Manual Transmission Conversion

[Doober]

A timing set? :?

 

[Papa_Wheelie]

Looking at the For Sale/ Trade section on here, I made an awesome discovery: The '79 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ factory 4 speed car..All I need is the used transmission and main parts, and the rest of the hardware I can pick up at the parts store..That should bolt right up.

 

[pontiacgp]

wait a sec....you said that putting in a set of timing gears was too much work and now you want to tackle converting your car to a standard?

 

[Papa_Wheelie]

Wellllll...Now I have a family friend who can do the work for bottom dollar..I just need to locate the right parts.

 

[Doober]

So what do you consider bottom dollar? After a new clutch set my initial swap cost ~$200, that included trans/shifter/bellhousing/flywheel/crossmember/driveshaft/pedals/linkage.

 

[adam6640]

Just to let you know that the Gbody Clutch fork is unique to the g body it is off set down, and no one sells it new that I know of, you can buy almost evrything else new from honest charly's or muscle cars only, some times used on ebay, I found everything on ebay even the sheet metal piece that the shifter boot mounts to, it is pretty cool to make it look like it came that way, for your info they atually built 1984 Monte Carlo SS's in Mexico with a factory 4 speed and a 350 engine with a pontiac dash go online and type in mexican monte carlo ss it should come up.
Take care and good luck
Mike

 

[pontiacgp]

if you click on the link under doober's car it has the listing for the clutch fork...

 

[Doober]

Just to let you know that the Gbody Clutch fork is unique to the g body it is off set down, and no one sells it new that I know of, you can buy almost evrything else new from honest charly's or muscle cars only, some times used on ebay, I found everything on ebay even the sheet metal piece that the shifter boot mounts to, it is pretty cool to make it look like it came that way, for your info they atually built 1984 Monte Carlo SS's in Mexico with a factory 4 speed and a 350 engine with a pontiac dash go online and type in mexican monte carlo ss it should come up.
Take care and good luck
Mike

Some Mexican-built cars also came with a Dana rearend

 

[86Cutlass383SR]

The 82 - 83 Camaro bellhousing and clutch fork will work, too. They were still a mechanical setup rather than the 84- up hydraulic. They were canted like the hysraulic version but used a more common straight clutch fork. The end of the clutch fork ends up close to where the curved a/g body fork is. I'm using a Lakewood bell for the 83 f-body with the straight fork and the g-body linkage. Everything lines up fine.

 

[Doober]

Yes, there are a few options. You can buy a replacement fork if you can't find one, or if you're like me and plan on making quite a bit of power in the future, and don't want to worry about clutch/bellhousing safety you can get an SFI bellhousing to fit an F-Body and use the appropriate fork.