Muncie with a bench seat?

[explosive]

Hey,

Considering going 4 speed with my wagon and just researching along i've come across a couple possible deal breakers i wanted to get some more info on.

#1 - Sounds like most of these old 4 speeds are made of glass? Is a muncie about it for an "affordable" 4 speed ? Seems like from what i've gathered the M22 is the strongest but most all the cases can be rebuilt easily to handle power?

#2 - Sounds like there is an issue with shifter placement regarding bench seats? Theres no way i'm putting buckets in this thing. I had found one post about a lokar shifter that might alleviate this issue? Any info there or known info on bench seats with a muncie? I understand a saginaw would fix this but it doesnt sound like its up for much fun.

I've got a 4L80E sitting in the barn but i'm gonna be running an NA 4.8 for at least a year so i really think a manual would be a bit more fun with that little motor. Plus i figure if its really a nice cruiser maybe scrap the turbo plans for another chassis and do a Heads/Cam/Intake junkyard 6.0 later on, if the transmission was up to it that'd probably be a fun reliable street cruiser i think. Any other issues going manual i may have not thought of yet feel free to chime in, i'm still in the planning stages right now.

 

[daveismissing]

My '72 cutlass was M22 w bench from the factory FWIW.

 

[fleming442]

I run one in my 67, but it's almost all AutoGear. 50 year old gears, sticky tires, and power do NOT mix; I blew 1st in the burnout box. I'd just buy a new one: http://www.autogear.net/motorsports/

As far as fitting with a bench, most of the older cars were available that way; you just need the correct handle.

 

[Dayzedandkonfuzed]

May have to shop around for a stick. Here's a pic from my cutty when I had the Muncie in it, shifter in 1st gear. looks like the my shifter would have been awfully close in 2nd and 4th with a bench

 

[michmalibuman]

I've run a Saginaw in my Malibu for years with 400+ HP and never had a problem. 😎

 

[Dayzedandkonfuzed]

Yea, get that stick ^^^

 

[Bonnewagon]

Muncies were long gone by then and the Super T-10 was last seen in the Firebird/Camaro's in '82. The Saginaw was the stock manual transmission since small V-8's and V-6's were all that was available in our cars. The bench seat is right where a "normal" tail-housing-mounted shifter would exit the floor. So they used a different shifter mount to place it about six inches forward. It is still a tight fit between the seat and the dash but it works. The other manual transmissions can be used if you fabricate some sort of shifter arm that clears the seat and comes up in front of it. I feel it is easier to just get some nice buckets and a console for whatever you choose. I run lots of Saginaws even behind Pontiac 400's and I have never broken one. This pic shows the stock shifter location and the aft hole is where the other types would go.

 

[paul.m]

You wont have to ever worry about a muncie holding up behind that 4.8 ! That thing would never make enough power to hurt any model , m20, m21, m22 . All three models were put behind BBC in different car models , and certain years . The m22 was almost exclusively put behind high HP BBC that made 450 HP and over 500 ft pounds of tq , and those were ridiculously conservative numbers that GM put out for the insurance company's . With that said i personally have never had a problem with a saginaw , i mean i wouldn,t put big sticky meats on the back and side step the clutch at 4 or 5 grand with a saginaw but other then that you would be good to go.

 

[paul.m]

And yes you can run them with a bench seat , the difference is in the bend of the shifter handle on most cars , many of the early 60,s cars were 4 speed bench seat