darndart
Well-Known Member
Where did you get the transmission tunnel?
Out with the Automatic and in with the Tremec 5 speed
- Thread starter hemi446
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hemi446
Well-Known Member
The tunnel is from American Powertrain it fit my floor for the most part.
One thing is they don’t have any type of template to help with the layout. So i measured back from the bell housing to where the shifter was and started with about a 8-9” cut down the middle to get started.
I had replace all of the floors when I started on the car back in 1991 so they may have not been exactly like the factory but they fit ok.
I did have to trim the drivers side front corner a little and I did fold the lower edge in to get it as close to the floor as I could.
darndart
Well-Known Member
Did they sell you the tunnel piece separately?
hemi446
Well-Known Member
Yes I ordered the tunnel, cross member , pilot bearing and tailshaft assembly from them. I have also called them to ask questions and never had a bad time everyone was helpful
hemi446
Well-Known Member
I don't remember I bought it awhile ago. But let me look for my invoice. I bought the tunnel, cross member, extension housing to convert the transmission from a E-body to an A-body, I also got the transmission mount, speedometer cable, and speedometer gear.
hemi446
Well-Known Member
So today I installed some extensions on to the back of the original console brackets. And welded the original front console bracket back on to the top of the new tunnel. The next step is remove the transmission and bellhousing so I can undercoat the tunnel and install the clutch and transmission for the last time.
hemi446
Well-Known Member
So I haven’t posted in a little while but the transmission is in with the clutch and the exhaust is back on. I did have a problem the Dupl-Color under coat after three day the stuff wasn’t dry and I touched it with my finger and it came right off. ( I’ll post a picture of the can for the stuff not to use it was **** and it came out brown not black ) So I scraped it off with a scraper and used some seem sealer around the edges and re-under coated it and it was fine.
When I put the shifter back down in the transmission the transmission has too hang down and you drop the shifter in through the top and put the bolts in from the bottom. The back two bolts are tightened with a wrench from the bottom and the other four bolts I got from the top with a quarter inch swivel socket from the top. I used #2 Permatex for the sealer on the top if you use silicone sealer you will never be able to get the shifter off if you needed to.
With the shifter in I just raised the transmission up into place and installed the cross member torqued everything to spec’s
I then installed the clutch master cylinder to the fire wall the problem here is there is a raised rib right where the two left side bolts go. So I made a small spacer to move the master cylinder back about a quarter inch. There should be enough adjustment in the master cylinder rod to make up for this and it makes getting the hydraulic line started a little easier.
If you install the hydraulic line with the bleeder facing down the line has a kink in it so I’m going to switch it to face up to make the line a smoother flow.
I also made a ground wire from the floor to the transmission and used the brown wire from the starter relay to go to the switch at the back of the transmission so the car will only crank in neutral, the speedometer cable is in as will that gives me some place to hold the brown wire up off the exhaust
Since I’m home sick right now I don’t know when I’ll get back to it I still need to make a bracket for the fluid reservoir that will clear the voltage regulator and not lay over the inner fender in case it leaks
When I put the shifter back down in the transmission the transmission has too hang down and you drop the shifter in through the top and put the bolts in from the bottom. The back two bolts are tightened with a wrench from the bottom and the other four bolts I got from the top with a quarter inch swivel socket from the top. I used #2 Permatex for the sealer on the top if you use silicone sealer you will never be able to get the shifter off if you needed to.
With the shifter in I just raised the transmission up into place and installed the cross member torqued everything to spec’s
I then installed the clutch master cylinder to the fire wall the problem here is there is a raised rib right where the two left side bolts go. So I made a small spacer to move the master cylinder back about a quarter inch. There should be enough adjustment in the master cylinder rod to make up for this and it makes getting the hydraulic line started a little easier.
If you install the hydraulic line with the bleeder facing down the line has a kink in it so I’m going to switch it to face up to make the line a smoother flow.
