qwank

I finally decided to start on my swap today. I'll be working on it a few hours everyday and will be doing it in "jobs" to make it more enjoyable for me. (I work at a dealer and the last thing I want to do when I get home is work on my own car, but this needs to get done. LOL)

Here's the tranny that's going in:



So today's job was to remove the stock auto brake pedal and shifter.

So first I disconnected the negative cable off the battery
I then removed both T-tops

next was the shift **** and steering wheel:



Then I took out the drivers seat, both console side panels and carefully removed the console top. I left the heater control cable connected and laid the top on the right side floor.



then I removed the shifter and moved the electrical harnesses that run along the tunnel out of the way.



next I disconnected the steering shaft at the rag joint after spraying some rust penetrant on it first :



then I was able to remove the steering column, speedo and tach:



I took these two brackets out to make more room



The front bolts for the pedal assembly are access from the wiper cowl. This was a surprise i didn't know about. removing the wiper transmission would have been easier to get at the 4 bolts, but I worked around it.



after that I unbolted the master cylinder and set it aside with the lines still connected. I then removed the four (actually five) brake booster nuts and removed the booster. I say there's 5 nuts because the lower left stud had a wiring harness bracket on it with another nut under it! I didn't see it until trying to pry the booster off for a few minutes.



after the booster is out, you can remove the pedal assembly. Then you can peel back the foam insulation and see where the hole for the clutch rod and 3 screw holes for the rod boot go.



I drilled out the 3 screw holes and cut out the rod hole with a 1 1/8" hole saw





I'm changing my speedo cable out to a manual trans cable since the Richmond has the hookup on the right side as apposed to the TH350s left side. I checked the AIM and the manual cable is run along the right side of the tunnel then across the firewall and into the cab next to where the cruise control wires run through. Well I didn't want to cut another hole and the cruise is broken anyways, so I removed the whole cruise harness. I previously removed the rest of the cruise hardware, so all that was left was that harness. I'll reuse the grommet for the speedo cable. Here's what the harness looks like:




well that's it for today. I need to go buy a few more jack stands. When i get them, I'll start on transmission removal.

7t9l82

i may remember wrong but i did this 30+ years ago and i think i removed the part the pedal pivots on, removed the pedal and swapped for the manual pedals didn't change the plate at all I'm pretty sure i remember correctly. maybe someone will chime in. nice project good luck.

qwank

You can do it that way too, but I have a complete pedal assembly ready to go in. Plus I like haveing the extra room to work.

I just remembered that since I'm going with a hydraulic clutch, I probably didn't have to drill all those holes.

DaveL82

What are you using for a reverse light switch? On my old DN version of the 5 speed I drilled and tapped two holes to mount a switch on the trans near the trans shift arm.

qwank

I'm not sure yet. That's something I still have to look into.

iokepakai

Did this swap last year.Your gonna love it when it's all done!!My write up.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...am-change.html

qwank

I got home late so all I did today was disconnect the kickdown cable from the throttle, disconnect the vacuum line going to the the transmission and move the Distributor cap out of the way so when I tilt the engine to take the tranny out I don't break the distributor.

I did stop and pick up 4 more 3 ton jackstands on the way home from work, So I should have more then enough to get this job done now.

qwank

Thanks! I've read your thread 5 or 6 times since you've posted it.

69VetteFla

Glad to see you got your swap started

nate99

qwank

Way to put the pressure on me Nate. LOL

qwank

So I get home and find my parts from American Powertrain came in. So now I have everything else I need to finish my swap. Wrong! My flywheel is being dropped shipped and I have no idea when its going to be here.

69VetteFla

Isn't flywheel from American Powertrain? Did they tell you that?

iokepakai

My flywheel came separate also.Had mine spec'd out lighter than the stock flywheel.Rev's up quicker,so they say anyways..figured with the 3.27 1st gear no need a heavy flywheel.Seemed to be a good choice no problems on takeoff's.
Double check your flywheel bolts,the ones that came with the flywheel were to long and hit the rear of the block.Make sure your pilot bushing is not attracted to a magnet ,those are the bad ones.Got mine from Autogear fit perfectly.Still haven't quite got the shifter arms dialed in yet.Still messing with them at times.Was told the trans takes awhile to settle in.
Vette will be quick off the line with that 1st gear, short shift into 2nd and your going at a pretty fast pace for sure.Beeg difference from the TH350.Nice part about the manual is the engine braking on downhills I sure use a lot less brakes now.Manual trans sure is alot of fun to drive.
Lookin Good on your project keep us posted....

Scott Marzahl

Depending upon the miles on your motor, you might want to change your rear main seal while you are in this far.

qwank

yes, I got the flywheel from American Powertrain, I didn't know it was being drop shipped until I opened the box and saw the not they left in there for me.

iokepakai - Thanks for all those heads-ups. I hope all my bolts are right. my pilot bearing is magnetic, (it's a roller bearing though so I would think it would be) should I not use it? I was wondering why you went with a brass bushing instead. This is the first I've heard about bad bearings.

The Hydraulic clutch looks like its going to to take a while to set up correctly according to the directions. There's two videos on Youtube about how to set them up, I'm going to watch them now.

I have to work all day tomorrow, and Sunday I'm spending the day with my girlfriend so I don't know when I'll get to work on the car next.

Shark Racer

Do you mean the pressure plate bolts? The FW bolts thread into the crank flange and would end up above the surface of the FW (equally bad).

qwank

I'll be checking the rear main and oil pan gaskets while I'm in there

Shark Racer

Are you running a 1-pc block? Otherwise you're really not in a better place to do this with the trans out.

If it's a 1 piece rear main seal, then this is the ideal time...

qwank

Its the stock 2 piece block.