The topic of a manual transmission conversion has been beaten to death, I've read about every thread on every forum about it but one obstacle no one talks about is how to deal with the heat duct that goes from bottom of dash to under the front seats. Sure it could be simply removed, but I'd like to modify and retain it if at all possible. I'm lacking some creativity here. I'm sure some pvc pipe and epoxy could help get around the shifter but it also seems to be dependant on where the shifter comes through the floor at... I'm going to be using an NV4500 behind a Cummins, hooked to the Ford NP273 t case, and not planning to modify Driveshafts. Each build is unique with a different drivetrain combo and sitting at different positions. Regardless, no one has really covered the subject of the heat duct. One guy bought his ex already with a Cummins/nv conversion but the duct was chopped up and not made back to a sealed fully functioning unit.
Here's a couple pics I borrowed from him to illustrate the general idea...
http://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#photo/therabbittree/5308750732520929425/5318289992557535954

http://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#photo/therabbittree/5308750732520929425/5318290018688226834

In these pictures he's got a Getrag G56 Dodge 6 speed mounted in it, I have no idea if it's shifter is in similar proximity as mine will end up at or not, I think it's taller though. I'm pretty sure things fit better if the hump was made taller, which would mean best bet is to just ditch the ductwork and have the hump taller to take its place giving more room for trans. But I'm pretty sure the Nv4500 will fit in the stock hump on the Excursion, if so I'd sure rather keep the duct. More to keep it original, complete and factory. We can live without the rear floor heat just fine I'd say. It'll only push air when front heater controls are set to floor which isn't my favorite song for heat so not a big loss overall. Just want it to be done as clean and factory as possible. Do crew cab manual trucks have an option for rear heat where I could rob a part or get some ideas?
Thanks,
Eric

 

I wonder if the part could be pulled from a manual f-250/350 crew cab maybe?

 

I wondered this to but dealer couldn't find part. Do crew cab trucks have rear heat vent?

 

My boss had one with rear heat it was all sorts of fancy, its been a few years now maybe try the superduty forums also some local junk/salvage yards.

 

Was it a manual trans model? I'm still researching this with no luck :-(

 

no it was automatic but surly this was a option at some point.