Completed my Manual Conversion

[jade76]

Well, I completed my auto to manual conversion. First time ever, and in my opinion, anyone can do it.

http://www.gen4novas.com/Tech/images/DSC05732.JPG

Anyone looking to convert can check out my detailed article with pics at my site.

Auto to Manual Instructions @ Gen4Novas.com (http://www.gen4novas.com/cat_content.asp?contentid=241&catid=445)

[PowerMax]

Well, I completed my auto to manual conversion. First time ever, and in my opinion, anyone can do it.

Good job ... I completed the same conversion last year. It wasn't too bad, but I did have some issues with the brake rod. I have power brakes and the car I got the clutch/brake assembly from had manual brakes. I never thought there would be any difference, but there is with the rod length. Other than that, it's a pretty straight-forward conversion. Now you need to do the V-8 conversion. :D

Jeff

[Zoom]

Cool! I plan on switching over too sometime. I have the brake/ clutch pedals, power brake rod, and shifter hump. Now I just need the z-bar and frame bracket..........oh...and a tranny,bellhousing, clutch, flywheel and a shifter :rolleyes:

[jade76]

Working on fabing some z-bars, brackets and clutch pedal rods to restore the original 78 Rally 4spd I just bought. I'm thinking of having a few made up to sell, so I may have one available when you're ready to make your conversion.

[Novajay]

Jade-

Great job on the installation and the how-to. Was it done on the L6 or V8 and were the parts from the PA Nova?

Regards,
Jay

[jade76]

Thanks Novajay,

Yes, I used the parts from the PA Nova. I also lucked out and found another complete setup a couple weeks later, which I was going to keep for another conversion, but I couldn't refuse $350 for it. It'll help pay for the fabrication of the z-bars, and the brackets can be made pretty easilly out of any 1/8" plate steel.

I did the conversion on an L6, however it's a 230 that came out of a 65 C10 and the setup is the same as a V8, being that the engine ball stud is in the block whereas it's on the bellhousing for a standard 4th Gen L6 setup, as I understand it. I would also think because of that, the 4th Gen L6 would also need either a different z-bar or an additional bracket to align the z-bar. I'm not sure though, so far all the one's I've seen have been the same V8 type setups.

[Novajay]

Jade,

I remember not having to fiddle with the Z-bar when replacing the clutch on my stock 78 6 cyl. Can't remember where the Z-bar attached to on the engine side but am about 25% sure it was on the block.

Your tech article was comprehensive and very detailed. Hopefully, you or I will have the time to do a V8 manual swap to answer all those unanswered questions.

Have you heard of anyone on the board that worked in the production plants in the late 70's? I'm near Tarrytown but don't know of anyone that worked there.

Jay (still wishing I kept the 78.)

[Philip]

The clutch pedals, z bar and linkage are the same for V8 and L6 in the 4th generation cars.

Great write up, I am installing pedals and linkage in mine but was not sure where the rod came thru the firewall, now I know. My plans are to take photos and write up my experiences installing the TKO. Hopefully it will help others as your write up has.

[jade76]

Well, I compared both the 230 L6 (yellow engine) in one of my 76's which is getting the manual, and the other photo in my write up was of a 350 (red engine) in my 76SS. Both photo's are of the frame to block showing the alignment for comparison, and judging by the looks of it where the frame bracket and engine ball line up, there is no difference so the conversion will be the same for the L6 and V8, since the clutch assembly is the same as Philip mentioned.

Thanks for the comments, I'm planning on doing a few more articles like that in the near future for some NOS options I recently bought and going to install, but I want to try to stay away from the kind of articles and information that's already available. Kind of like a 4th Gen Restoration/Conversion Guide. I have a long ways to go for that, but I wish I would of had one with my first project. It turned out pretty good, but could have been better with less effort if I would have had a better idea of what I was doing.

I had most of it done by the time I found this site, and gained alot of information here to finish it. So, now I'm redoing most of it again because I wasn't happy with it, and now the other two are getting neglected. The other 76 was originally supposed to be a parts car, but I couldn't bring myself to do that, so it now has the 230 L6 converted to manual and will be my daily driver. I also just recently bought an original 78 Rally 4spd w/buckets, so now it's gonna get a complete rebuild. This is the worst of the 3, rusted out, but I like a good challenge and I have a couple 4 doors with good pans and quarters to replace the bad metal.

Let me know when you get your article written, I'd like to read it.