auto to 4speed

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71Duster

71Duster

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Is it a realistic idea to entertain a swap from an auto to a 4speed in a runnign driving car with a good trans?

Just curious money wise what wuld be envolved in all the parts and pieces having seen what a 4-speed from Passon and Brewer is worth.
 
71Duster said:
Is it a realistic idea to entertain a swap from an auto to a 4speed in a runnign driving car with a good trans?

Just curious money wise what wuld be envolved in all the parts and pieces having seen what a 4-speed from Passon and Brewer is worth.
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If you want a 4 speed or 5, What is it worth to you?

You will need the pedals, bellhousing, clutch, flywheel, Z bar, frame reinforcement bracket, Transmission, hump for floor, new carpet and if you want a console, the console and shifter with linkage, rods to go to clutch pedal & throw out bearing fork, return spring and some patience.

OH, Almost forgot, must be able to put a pilot bearing in the crank

I think I would check and see if one of the companies that does 5 speed manual conversion kits has one for the A Body yet and go that route, or a stick donor car to get all you need.

I spent a lot more than I wanted to convert mine as I was building it. It is great to drive and the ultimate Convertible 340 4 speed with AC, doesn't get much better than that ............... LOL
 
I priced out the Keisler set up -ouch-

I was jsut at a car show and admireing the 4 speed cars and thinking how fun it would be to bang gears with a 340 but not sure what it would cost to do so.

My bank account is always in danger when I get bored.
 
I did the swap in my 69 Dart a few years ago. Figure on close to $2k for the swap, that's if you are starting from scratch and doing all of the work yourself. I picked up all of the parts from other mopar sites, e-bay, some locals, www.brewersperformance.com and www.passonperformance.com

Whatever you do, please go thru the trans very thoroughly, rebuild if necessary.

BTW, it's a blast to drive now w/the 4 gear.
 
not saying it isnt true,,, just cant imagine 2 grand to do that swap,,,glad i did it 20 some years ago,,, im soon going to convert to the treme tko 5 speed,, if you are set on wanting a 4 speed start searching for the parts one at a time,,, you can get a lot of that stuff on these sites,,you can fine the pedals and stuf like that out of a slant 6 car,,just ned the Z bar out of a v 8 car,,you can find bell housing on thses sites craigs list,, swap meets,,

DONT GIVE UP SHIFTING IS FUNNNN,,,
 
Its too bad I NEVER see any of these cars in wreckers out here. I'll just watch but still a lot of cash just for some added fun of banging gears. Also not sure if my 340's forged crank has been drilled for a pilot bearing
 
no need now for that drilled crank,, you can get a roller bearing that goes in the torque register hole now,,and its a item you can get at napa,,,about 20 bucks ithink,, so start looking for parts one at a time,,,
 
fstfish66 said:
not saying it isnt true,,, just cant imagine 2 grand to do that swap,,,glad i did it 20 some years ago,,,
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Take the time to price the stuff these days and believe me, I scrounged from a lot of sources and rebuilt or restored most of the worn and rusted stuff. The only part of the swap that I had to farm out was welding in the hump and that was done on the cheap side by a friend of mine.
 
There's a guy on e-bay who sells set-ups pedels etc etc he says an a-body would run $1200 which doesn;t sound horrible but then theres the clutch and flywheel yet.
 
FWIW, an A-body \6 Z-bar works on a small block, you will need to shorten it about an 1". An a-body \6 clutch fork is the same as the sb too.

IMHO, you want to look for a complete doner car even if its a \6 car. Also, the A833OD out of a Van or pick-up will wotk just fine in an A-body, I have one in my 68 Barracuda. These are usually much much cheaper than an A-body tranny or even a tranny that came from a B/E body. I got the one I am using out of an 81 D100 pickup for $75 and that included the flywheel, bellhousing, clutch, tranny, shifter and slip yoke.

BigblockDart ha an article about putting a long tailshaft 4 spd into an A-body http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/abconv.shtml

Brewers has all the small bits and pieces you might need and they are a great outfit to deal with.
 
How do you find the gear ratio's of the overdrive 833, I heard some people say they wouldn't be great for a street driven muscle car.
 
I had that tranny with 3.23 then 3.55 gears behind a built \6 for 30,000 miles. The jump between 2nd and 3rd was not ideal for acceleration but it was not a big deal for the street.

With the 360 (~370 HP) you just wouldn't know its an OD tranny unless you look at the tach in high gear. May not be the hot set up for the 1/4 but I have run a 13.7 @ 102 MPH and its not the gear spread that is holding the car back. I am very traction limited off the line as my miserable 60' times will attest (2.2 sec on the 13.7 sec run).
 
