Keisler 5-speed conversion on Early A-body: Install has begun
Okay got a little bit done today on the trial conversion. Went to Lowe's to pick up a piece of carbon sheetmetal to make a duplicate floor hump template. Cost $27. Little high I thought so I went to the local steel yard and they didnt have any and would have to order the 18ga steel. The guy pointed me in the right direction to find some though. Went to a metal fabricator shop and found some reminants/scraps for real cheap. $5.00. :thumbup: Will be returning the other piece to Lowe's. Anyways, got back home and traced & cut out the spare template to make the floor hump.
Step 5) Make a 90* bend on the rear section of the template. I used some duckbill vise grips I got from Harbor Freight ($4.00). Figure 1. Then you are supposed to center and line up the template shifter hole's front edge 1/2" forward of the shifter cutout hole in the floor tunnel.
Step 6) Shape the sheet metal over the hump. This is where the Keisler directions sucked *** especially if you are not a proficient fabricator or have proper tools. They have a few lame pictures from a 4-speed conversion. Different than my setup being as it was an automatic. Anyhow, I looked close enough at the photos to find that there we a couple cuts made in the template that made it easier to bend and shape the metal. I also found a couple of tricks that may be helpful in getting a nicely shaped floor tunnel.
In Figure 3 you can see that I measured the distance between the tranny cutout and the shifter cutout, which came to 3.5in. That 3.5 inches was used to find a relief cut on the sides of the template. To do this I measured 3.5 inches forward of the oval(sheetmetal) shifter cutout and drew a line out to the edges of the template. See Figures 4,5 and 6.
I did not measure how far to go with the relief cuts but I think it was about 4 to 5 inches. You will have to eye ball this one. Sorry. This step really does make bending the metal over the floor tunnel much easier. The template will begin to lay more flush against the sides of the floor tunnel as well.
Step 7) Continue to massage the metal and form it to the floor hump. I ended up using a hammer to mold the metal into the contours of the floor. I will use the clamps shown when I start welding the new sheetmetal onto the floor tunnel. Figure 7, 8.
I think everything came out pretty well fo the most part. The ears at the rear of the template were way out of wack. :wack: See Figure 2. I would design my own ears to better fit the floor tunnel of the early A-body. The next step for me is to weld the new metal over the floor tunnel. Until next time. :salute:
Okay got a little bit done today on the trial conversion. Went to Lowe's to pick up a piece of carbon sheetmetal to make a duplicate floor hump template. Cost $27. Little high I thought so I went to the local steel yard and they didnt have any and would have to order the 18ga steel. The guy pointed me in the right direction to find some though. Went to a metal fabricator shop and found some reminants/scraps for real cheap. $5.00. :thumbup: Will be returning the other piece to Lowe's. Anyways, got back home and traced & cut out the spare template to make the floor hump.
Step 5) Make a 90* bend on the rear section of the template. I used some duckbill vise grips I got from Harbor Freight ($4.00). Figure 1. Then you are supposed to center and line up the template shifter hole's front edge 1/2" forward of the shifter cutout hole in the floor tunnel.
Step 6) Shape the sheet metal over the hump. This is where the Keisler directions sucked *** especially if you are not a proficient fabricator or have proper tools. They have a few lame pictures from a 4-speed conversion. Different than my setup being as it was an automatic. Anyhow, I looked close enough at the photos to find that there we a couple cuts made in the template that made it easier to bend and shape the metal. I also found a couple of tricks that may be helpful in getting a nicely shaped floor tunnel.
In Figure 3 you can see that I measured the distance between the tranny cutout and the shifter cutout, which came to 3.5in. That 3.5 inches was used to find a relief cut on the sides of the template. To do this I measured 3.5 inches forward of the oval(sheetmetal) shifter cutout and drew a line out to the edges of the template. See Figures 4,5 and 6.
I did not measure how far to go with the relief cuts but I think it was about 4 to 5 inches. You will have to eye ball this one. Sorry. This step really does make bending the metal over the floor tunnel much easier. The template will begin to lay more flush against the sides of the floor tunnel as well.
Step 7) Continue to massage the metal and form it to the floor hump. I ended up using a hammer to mold the metal into the contours of the floor. I will use the clamps shown when I start welding the new sheetmetal onto the floor tunnel. Figure 7, 8.
I think everything came out pretty well fo the most part. The ears at the rear of the template were way out of wack. :wack: See Figure 2. I would design my own ears to better fit the floor tunnel of the early A-body. The next step for me is to weld the new metal over the floor tunnel. Until next time. :salute: