NV4500 swap installed and rollin!

[Chevy3+3]

First I'd like to say I didn't just jump into this swap. I read dozens of other nv4500 swap threads and what I learned is that no matter how many different projects you read about none are going to be the same as your project most likely.

My '88 Chevy V30's transmission started to slip over a year ago. I decided that it would be great to have OD in a truck like mine and lower my RPMs a tad on the highway. Whatever I decided to use was going to be mated to my current 454 TBI motor under the hood. I'm not a guru when it comes to wirings so I ruled out a 4L80E with a stand alone controller (but still a great choice). The fact I already a 32 spline 6 round bolt pattern np205 t-case made the NV4500 a fairly economical swap. I stumbled onto an NV4500 on a wrecked 94 chevy k3500. The owner had the transmission overhauled and only had about 10k miles on the overhaul. He was parting the truck out and I got the 5 speed for $450 which I thought was a steal. Once that was purchased the hunt was on for the remaining parts.

I chose to find an original GM bellhousing over an AA bellhousing simply because I thought it would be easier fitting & finding parts. So I found a bellhousing & flywheel cover on ebay for a good price. Next I needed to find a pedal assembly which turned out to be harder than I thought to find an '85+ squarebody manual truck with hydraboost. The hydraboost and vacuum pedal assemblies are different. By doing some calling I found a set from a salvage yard in Georgia. It took me a couple of weeks to track that down. Now I had my main pieces needed for the swap.

Fast forward a year later when I actually had some spare time I tore the greasy mess apart. Here is a list of all the new components I had to buy new for the swap. I will give prices also along with some pics. I hope this thread can help some others who might be considering the same swap and some things I found suprising I didn't need to change.

The adapter I ordered form Advanced Adapters was kit #50-6911. That came with the spacer to go between the NP205 and NV4500. This kit also came with the bracket needed to connect your t-case shift lever back. The bracket was weak so I braced it in a couple of locations to stiffen it up. Using this kit it also required you lengthen the rod between the np205 shift rail and the shifter arm. I found I had to lengthen the rod approx. 1 3/4" to maintain the same shifter angle in the cab of the truck. BE CAREFUL.....this kit comes with all thread studs. You CAN screw them in to far into the internal gears of the t-case. Advance Adapters needs to supply the correct length studs with correct shoulder lengths to keep this from happening. Especially since they want you to use locknuts.



Almost all of my parts were purchased from Rockauto because they beat NAPA's price by a decent amount. I saved almost $150 total having the parts shipped to my door instead of buying them through NAPA.

List of parts I ordered for the '88 V30
-Luk flywheel #LFW102 =$67
-Dorman flywheel bolts # 14557 = $4
-Luk Gold clutch kit #04902 = $88
-Clutch master cylinder (purchased from Oreillys) = approx. $35
-Oil impregnated pilot bushing (purchased from Oreillys) = $4

List of parts ordered for a '94 K3500 7.4 TBI truck
-Luk clutch slave cylinder #LSC118 = $25
-Dorman clutch fork pivot ball # 15155 = $9
-DEA HD trans mount # A2638HD = $13
Luk clutch fork # LF9864 = $15

I also decided the easiest (for me anyway) way to plumb the hydraulic line from the clutch master cylinder to the slave cylinder would be by using a -3AN 72 inch SS braided Teflon hose assembly with one 90 degree end and the other end straight. I purchased this off of Ebay from Gray Stone Systems for approx. $26. If you intend to use this you will need the -3AN adapter to adapt to the quick connect style fitting GM used on the slave cylinder. Russell performance makes these adapters #640281. They sell by the pair but you will only need one to connect the -3AN line to your factory slave cylinder quick connect. You will also need a fitting to adapt from your -3AN hose connection to the M12x1.0 clutch master cylinder connection. For this I went to Orme Brothers. It is a metric to AN dual seat adapter (-3AN/12mmx1.0). I was able to make all my connections and bleed the entire system out of the truck and then intall it without breaking any lines loose.


The good things that surprised me about the swap making it easier and cheaper. I was able to use my original crossmember in the original location. The NV4500 with the factory bellhousing was the same length as the th400. The other surprising thing was my drivelines did not need modified in length. Once the trans/t-case combo was installed everything else bolted back together basically. I was even able to reattach the solid rod brace that ran from the np205 to the th400 bellhousing bolt.


Then I laid my new ACC blue vinyl floor down and cleaned up my interior a little bit. One thing I DID NOT know was that no one makes a reproduction NV4500 shift boot. Mine was torn that I got with the tranny. So I bought a Dorman square boot #924-5405. I cut the factory flange out of the NV4500 boot and then cut the biggest fold off of the new boot and the nv4500 flange sat right on top of it giving it a clean look I thought. The shifter hole was a little small so I opened it up a tad and stretched it over the shifter shaft.


I hope the read wasn't to long but wanted to make it fairly detailed so others could see and understand. I hope this thread helps someone just as other threads an build projects have helped me in the past. All in all my grand total for the swap came in right at $1100 including the new vinyl floor. The biggest cost factor is what you can get an NV4500 bought for.

As some of you probably notice I still have a few screws to put in the boot flanges, need to install t-case skid plate and I knocked off a u-joint cap off the front driveline so I need to get that fixed before I bolt it back up.