Auto to Manual

[RED67]

Has anyone done this swap...Have pics...

[dccarpenter]

I haven't but I have a '67 and would sure like to.

[my67chevytruck]

plenty of people have done this. you can search the site, and should find some pictures. it would depend on how you want to do this.. 3 on the tree, 3 or 4 speed on the floor. you would need a manual tranny crossmember, cut a hole for the shifter if a floor shifter, find another pedal assembly to add the clutch, I saw a 69 lwb 4 speed in a junkyard in mansfield with the tranny, pedal assembly, and steering column still in it. I will check my truck to see if i still have their business card.

[RED67]

thanks My67......

[larry may]

NEED A BELL HOUSING , PILOT BEARING, CLUTCH PRESSURE PLATE , CLUTCH PEDDLE , z BAR, LINKAGE , THROW OUT BEARING, CLUTCH T/O BEARING FORK, MABE A X MEMBER, Drive shaft. Put it together. Couple of hours or so be driving it away.Have fun

[nplocoman]

Originally Posted by larry may

NEED A BELL HOUSING , PILOT BEARING, CLUTCH PRESSURE PLATE , CLUTCH PEDDLE , z BAR, LINKAGE , THROW OUT BEARING, CLUTCH T/O BEARING FORK, MABE A X MEMBER, Drive shaft. Put it together. Couple of hours or so be driving it away.Have fun

Hope you are going downhill you might need a drive shaft. don't forget a different starter. You might want to start the truck after the drive shaft. Oh yea we are going down hill, just pop the clutch. hope all that is good.
I just finished a conversion from a three on the tree to a power glide. It took two hours of beer just to start!

[lpaine]

Also the threaded hole in the engine block for the ball that the Z-bar sits in on V-8s anyway, I don't think that threaded hole is found on auto trans engine combos, but I could be wrong. You won't need this if you're going to switch to a hydraulic clutch throw-out setup however. Best of luck.

[AusTruck]

My experience has been that most of the old per-fuel injection motors have the hole drilled in the block for the cross shaft. Lotsa times the hole is hidden beneath a lot of grease and dirt.
Also, some of the later crate motors don't have the hole drilled either.
The boss for the hole is present on some of these blocks, but not drilled and tapped. I've heard of some folks carefully drilling and tapping the hole, but haven't done it myself (yet).

BTW, I'd like to do the auto to manual conversion myself also. Got a mid-80s Chevy truck 4-speed, the one that looks like a car trans with the OD 4th gear. Shifter's on the side, no granny first gear.

[capev86]

if i was bothering with a auto to stick conversion on any vehicle....it would be with the intent of getting an advantage over a an auto and a 3 or 4 speed just doesn't do it for me....no overdrive among other things. i'd go for a 5spd or preferably a 6 speed, especially in a 3/4 or 1 ton truck with a tall final drive. i have a 3 on the tree saginaw in my 72 burb 3/4 ton and will be upgrading the H052 rear from a 4.57 to a 4.10 gear and adding the rare (and expensive) factory overdrive tail unit to the trans so i can drive it on the highway. it is very fun driving the stick and i love the novelty of the stock trans with a column shifter (no one does that anymore) but there are limitations with the vintage setup that modern vehicles offer an improvement on.

[57larry]

Originally Posted by nplocoman

Hope you are going downhill you might need a drive shaft. don't forget a different starter. You might want to start the truck after the drive shaft. Oh yea we are going down hill, just pop the clutch. hope all that is good.
I just finished a conversion from a three on the tree to a power glide. It took two hours of beer just to start!

why a different starter ? does it heve to do with the bellhousing ? thanks

[rsavage]

The starter will bolt to the cast iron bellhousing instead of the block. It will be a three bolt starter. You need the frame bracket for the z bar too and if using a stock type 4 speed sm 465, you will need a high hump.

[57larry]

so the starter is the same as a 57 chevy passenger car

[AusTruck]

If you are using a car-type manual trans i.e. one with the shifter on the side rather than the top, do you still need the high floor hump?

[rsavage]

I do not believe so. I have a 66 that I put a muncie (car type) 4 speed in and it was originally a three speed with a low hump. It worked fine. I am assuming that the clearances would be close to what the 67-72's are. Both my 70's came with truck 4 speeds and one is a 4X4 and therefore have high humps, so I have no actual experience with a 67-72 car 4 speed conversion - just with my 66. One of the things you will run into with a tranny like a muncie 4 speed with the shifter on the side is that it is mounted on the tailshaft. Consequently, the shifter comes up 1/2 under the front edge of the bench seat. I ordered a Hurst shifter specifically for my 66 PU and still had to section, bend forward and reweld the handle near the base (where weld would be under the boot) to bring it far enough forward to get 2nd and 4th without bottom of seat interference. With buckets, it wouldn't be an issue. Some of the folks here have used 5 speeds from light duty stuff - search the threads and I am sure that you will find some info.

[AirSpeed]

I did it on my 69, my auto took a crap and I had another truck with a 4 speed. it was VERY easy. I simply took the clutch lever of the donor, the pivot was already in the pedal assembly. everything bolted right on. I also changed the floor hump from the donor truck. The only issue I had was the donor truck was a long bed so I had to make my own drive shaft, between the two trucks I was able to weld together a new shaft. The entire job took about 5 hours.