Journey of a 1000 mods lol

[Frank Lee]

The three speed stick trans will give a good advantage over the automatics plus it'll all bolt in.

[Kyleyadon]

Well, I've been researching the suggestions I've received and I'm liking the idea of the borg warner 5spd. The tremec tko 500 would be a better transmission, but at $4,150 or so for the kit I'd need, I think finding an old camaro or even s-10 in a junkyard will be the preferable option. The BW transmission is reported to have a problem with over shifting since it doesn't have a positive stop for the shifter, but I don't slam shift so that really shouldn't be much of a problem.

[WE3ZS]

When I did my El Camino 5 speed swap (from a factory 4 speed saginaw...RARE) I had to mod the trans crossmember by lowering the mount point by about 2 inches or so, had to cut about 2/3 the way through it's thickness and just braced it along the bottom with a section of 1.5 x 3/16" angle iron. The outputs of the WC5 speed and the saginaw were different splines so I had to swap output yokes (not sure what you will have) and I found a correct length driveshaft (can't recall what from) at a parts yard in South Philly that specialized in driveshafts.
Check around some muscle car sites, I think the clutch linkage and pedal assembly may be common with several 60's/70's GM models not just the Nova family.
I still have my WC5 speed out in the shed, it needs an input bearing(s) (you can hear the bearing whir and feel a little play in it), let me know if yer interested, I need to make a run into A-town soon to drop off one of my son's race motors to be freshened up.

[Kyleyadon]

you're right about the clutch parts, I should be able to get them from just about any gm vehicle with an I6 engine basically as long as they'll fit into a transmission bell housing that will bolt up to the engine. How much do you want for the tranny? i'm not really prepared to do the trans swap right now as I don't like the idea of laying in the snow to get under the car. and unfortunately I don't have a good place to store something like that at the moment. however, come summer, probably after my wedding in june, I will be getting more serious about putting together the parts i need for the trans swap.

[WE3ZS]

Let me look around the garage attic and shed some more, I think I may also have the correct clutch disc and pressure plate for the 5 speed, maybe even a throwout bearing. I know I have at least one bell housing, maybe two, but I need to keep one around for my '69 Camaro conv build. I'm in no rush, this stuff has been sitting around for a few years so far, a couple more monthes doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure that the chevy I6's and V8's shared a common bell housing design, not sure if the sister brands were the same? I know the B.O.P. V8's were different from the Chevy.

[dcb]

The saginaw 4 speed is probably the most cost effective option, they are easy to rebuild (replace seals and synchros) and "light".
GM SAGINAW 4 SPEED TRANSMISSION CAST IRON "EXCELLENT" - eBay (item 170600831340 end time Feb-15-11 03:46:57 PST)

[Kyleyadon]

The 4 speed would be the cheaper route, however the extra gear and overdrive available with the borg warner 5 speed is worth the extra price and hassle. I'm pretty gentle on my transmissions so it's unlikely that it'll need to be rebuilt more than once or twice before I'm too old to drive anymore.

[Frank Lee]

The reasons I suggested the 3 speed trans are they are cheap, they are O.E.M. and thus every little thing for a direct bolt-in is available, and last but not least the I6 has a very, very broad and flat torque curve and thus 3 speeds should be more than adequate- unless you tow, or have mountains to traverse. Combine the top gear of the 3-sp with a very tall rear axle ratio and there's your O.D.. A 4 speed would probably be nicer if you do have the varying loads and grades. If my experience with my 5-speed is any indication, you will end up skip-shifting all the time anyway (1-3-5 or 1-2-4-5 or some such). I believe I would get just as much utility out of my car if it had a 3 or 4 speed m/t in it. A 5-speed could be nice too I suppose but I wouldn't spend a premium for acquistion and install on it for this application.

[Kyleyadon]

I do quite a bit of driving all over this area, including frequent trips up into the poconnos. According to my research, a 5spd from a chevy s-10 would be a straight bolt on too, it would just be a matter of drive shaft length. But now that you make me think about it, as much as I would like to, it's unlikely that I'll ever have the opportunity to make the trip back home to the rockies, so I probably could get by with a 3 or 4 speed as the hills around here are pretty flat compared to back home. But I'm really not going to limit myself to one set course of action until I start buying parts, which won't be until after my wedding. So come june I'll look and see what's available, if WE3ZS is still looking to get rid of his 5sp at that time I may go that route, if not I'll check ebay and take a trip up to harry's u pull it. Odds are I'm gonna go check out harry's anyway just because that's the kind of thing I like to do.

[Kyleyadon]

Well, my car's been out of service for almost two months now, just got it back from the mechanic last weekend. The ignition coil went and so did the starter ballast, also replaced the distributor. Unfortunately the mechanic also replaced my performance plugs with stock plugs and removed my grill block, so the two hundred miles I drove last week killed my fuel tank. Just put new performance plugs in this morning and replaced the grill block. I still need to replace the carb though, but that was true before the car died so hopefully this next tank should be back around the same mpg as before the car konked out.