bill69

I am getting ready to remove the 4 speed manual transmission in my 70 big block Vette. My question is do I need to remove the shift lever? The manual makes it sound like I need to but I can't see anyway to remove it. I have the pin removed from the lever but it still won't come out until the other pin is removed but there is no way to remove that as I would have to lower the transmission first due to clearance.

MelWff

assuming you have a stock shifter, it attaches to a bracket with 2 bolts. Disconnect the linkage from the trani arms and remove the 2 bolts. Then remove the bracket followed by the trani.

Paul71LT1

Bill,

I took the muncie out of my '71 without removing the stock shifter which is on a bracket bolted to the frame. I removed the driveshaft and then I drained the oil from the tranny (good time to change it anyway) so I could pull the driveshaft yoke from the back of the tranny. This gives you a little more room on the back end to wiggle it around. If the tranny won't come back far enough to get the front shaft out of the bell housing you can unbolt the BH and tilt it back and down to let the transmission come clear.

Surfer69

The fwd bolt can be had by pushing the reverse lever arm back once disconnected from tranny. The top bolt as stated needs the drive shaft pushed to the side and the tranny yoke taken out. Even with that you need two wrenches to hold the head while you undo the nut.

I have found after taking the Muncie out 8 times now that removing the linkage is a must everytime. Makes everything else much easier. My 0.02

ezobens

Don't kill yourself by trying to work around the shifter/bracket.
Just take it all out, you'll thank yourself later.
Elm