This is a spinoff of the V8 conversion thread.

Items required to do an "authentic" manual trans conversion-

-153 tooth, "small" diameter flywheel. (Note 1)

-Unique Acadian bellhousing (Note 2)

-Unique Acadian clutch fork to match the bellhousing (Note 3)

-Clutch linkage for a V8 Acadian is unique. (Note 4)

-The boss for the engine side Z bar pivot ball is in a unique spot on Acadian V8 blocks. You must have the Acadian block or buy an aftermarket "conversion" bracket. (Note 5)

-Acadian only clutch and brake pedals. (Note 6)

-Floor hump for shifter. (Note 7)

- For Muncie 4 speeds, a tailhousing with passenger side speedometer gear is needed because the shifter uses the forward mounting holes in the tail. The auto speedo cable is too short.

-Good luck purchasing an original 65 or 66-67 4 speed console. Your firstborn son will be a start!!! Typically in the $1000 range for a nice console.

-Different front driveshaft yoke if converting from an air cooled powerglide to a Muncie or Borg. The air cooled glide had a coarse output shaft. Just learned that this past winter.

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Note 1- This is needed because an Acadian bellhousing is too small for the 14" (168 tooth)  flywheel. This flywheel (12" 153 tooth) will not accept an 11" clutch. A small starter (nose uses one long and one short bolt)  is needed to match it.

Note 2- This bellhousing is only found on 64-67 Acadian. The casting number is 3849309. The earlier housing 3788383 does not have a large enough opening for the Muncie or Borg Warner "snout" to fit in.  These housings can be identified by the clutch fork opening at the 7 o'clock position as compared to the normal 9 o'clock.

Note 3- This unique fork also uses an Acadian only clutch fork boot. It is just different enough from the other GM boots that you have to have the correct one. Most repro vendors will sell you the wrong boot for your unique car, but the correct one is available. As they say, ask me how I know....

Note 4- The two piece linkage from the Z bar to fork is V8 Acadian only. The Z bar is the same on all 62-67 whether 6 or V8. Same for rod from the pedal to Z bar, and the pedal too. Available repro.

Note 5- I have purchased this bracket and did not find it to be a bolt in conversion. The clutch linkage geometry was not ideal with it.

Note 6- The clutch pedal has 2 styles. 65 and older is one style. 66-67 are another style. The only difference is the angle bracket welded to the pedal that hits the rubber bumper when the pedal is fully up.  The brake pedal has 2 styles. 66 and older is one style. 67 is all by itself.

Note 7- Available repro. It was used from 64-67 only as those are the only years offered with 4 speeds. The hump will fit 62-67 floor pans as they are all the same.

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Ramblings


You are miles ahead if you can find a 64-67 donor car with a manual trans, even if it's a 6 cylinder car. Almost everything you need is there and the few unique V8 pieces are repro.

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I have seen guys talk about having a machine shop enlarge the small opening in the #383 bellhousing so a Muncie will fit but have no experience with it.

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If you have headers and for clearance reasons want a small starter, I know the one from a 94-96 LT1 will fit because our 94 Roadmaster has a starter on it from a 65 Acadian 194! Remember, this is for manual trans or automatic with the small flywheel.

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The trans mount and crossmember interchange from glide to Muncie.





-- Edited by Carl Stevenson on Friday 14th of May 2010 11:13:47 PM