Hey 71Duster,


Call this guy

Darryl Finch is located in Phelan, CA. Just South of Victorville off of I-15. 760-963-7809

Every Spring or Fall Fling show in SoCal he brings all his goodies. He offers the most complete 4 spd conversion kits around. Granted this is all used stuff, but he compiles all the parts needed to go from auto to manual. Trans, pedals, bushings, xross member, cables, z-bar I mean all the stuff. Pricing I am not sure. Call him.
 
Michaeluser said:
Hey 71Duster,


Call this guy

Darryl Finch is located in Phelan, CA. Just South of Victorville off of I-15. 760-963-7809

Every Spring or Fall Fling show in SoCal he brings all his goodies. He offers the most complete 4 spd conversion kits around. Granted this is all used stuff, but he compiles all the parts needed to go from auto to manual. Trans, pedals, bushings, xross member, cables, z-bar I mean all the stuff. Pricing I am not sure. Call him.
Click to expand...

Bend over and expect to get buttraped on pricing from ol' DF. Daryl takes most all his stuff home with him after each show! I've seen the same stuff in his spot for at least 4 years. I call his spot the "Furniture Display".

There are complete kits, sans clutch, floating around for anywhere from 700-1500. The more expensive ones include the steering column and clutch.
 
crackedback said:
Bend over and expect to get buttraped on pricing from ol' DF. Daryl takes most all his stuff home with him after each show! I've seen the same stuff in his spot for at least 4 years. I call his spot the "Furniture Display".

There are complete kits, sans clutch, floating around for anywhere from 700-1500. The more expensive ones include the steering column and clutch.
Click to expand...

Really? Yeah I can see that from him. Kinda a junk collector status.
 
Its a console automatic car that I built froma coulumn car so I'm good with the column already.

Has anyone delt with the guy on e-bay before?
 
hi im currently converting a 74 scamp from an auto on the column to a 4 speed OVD and i was wondering if anyone knows the dimensions for where the 4spd hump needs to be welded in i have a repop hump but i want it to look nice and be in the right spot any help you can provide would be much appreciated
 
71Duster said:
There's a guy on e-bay who sells set-ups pedels etc etc he says an a-body would run $1200 which doesn;t sound horrible but then theres the clutch and flywheel yet.
Click to expand...
In reality, that sounds about right in the ballpark. I lucked out years ago, wanting a 340 to replace a 318 in my 67 cuda. I bought a basket case 67 fastback, but it sported a 69 S driveline. X head 340, 4 speed, 8-3/4 rear, 4,spd. column, I salvaged everything worth saving, and junked it. 900.oo bux. I feel I got a good deal. I converted my car to four spd. Only because a tranny builder burned me bad on a build. But I`m glad I switched, Love it!
 
lil Scamper said:
hi im currently converting a 74 scamp from an auto on the column to a 4 speed OVD and i was wondering if anyone knows the dimensions for where the 4spd hump needs to be welded in i have a repop hump but i want it to look nice and be in the right spot any help you can provide would be much appreciated
Click to expand...


Best thing to do...

Get the trans and shifter mounted in the car, got to cut a small hole for the shifter, then position the hump in place.
 
crackedback said:
Best thing to do...

Get the trans and shifter mounted in the car, got to cut a small hole for the shifter, then position the hump in place.
Click to expand...

Small hole? Far from it. You need to have clearance for the 1-2 and 3-4 shifter rods as they go over the structural hump support. Remember, when cutting the "small hole", don't cut thru the structural support.

The 4 spd hump will somewhat center itself on the existing floor tunnel. Trace the outline of the 4 speed hump with a magic marker on the floor and cut approx. 1.5" inward from the magic marker line. Once the hole is cut, mount the trans w/shifter in place and attach the rods. Trim as necessary for rod clearance.

Handle3.jpg
 
That,s A Big Hole..not A Small Hole.holey Moley Did You Have To Cut That Much Out For Shifter Linkage Clearance??
 
If you took the hump out of an original 4 speed car you would see that the hole he cut was basically the same size with about same overlap. When I put the correct hump in my car I just put seam sealer around the edges then screwed the hump down and when I converted it back to an automatic I just screwed the new hump back in, so you dont necessarily have to spend $$$ and time welding that in. I would say that the biggest part in the swap is the time invested putting in all the correct pieces such as the pedals, otherwise its not that bad of a job!!
 
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