I've been planning this for a long time, and I've finally got it started, and almost done!

Here's what came out:


And here's what went in:


Currently the transmission is in there and almost ready to go! I had a few issues with clutch size, as the 11 inch one I bought wouldn't fit my flywheel, so I had to go back and order the 11 1/2 inch one for an extra $100! Anyway, that's all solved now and the transmission is in! The clutch petal and all the linkage is installed as well, and it fits and works nicely.

Here it is:


This pic was taken in grandma gear, so it's as far forward as the lever has to go. I was worried about clearance for the shifter, and it fits, but not by much!


You can see my new parking brake lever in there as-well, it isn't hooked up yet, but it will be a nice improvement over my other one.

The only major things left to do are find a new section of rear drive shaft (and install it of course!, haha), re-install the exhaust and cut the tunnel cover to fit over my parking brake lever. After that, I'll be ready to hit the road!

Sam

 

I like your parking brake idea. I'd love to have a hand brake like my Tacoma had. It was real nice for steep hill starts. You can bend your shifter if you want with a map gas torch. That is if you don't have an acetylene torch.

 

I agree about the parking brake- a petal is just a pain for hill starts. The lever in the pics came off of a 1951 Ford F-6, I got it from 52 Merc on this forum, if you want you could send him a message, he might have another one. Keep in mind though, only the manual tranny's have mounts for it.

The shifter is actually fine, I took the picture with it in granny gear, so that's as far forward as it goes. I've got another shifter if this one doesn't work for some reason.

Sam

p.s. I think it's time to change my signature, this truck doesn't have a c6 in it anymore!

 

Im thinking about fabing a hand brake to a tailshaft parking brake. I don't want to cut up my floor pan. Also I have a np435 4x4 so I already have two shifters there.

 

You might look for a lever off of an F500 or bigger truck. I've seen a few of them that came with one that mounts under the dash, I found one on a 1967 f250 4x4, but it looked swapped in (it was installed with sheet metal screws!)

Here's an old picture of it on my truck:


The only problem with it is it has no ratchet mechanism, and it doesn't mount at the best angle for pulling it.

Sam

 

Rusty, did you leave your Auto trans steering column in or swap it out? and how much of a pain was it to put most of this stuff in? just curious since im about to tackle the exact same thing this coming weekend

 

I just left the auto column in there, popped out the shifter and called it good. I might replace it later, but for now, it should work just fine.

The hardest part of the swap was putting in the transmission itself, I'd recommend a transmission jack! It took all the muscle between dad and me to get that thing in there, and we're both pretty good sized. I woke up the next day and it felt like both my arms were about ready to fall off!

A tip I figured out for lining up the engine to the bell housing is using some threaded rod, about 6 inch long, thread a few pieces into the bolt holes on the engine, and then slip the tranny on there. It's a lot easier to get it lined up, and it was a lot easier for me to bolt the bell housing to the tranny to start with, I tried it with the bell housing on the engine and kept knocking the throwout bearing off the clutch fork.

Other then that, it was pretty straight forward, just unbolt the old, bolt in the new. The clutch and brake petals can be a bit of a pain to get around the column- but it's not that bad. It's easy if you pull the column out- but I'm too lazy to do that, so I wound up doing it the hard way!

So far I'm very happy with it, but I haven't been able to drive it yet because I don't have the correct drive shaft, hopefully I can find one this saturday.

Sam

 

well, i'v got a manual trans steering column that im putting in so it wont be too bad then the way u made it sound. i'd like to redo some of the wiring while i've got it out.

 

It's not too bad. I was able to install all the petals and linkage in an evening.

Sam

 

if a 11" clutch dont fit, how in the heck are you swapping in a 11 1/2" clutch and getting that to fit?

 

The pressure plate was too small for the flywheel, the 11" clutch disk fit fine, I just had to move up to an 11 1/2" to get the right pressure plate.

How well do you like the NP435 behind the 6.9? I've heard the ratio gaps makes driving it with a diesel a bit difficult.

Sam

 

works like a champ. only use first if i need to pull something reall heavy

 

That's what I like to hear! I've had the idea of doing almost exactly what you did, 390 out 6.9 in, but was told ZF5 was the only way to go- and I'm just not a fan of it, I'd much rather have a cast iron 4-speed.

Sam

 

same here, if it lasted since 75 in mine, i think its worth it.. plus i run 3:55 gearing and 35" tires so that helps some, if i towed heavier i would put 31" tires range E on tho.

 

A re-gear would definitely be in order for my rig, it's got 4.10s with 31" tires on it, I dunno what RPM it's at on the freeway, but whatever it is it's high! If I went for the diesel swap I may have to get an old style brownie box for a little bit of highway gears.

Sam