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.

[Chevy3+3]

I will add that my truck had 2.5" front lift springs giving me a little extra clearance to be able to use the factory GM bellhousing. The driveline clears the bellhousing by a few inches but I may look into raising the trucks height another 1-2" to make sure there are no clearance issues between the front driveline and bellhousing if I were to start twisted the truck a little in a ditch of something

[mongocanfly]

Good score on the nv4500..you did steal it..keep in mind that if you change the fluid in it that it takes a special fluid..very expensive fluid..only place I could find it was dealership

[Chevy3+3]

A couple more pics

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Good score on the nv4500..you did steal it..keep in mind that if you change the fluid in it that it takes a special fluid..very expensive fluid..only place I could find it was dealership

That's the truth! I bought a couple of quarts to have on hand and top off the transmission. That purchase made me cringe

[KQQL IT]

I have a 91 crew with a sm465 2wd what wouldn't I need to buy for the swap

[KQQL IT]

The shift boot you used looks similar to big rig stuff. Maybe cross breed some kenworth parts.

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by KQQL IT

The shift boot you used looks similar to big rig stuff. Maybe cross breed some kenworth parts.

Yep it's actually a Kenworth replacement boot. I think it turned out alright

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by KQQL IT

I have a 91 crew with a sm465 2wd what wouldn't I need to buy for the swap

Would or wouldn't?

[KQQL IT]

Originally Posted by Chevy3+3

Would or wouldn't?

Would not. Already has the hydraulic clutch.
Would the bell, clutch etc be the same

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by KQQL IT

Would not. Already has the hydraulic clutch.
Would the bell, clutch etc be the same

The bell will not be the same as the the sm465. You would need to find an NV4500 from a 2wd truck along with the bellhousing. Since you already have a hydraulic setup you would only need to buy a line long enough to reach the passenger side slave cylinder on the NV4500. I'm not familiar with the cross member used with that transmission but that may be something you would need to change also. I just can't verify that. The actual clutch on your truck should work.

Your truck would be simple to swap since its a 2wd and already has a hydraulic clutch setup

To answer your question....the list you would need to purchase would be.
-NV4500 2wd with bellhousing
-clutch fork pivot ball
-clutch fork
-throw out bearing
-a 72 inch -3an line from the clutch MC to the clutch slave cylinder
-Russell performance -3an to quick connect adapter
-a -3an to M12x1.0 dual seat adapter fittings.

That would basically be it for you. Wouldn't be bad at all I wouldn't think

[Wrecked1982]

is this the original transfer case? i though later trucks had slip yoke and werent using the bracing rod on the side on the TC. although i wish i had a fixed yoke TC like you on my 85
nice work on your nv4500 swap.

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by Wrecked1982

is this the original transfer case? i though later trucks had slip yoke and werent using the bracing rod on the side on the TC. although i wish i had a fixed yoke TC like you on my 85
nice work on your nv4500 swap.

To my knowledge this is the original t-case. I could be wrong but I thought all 205's had fixed yokes. I do know that '85+ had the 6 round bolt pattern t-case which mine would have had from the factory. When I bought this truck 2 yrs ago it appeared to be all original.

By the way thanks for the compliment. It feels so nice shifting to 5th on the highway and cruising around 65 mph at about 2k RPMs

[KQQL IT]

Originally Posted by Chevy3+3

The bell will not be the same as the the sm465. You would need to find an NV4500 from a 2wd truck along with the bellhousing. Since you already have a hydraulic setup you would only need to buy a line long enough to reach the passenger side slave cylinder on the NV4500. I'm not familiar with the cross member used with that transmission but that may be something you would need to change also. I just can't verify that. The actual clutch on your truck should work.

Your truck would be simple to swap since its a 2wd and already has a hydraulic clutch setup

To answer your question....the list you would need to purchase would be.
-NV4500 2wd with bellhousing
-clutch fork pivot ball
-clutch fork
-throw out bearing
-a 72 inch -3an line from the clutch MC to the clutch slave cylinder
-Russell performance -3an to quick connect adapter
-a -3an to M12x1.0 dual seat adapter fittings.

That would basically be it for you. Wouldn't be bad at all I wouldn't think

Thanks, being it's got a 3:08 20 bolt under it, I'd wonder if the 350 would even pull an OD

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by KQQL IT

Thanks, being it's got a 3:08 20 bolt under it, I'd wonder if the 350 would even pull an OD

I bet it wouldn't like it unless you plan on running 80+ mph on the highway, lol

[68Timber]

But it's a good excuse to install 3.73's.

Are you keeping the auto-trans column?

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

But it's a good excuse to install 3.73's.

Are you keeping the auto-trans column?

For now I had to. I have a manual tilt column with cruise but it did not have wiper delay so I just left my column in and removed the shift arm

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Chevy3+3

For now I had to. I have a manual tilt column with cruise but it did not have wiper delay so I just left my column in and removed the shift arm

Can you not just change the stalk? I thought the module was in the dash.

[Chevy3+3]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

Can you not just change the stalk? I thought the module was in the dash.

Yes that is my plan at a later date. I do have a auto tilt column that needs an upper bearing and the plastic piece that hooks to the dimmer rod is broke.

[68Timber]

Nice work, I like the braided line and AN fittings.

[DirtyLarry]

Looks great! You’re going to love having overdrive

Lots of ways to skin a cat with mating a NV4500 to a NP205’s. I went the avenue of replacing the long 32 spline input on my round 205 to an early short input to avoid using the AA spacer between the trans/tcase. That also prevented the need for any driveshaft mods.

I used this input gear in my 205


And removed this one....


View of how my round 205 is mounted to the NV4500 rear cover

[USSkoval]

Originally Posted by Chevy3+3

To my knowledge this is the original t-case. I could be wrong but I thought all 205's had fixed yokes. I do know that '85+ had the 6 round bolt pattern t-case which mine would have had from the factory. When I bought this truck 2 yrs ago it appeared to be all original.

By the way thanks for the compliment. It feels so nice shifting to 5th on the highway and cruising around 65 mph at about 2k RPMs

'80 and newer with a single tube rear driveline got a slip yoke. Any truck with a 2-piece shaft (with a carrier bearing) got a fixed yoke.

[KQQL IT]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

But it's a good excuse to install 3.73's.

Are you keeping the auto-trans column?

The 3:08 actually made L gear usable.

For the intended purposeof it a camaro 5 speed would probably be fine.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by KQQL IT

The 3:08 actually made L gear usable.

For the intended purposeof it a camaro 5 speed would probably be fine.

I forgot you bought that truck. If it's just going to remain a cruiser you could save some bucks and use a nv3500.

[Wrecked1982]

thank you USSkoval thats the knowledge i was missing