Yes, it feels so wrong putting those spring tabs under the lip of the release bearing.
I never mentioned I also triple checked to make sure I had the clutch disc in the right way. Did that rookie mistake in the 80's and had to pull a Muncie back out to flip the disc around. Haven't made that mistake again!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
It is so long since I pulled a tranny on a Chevy. The last time I did my Vette, has to be over 20 years (yikes!). Two questions.. Did you pull the distributor out before you pulled the original tranny, is their a chance the distributor would contact the firewall? How do you tell if the clutch disc is in the right way? I think the long part of the center shaft goes towards tranny..
Great pics...
-- Edited by LT1Caddy on Monday 29th of January 2024 09:41:59 PM
Normally my Monday nights from 7-9 are spent sitting at the computer listening to Ken's show or lying on the couch listening to Ken's show but tonight I wanted to keep at this project. I sat at the computer and listened for a bit but the urge to go back to work on my car was too strong so the Bluetooth speaker got tuned to Ken's show and off I went.
I just let it down on the mount and came in for the night. Didn't tighten up any bolts, etc. Tomorrow if there's time I'll tighten up the mount etc, put new u-joints in the driveshaft, run the speedometer cable down, hook up the back up light switch. If I still have time to spare then it's time to move upstairs and start on swapping in the pedals, then install console etc. I know there won't be time to finish tomorrow, gotta run across the street after lunch/nap and have coffee with my friend.
This morning I tightened up all the mount bolts, crossmember bolts, Z-bar nut, put new u-joints in the driveshaft and installed it, put the NOS pedal pads on the clutch and brake pedals, hung the pedals, installed the pushrod from the pedal to the Z bar and then it was lunch time.
Free automatic brake pedal if anyone wants it. Best sight in the world to me is an automatic pedal lying on the garage floor and manual pedals hanging where it was!
What's the neutral safety switch look like in 1966? There was a big difference between 1969 & 1970.
1969 is the first year for a safety switch on manual trans B body as well as all GM I think.
No neutral safety switch makes things a little simpler.
As 1969 was different than 1970, and my clutch pedal was from a 1969, I had to drill a hole in the pedal to accommodate the different switch. A 1970 pedal would be pretty rare.
This evening, finished installing the clutch linkage and adjusting the clutch, drilled those 2 pain-in-the-butt-to-access holes in the firewall for the speedometer cable clips and put a tiny tweak in the reverse shift rod because it was just touching the crossmember when I pulled the shifter into reverse. All good now.
Tomorrow? Not quite sure yet. It's supposed to be sunny and 8* so maybe I'll open the door, jack up the diff and try all the clutch, gears in the trans etc.
Still need to install the backup light switch and harnesses as well as the switches and wiring on the brake and clutch pedals for when the cruise gets installed once the manual trans conversion is done.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Still need to install the backup light switch and harnesses as well as the switches and wiring on the brake and clutch pedals for when the cruise gets installed once the manual trans conversion is done.
You are going to install cruise control? Could you get cruise on a four speed back then? Or is it an aftermarket unit?
We had an amazing weather day here today. I suspect we likely broke the record for January 31st in Manitoba. I saw 9* on our thermometer at one point.
Anyway, I'm nowhere near done but today I installed the little cable that operates the reverse lockout in the shifter handle and fired it up. First (and only glitch so far it seems) is that stupid shield on the bellhousing. 2nd 4 speed conversion in a row where I installed a brand new shield and it's rubbing. I'll have to drop the starter to see where it's touching. I was so careful installing it but there a little bit of it rubbing on the crank flange I'm guessing.
Backed the car outside and parked it there for a bit. So far I've only used low and reverse but that works like it should. No seats in the car, no backup light switch, no carpet, no console, still lots to do but the mechanical part of it is done. Now on to the little details next.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
sounds like today would have been the day to go for a rip. do they use salt on your roads?
Yes, I'm afraid so, our street was one big puddle obstacle course from all the melting going on. Strato Chief went to the end of the driveway and back, the Grande Parisienne had an even shorter trip just out the door and back!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
No, I switched over to installing the cruise control while the seats and console are out because it's simpler to do the interior cruise stuff with those pieces removed. And after the cruise, then the power vent windows and power locks before I put the console and seats back in I think. It's so much easier installing the interior cruise wiring/module and the cruise switches on the pedals with the seats and console out of the car.
I'm also adding a power trunk so while I have the seats and console out I'll run the vacuum hose for the trunk actuator from the trunk latch to the glove box where the vacuum valve is. It all kind of ties together...
The 4 speed conversion is pretty much done other than the console installation though. All the linkages, return springs etc are installed and the car drives the way it is now which was my goal for the end of last week.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Not much to update here but hopefully soon. My wife talked me into taking an extended winter vacation and we got back home a few days ago, so I hope to get back at this project this week.
Before we went away I removed the clutch dust cove that was rubbing (as mentioned below) and gave it a couple of minor little tweaks which seems to have gotten rid of the noise it made the first time I started it.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Today I'm removing the backup harness and the neutral safety harness from the console harness Mark sent me for an automatic. There is no starter safety switch on the manual trans GM's until 1967 and the backup harness doesn't go into the console. It comes from the trans up through the firewall and plugs into the body harness wires that go to the back. I unwrapped all the wiring, removed the purple and green wires and then wrapped it up again. I really love that non sticky wrap, it's so much more flexible and easy to wrap vs electrical tape.
