Just to start out by saying this isn't specifically a "how-to" but more to show what was needed to do the conversion and any hang-ups occurred along the way.

With that said, it was very easy to do the swap.

I aquired the parts at a local salvage yard, although it took a half dozen trips to gather everything.

Manual Transmission hump cover, I wanted to keep my original un-cut "just in case"



Ford FE bellhousing with clutch fork and new boot. Hi-temp silver paint after checking for cracks and chasing all threads.



Manual trans pedal assembly, taken from a 1976 F150. Decent bushings, but the rod ends needed built up by welding and new bushings. New pedal pads as well.



The biggest pain to piece together in good condition, the clutch equalizer or "z" bar. Had to weld the holes shut and re-drill. New bushings, felts and paint. Also added a grease zerk to help with maintanence. It also took several trips to get an FE block side bracket, sheesh!



Close-up for my adjuster mod... heim joint from a John Deere loader accelerator rod welded to some all-thread.



Had to get the right yoke, 1330 on left, 1310 on right...



I am a little "new" school for this... 6303-2RS sealed ball bearing in place of the old school oilite bushing



The C6 has a fairly short intermediate shaft so I snagged a longer shaft and got a new u-joint and carrier bearing...



And then the beast... a 5:1 1st gear T19 from a 2WD 1984 F250 with a 460.



I had debated a long time on what manual tranny I wanted... a 4 speed toploader, shell out the bucks for a 5 speed, find a decent truck 4 speed. So I settled on a T19.

I knew I didn't want a deep granny 4 speed like a T18 or NP435. I really want a 4:1 1st gear T19 and came across this in the yard and went for it. I figured for $70 I could at least have everything converted and ready for when I do find a good 4:1 T19.

I purchased a new flywheel from Autozone, part #747, and it comes pre-drilled for either an 11" or 11 1/2" pressure plate.



The swap was straight forward. Yank the automatic with all the linkages, cooler lines, dip stick, vacuum line and flexplate. Remove intermediate driveshaft.

Bolt up the flywheel while keeping the existing block plate.

Install pilot bearing, clutch and pressure plate.

Install bellhousing.

Installed z-bar brackets.

Install transmission.

Remove steering column and dash cluster, remove auto pedal assembly, install manual assembly and connect brake rod and clutch rod. Glad the brake rod took no modification.

Used existing C6 crossmember only moved up one set of holes. Imay or may not had to reverse the orientation of the C6 trans mount, but it was re-used for the T19 with correct pitch.

Install intermediate driveshaft.

Adjust the clutch... UH OH! First true snag of the entire swap. The clutch fork at the very end of it's travel hit the header collector flange. I use Dynomax headers, too bad they weren't just a tad bit, maybe 1/2" longer.

So ground down a touch on the clutch fork and clearanced the header flange as well. I am sure glad I did't weld those solid onto the header collector and also the reducer on the exhaust pipe side so I was able to also rotate them a little to gain some more clearance.

Add oil and go!

I think I want a different clutch fork spring, the one I got from NAPA is way too heavy.

But other than the header clearance it was pretty easy, I took it easy and spread the swap over a full week, but with all parts handy it could be done in one weekend (Friday night into Sunday)

I am sure others may have other issues with the NSS and back-ups lights, but I had eliminated my NSS 15 years ago and had a toggle for ignition and another for the B/U lights so that wasn't an issue.

I'll also need to recalibrate my speedometer.

Josh

 

Nice write-up, i think it's safe to assume your time spent behind the wheel just became 100% more enjoyable.

 

Darn, I left out the main reason for the swap. My C6 has been used and abused the last 17 years. I refreshed it in 2001 along with a 3000 stall convertor. Always ran great, shifted perfect.

But the last couple years it started marking it's territory, front main was going.

No biggie right? Well a month ago, my wife and I went mountain biking and came home, park in the driveway and come back out later to unload the bikes and there is a pool of ATF under the truck... WTF?!?

I cracked the case of the tranny. More specifically it looked like I had cracked it a while ago and it finally let go enough to spew fluid everywhere. The crack it near the output housing and goes 180 degrees up and over to the other side.

So, the swap was on.

Josh

 

Man, did that whole process look familiar!

Locally I found a 64 toploader 4 speed from a 390, but the guy wanted $450 for it! Another guy has a toploader 4 speed OD from an 84 F150 (302) for $175. Thinking about grabbing it if it would be strong enough to withstand a future hot 390 or 428, but I don't think it would be.

Good score on your stuff. Part of me thinks I should have gone with a 4 speed to begin with, but only the part that doesn't like the 1-2 shift. Good lord, that's a drop! The old 360 has more than enough grunt in the bottom end to handle it, though. Other than that, I love the manual. It's alot more fun than the auto. With manual steering and manual brakes, it makes the "workout package" complete!

Your 428 should be AWESOME with the manual. I read up on the C6 and the parasitic power loss is like 20-30 HP. I have noticed that my fuel mileage has increased substantially since the swap, and the truck seems to have a lot more GO----> ----> ----> ----> than it did with the slush pump. Can't imagine what it will do for you.

