i decided to convert my 68 skylark convertible from an auto to a 4 speed. i bought a 70 skylark 350 3 speed and a 68 GS 400 4 speed and used the 350 specific parts off the 70 skylark and the 68 specific parts off the 68 GS. all in all it went pretty smooth. time consuming though. fired it up yesterday and ran it thru the gears:3gears: cant wait til the weather gets warm and i can get it out onto the road. while it was on the lift i had the headers coated and put on a 2.5" exhaust, sounds good now.
hey Doug, check that your ebrake cable is not going to conflict with your shifter linkage when you have your ebrake engaged...
Looking good Doug. The special U-hook clamps to retain the speedo cable are remade by, I think, Underdog??
thanks, i will check it. i noticed that its supposed to go under the crossmember but i just didnt like the way it looked so i tried it over it. i will probably switch it.
i couldnt find them anywhere so i made my own out of some other kind of clips. i may have to check him out and get the correct ones.
i used the bronze bushing that was in the 70 3 speed car i parted out. the clutch assy & bushing were new. it was a tight fit so i made a tool to use in my drill press and turned it down, its still a tap it in with a brass hammer fit but not to tight. i used an old input shaft to align everything and when that was done the trans. slipped right in, i was kinda surprised i figured there would be an issue somewhere. i had the rearend jacked up and went through all the gears and didnt feel any vibrations so im hoping everything is good.
thanks for the input on the cable, i also checked the assy. manual and it is as you say, so i guess i got it right. it seems to work ok and doesnt get in the way of the shifter linkage.
This is interesting about the e-brake cables going on top of the trans x-member. I recently did mine and ran it under not thinking anything of it. Fit fine and functions fine. Is there a definitive reason why it would go on top for a stick car and bottom for an auto? just wondering if I should change mine or if it really matters. My car isnt going to be judged or fool anybody on the "factory correct-ness" chart so if it doesnt equate to a functional difference I wont change it.
With a TH 400 it goes through a hole in the cross member. It makes sense to try to keep the cable high off the ground, so it does not snag something on the ground.
My conversion has the ebrake though the hole in the cross member and clipped to the bottom (though the clips are not original style, I did find them on OPGI and ordered them. Ive not put them on yet) My pilot bushing came with the factory replacement clutch kit from Autozone. no issues. Ive driven the care more this past summer than ever... no regrets on the conversion
A 4 speed car wouldn't have the hole in the crossmember as the stick cars used T-350 crossmembers. Doug has a BB crossmember in his car.
That is right. The only difference between the 4 speed cross member and a TH350 cross member is the part number which is on the top side.
Yeah, that's the thing I was wondering about mine. It was originally a 350/350 car so it was just hooked it up similar to how it was with the original drive train (at least from memory anyway).
