was worth double checking. The holes do have weld nuts inside the frame. So now I am really looking for advice on this one. What would be the best way to go about this problem? Possibly a thread rivet insert?

Get a metric tap, I think a metric size was the closest size a little bigger than original and you can simply tap it for new bolts.

I would just weld in some all thread and stud it.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

That's what bubba would do , and if the all thread strips you're in a heap of trouble.

 

[JeffP1167]

That's what bubba would do , and if the all thread strips you're in a heap of trouble.

:beer: he wanted a easy fix ....:1st:

 

[Fuelie74]

Looks like it was worth double checking. The holes do have weld nuts inside the frame. So now I am really looking for advice on this one. What would be the best way to go about this problem? Possibly a thread rivet insert?

Get a metric tap, I think a metric size was the closest size a little bigger than original and you can simply tap it for new bolts.

That picture is of my parts car. My car had a four speed frame, so it didn't have threaded holes.

 

[Fuelie74]

Update. I have experienced my first real problem with the conversion. A seal on the Howe HTOB went bad coating my clutch with brake fluid and causing me to have a great day! I had a pedal stop in place so this was not from over stroking the HTOB.



Well after a long debate on what to do I ended up spending the big money on a McLeod bolt on style HTOB. So far I am impressed by this. It appears that it will do away with the need for installing the transmission and bellhousing as one piece. The one think that caught me off guard with this is the need to reshim the input bearing, so I won't be able to install the trans till next weekend since I have to order shims in the morning.





I also replaced the clutch with a Ram Powergrip.