 

I really debated back and forth over getting an OD toploader. I believe it is the Toploader purists that put down that particular transmission. Everyone else that uses them loves them. I basically figured with the OD I would then swap in some steeper gears, or I could go with the 4:1 T19 and keep my 3.00 highway gears and my 31 inch BFGs.

For the most part I think the C6 loses about 15-25 HP over a comparable C4, and maybe 30 horsepower over a Turbo 350 or 400.

You gain all of that back with a manual for sure. So far I have only gone around the neighborhood and down a back road and it feels pretty good. Definately snaps the head back when you put your foot into it!

Josh

 

With your floot shifter how much did you have to hack into the floor sheetmetal? I saw a couple 3 speed floor conversions and they were both hacked quite substantially into the floor, not to mention the hump cover.

Josh

 

I only had to take out a strip about 3/4" wide and 6 " long from the floor. Basically just the inner lip where the tunnel cover screws to the floor. Most of the metal came out of the cover itself. I didn't even go far enough in the floor to compromise the little channel that the cover seats in!

What seems to happen is that a lot of people who do the floor shift conversion just chop a huge hole around the stick and slap a boot on over it. That, or they install the shifter in one position, get everything cut out, and decide they don't like it there...then they have to move it and make the hole bigger. Granted, the travel at the top of the stick on one of these is significant...I'd estimate 20" from 1st down to 2nd, then nearly the same from 2nd up to 3rd. Even with my modified stick, I have to reach a little to grab 3rd while reverse is nearly buried in the seat.

I used a sharpie to mark the front and rear edge at the extremes of the shifter throw, then repeated the process for the side-to-side movement. I cut the cover out with the grinder and cut the floor with a cutting disc on my Dremel. I had to go back and trim it up a little once I put the stick on it, but I got it to where I only have about 1/4" of clearance at all of the shifter positions.


A little extra time spent, and I don't have a massive hole to cover. Still need to cover the hole I have, even though it's a great backup for the temperature gauge. Gonna get a sheet of thin rubber and a piece of gray leather and make my own boot!

 

That was probably my toploader on craigslist. 66 fairlane 390GT small output wide ratio? You should see what others are asking... $650+, i'm willing to take $200 for it. I bought a set of wheels off that guy with the overdrive 4 speed. It's in good condition, he only pulled it to replace it with a np435.

 

Awesome write-up; thanks for posting this.

 

Great write-up! Manual trannies rock! lol

 

Josh

This is exactly my thinking too. I have been given a good NP435, free, which I will use temporarily when I convert from the current AOD in my truck, but ideally want a 4:1 T19 to eliminate the big ratio gaps that the 435 has.

How did you find the 5:1 version for gaps between gears, especially 3rd to 4th?

 

The 3-4 gap isn't too bad if you're accelerating thru the gears, but holding a steady 40 mph with a 3.0 rear gear and 31" tires is somewhat awkward. I have some 3.50 and 3.70 rear gears I could throw in, but I like the RPMs at 65 and 75 I get with the 3.00 gears.

There is a section near my house that is 40 mph, if I go thru in 3rd my truck seems pretty loud or obnoxious @ 2400 RPM, whereas shifting to 4th quiets the engine, but my cam doesn't like lugging @ 1300 RPM.

So as you see it's quite the drop.

With a 4:1 T19, 3rd gear looks to be about 1800 RPM @ 40 mph. Much better.

I have to say it is taking some getting used to having a truck manual transmission. I have had the same C6 since 1993 so this is a whole new ballgame for me with this truck.

I have been to the junkyard a couple times since and have spotted a couple 4:1 T19s behind high mileage diesels but they made a racket just rotating the output shaft in neutral, so I passed on them.

Now I am wondering about doing a 5 speed swap of somekind, the T5 would be dead easy, but problematic since it turns to junk with any power applied to it. The NV4500 is doable I suppose.

I definately want something more "car like" rather than a clunky heavy duty truck tranny.

Josh

 

I don't see that these wide ratio transmissions have many advantages for the average driver......the super-low 1st & reverse would be good for extra heavy towing, & then the bigger gap between 3rd & 4th is probably not a problem either when you hit a hill.

But for low speed cruising or mid-speed overtaking, those gaps are a headache. My NP435 is almost identical in 3rd to your version T19........1.79:1 vs 1.8:1

I usually only drive 55-60; with a 3.54 in 4th, that's comfortable.

Novak do both rebuilt transmissions & rebuild kits, if you did go with a T19 -

T18 & T19 Transmission Packages,

but yes, a heavy, slow-shift truck trans is always going to be that.

It sounds like you had a distinct power gain after the conversion?

 

Nice job. I found the write up and the review very intersting. I've done my share of auto to manual conversion on Fox Mustangs- and the other way as well.

 

Power gains? The only positive is my engine is much much happier at idle now. Without having to drive the automatic transmissions pump and internals the engine idles smoother, plus I don't have to idle the engine at 1000-1100 RPM in neutral to get an idle of 850 in drive.

Now my idle is at 800 in neutral with the manual.

Josh