I also made a ground wire from the floor to the transmission and used the brown wire from the starter relay to go to the switch at the back of the transmission so the car will only crank in neutral, the speedometer cable is in as will that gives me some place to hold the brown wire up off the exhaust
Since I’m home sick right now I don’t know when I’ll get back to it I still need to make a bracket for the fluid reservoir that will clear the voltage regulator and not lay over the inner fender in case it leaks
hemi446
Well-Known Member
Here are some more pictures the picture of the straight shifter is not the one I’m using I have a different shift handle that tilts back some so on acceleration you don’t have to lean forward to reach the shifter from my drag race years I know that will not work you will pull the shifter out of gear if you have to reach forward and your back is off the seat
And yes I did us a GM weather pac connector on the brown wire they seal real will and I have them in stock
And yes I did us a GM weather pac connector on the brown wire they seal real will and I have them in stock
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Thank you so much for the pictures. I am putting a TR6060 in my 72 Demon behind a gen3 Hemi. I just got the motor where I could hang it in the air this weekend. I had to seperate it from the wire harness. Anyway I am looking to start slashing floor and firewall next. Your pictures are great thanks so much.
hemi446
Well-Known Member
It’s good that they help. I just started putting the carpet and seat back in. More pictures as soon s I have them
hemi446
Well-Known Member
Ok so I haven't post much on the install in a while. The transmission is in and works great just a couple of things going on with the car now. First the good. It's great driving on a 90 degree day and the engine temperature never goes over half way, my fuel mileage has greatly increased because of two things. The RPM's on the highway are so low and your cruising at 70-75 MPH with no RPM's anymore and the second reason is you almost never have to touch the gas. Now the bad I'm having to relearn how to drive the car. It's Fing insane to drive the RPM's come on so fast that you are shifting the first three gear as fast as you can there is no hook-up at all. And that's without full throttle. Don't get me wrong it's still fun but with the automatic it was all about throttle control. You could walk just about anyone out of the hole but with this you don't have any softness to work with. I'm thinking of taking rear gear out of if to see if it will help. I'm still looking for the pictures of the interior going back in but here is the finished product. I have between 40-45 hours in the change over, over the last 3 months. It wasn't very hard at all just a lot of in and out with the transmission making sure everything fit. I did have a problem with the headers hitting the body after I was done but nothing a torch and screw driver didn't fix
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Thanks as always, you have a great looking fish! I am slowly getting closer with mine. Threads like yours give me hope when I get frustrated! It seems I fight for every inch on my build, nothing comes easy. But I reckon that is why there are not a lot of gen 3s in A bodies yet. But if this site is any indication more and more folks are doing the swap! The tranny portion is a large part of the equation! Thanks again for your super good pictures and the progress thread.
hemi446
Well-Known Member
I had a 8" straight stick in the car to try in out but I found that I was pulling the shifter out of 1st and 3rd gear because my back wasn't back in the seat so I found this shift handle and it seems to work good as far as the height but the shifter throw is to long so now I'm going to talk to SST to see if the short throw shifter will work better. It depends on what you are trying to do. With this engine the torque is insane so you need to be shifting so fast that you can't keep up with the power. If that makes since. It's just learning how to drive it again
hemi446
Well-Known Member
Thanks very much It's just fun to play with and today it's only 80 degrees out so on the way home with the top down
Makes perfect since. Post what you find out about the shifter if you don’t mind.
rapidtransitric
LX/LC platform a body swap pioneer
66Dartdriver
Well-Known Member
Awesome job looks great especially with the console and thanks for taking the time to post pictures!
Dartsun
Mopar Dude
Thanks for posting install. Great looking car. Dustin
jedrattle
Well-Known Member
Nice looking car! You have a 3rd gen hemi in it? 5.7, 6.1? Efi?
R4Sedan
Larry
Looks awesome. Glad for you!
hemi446
Well-Known Member
Ok so I have been driving the car a lot since I finished the transmission install and one of the things I noticed was the stock shift assembly from TREMEC doesn’t work for me it is very clunky and doesn’t like the 2-3 shift. I started looking around for a better shifter assembly and decided on a Pro 5.0 shifter the only thing is it uses 5/16” bolts to hold the shifter adapter or shifter handle on and the Hurst handle uses 3/8” bolt so I may have to modify that. This is supposed to be a short throw shifter that the 5.0 Mustang guys use. We will just have to wait and see
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