How to do a fresh 4 speed conversion in an afternoon

Well, the North East Ohio crew came armed with knowledge and strong backs. With help from 2 guys with 3.5 hour drives also,the 12 of us involved ourselves with a "how to" seminar of epic proportions, and we all walked away knowing a little bit of what's in that crazy head of FourgearSavoy. He not only was able to show us how to do the install, but why and where to do what was needed. Besides, he's a full time certified mechanic as well..

Before I start, if I forgot a step or you see something I typed was way off, please add your details, so this can be a perfect reference for future projects.

We started off examining the said project car,a perfectly clean and painted, 71 Satellite Sebring Plus. It was the perfect candidate. Several years ago, I set out to do this to another car. So I started gathering parts. First call was to Brewer's Performance. They had everything, and I mean everything in stock for the conversion. I then purchased the 23 spline, dual shifter padded tranny from Dave Johnson of Syracuse, NY at the Norwalk show 3 years ago. After I found the Satellite in Reno, Nevada, I started getting to the nitty-gritty of setting up the car how I wanted. In talking to dozens of friends and Moparts member's, I concluded I was going to go with the CenterForce Dual Friction clutch package. For some reason I thought it would be cool to go with an aluminum flywheel. I had worked out a deal with Jamie Passon at the Nat's last year, and he sent it out to me. I went with an 11 inch setup because of parts found, and never thought an 11 inch flywheel would only have 130 teeth. I needed 143 and quick. It was 5 days until the install, and had to make the decision of
1) Swapping everything over to 10 1/2 inch
2) finding a billet 11 inch flywheel,BUT, in doing this, TTI says you have to "dent" the headers I have of theirs. That sucks.
3)Moparts Member RobbMc chimes in and tells me he's engineered a mini-starter that is made to clear TTI headers, and will work with the 143 tooth, 11 inch flywheel.
#3 was the winner, so I contacted Passon to work another deal on a Billet 143, 11 inch flywheel, and ordered the RobbMc starter. Jamie Passon cme through in a pinch, he got the flywheel , somehow, from someone and got it to my house by Friday Morning !! RobbMc sent that beauty starter immediately also.. These were the final parts I felt I needed for the complete 4 speed conversion. Here are most of the parts I started with, not including the trans, pedals, starter or correct flywheel.



Ok, so the men start showing up , Sat. morning. FourgearSavoy was going to be running the seminar, so I made sure he was happy. He brought along his good friend Fireman Rick. We started inspecting parts and we got to work. Fluffy and Katfysh then showed up, each driving over 3 hours each to get to the show. Notacharger and NorthcoastMopar were right behind them. Northcoast brought along an incredible carb-plate device used to tilt the engine when needed. The Jim500 Sr and Jr show arrived just as we began our day..even Fran and IMBILL swung over to eat some soup and chips.

Okay, here we go. This is what I've been waiting for...

First and foremost, you should check to make sure you either have a 4 speed crank, or have it drilled to accept an input shaft, and measure your input shaft hole depth to make sure the shaft will go all the way into the crank without bottoming out. We were fine.

Our assembler brought his own pilot shaft to help with alignment throughout the assembly process. Another important point is having to preassemble everything to make sure it will all work together. This was already done by me during the week, just so there were no unseen surprises. I also chased all of the thread holes to ensure ease of assembly.. Our first major task was to dial in the bellhousing to block. One wants to make sure it centers the tranny to the crank centerline as possible. without it close ,the engine will slowly eat itself to death, and bad vibrations will tell the tale of it being off. We used new dowel pins to get a baseline of where our bell to block lined up. we cleaned them up with emory and a drill press.


First off, clean the flywheel, and bolt it onto the crank, leaving one bolt out for the magnetic dial indicator assembly.


Next, clean each surface that will be mated to each other. You need nice, clean surfaces to work with.

Next, bolt and torque the bell to 55 ft lbs, as per Chrysler specs.

You want to line up the indicator to the bell opening for referencing. Have your slave-boy spin the crank from the front slowly to get a starting reference number and zero out the gauge. Turn the crank while watching the needle sweep, and get the maximum number read.After it was all said and done, were within 8.5 thousandth's. We were all impressed with the number and left it at that.

Next, take off the bell and prep the clutch assembly. Making sure all surfaces are clean, align to correct boltholes and assemble. Make a reference mark for final assembly correctness.

Preassemble the clutch onto the flywheel for correct fit. You can use the plastic tool, or like our seminar VIP, use an actual input shaft.
Clean all clutch surfaces, and reassemble , using brand new bolts. Always use brand new bolts if you can on everything.


Torque to specs..

While we were prepping the clutch assembly and final installing, we had Jim Sr and Jr preassemble the drivers side header and that awesome RobbMc starter.. Perfect fit.. It is an incredible piece..

And Gus gave it his authorization..


After everything is torqued down, check for proper alignment again..

Next, final assemble the bell to the block, again, try to use new bolts and thread lock on all of the bolts used in assembly.

Now for the actual transmission prep. Gus wasn't happy with how reverse shifted, so we loosened all of the sidecover bolts, and worked the synchros smoothly, while tightening opposite side bolts to the case. Make sure all of the bolts have the same size washers.

Preassemble the shifter, rods and shifting levers also. You must align and preset the swivel brackets to near proper position. You do this by aligning the holes above the arms and stick in a 1/4 rod. Set all forward gears this way. Reverse can be done in the car. Final adjustment will be done test driving the car.

Make sure there is a speedometer gear and seal in the gear assembly, clean and install.

Now is a good time to fill the trans with 3 quarts of non-synthetic gear lube. Just make sure you have a yoke in the rear to keep it all in !!!


After preassembling all levers, actual shifter and brackets for proper fit, take it all back apart and get ready to install the engine assembly into the car. We had plenty of help to insure ease and safe entry into the engine compartment. Make sure the trans mount and crossmember are all ready to go also..Get all bolts and threadlock close also..
Make sure motor mounts are tight and where you think they need to be. Hook the motor and roll it into the engine bay.Lower onto K member and adjust so motor mounts are lined up and bolt into place.

The starter was already bolted into the bellhousing before engine was installed into place The headers needed to be finessed in when lowering the motor down into the engine bay..


Next, before installing the trans, install your throwout bearing and clutchfork assembly. It's better to know exactly what your doing, or grab a manual if winging it. It's all been pretty basic up to now. Now it starts getting alittle more complicated, and it was tuff to get pics of Gus's handi-work..



I don't have any pics of the Z bar or pivot shaft installation process.



We also had a fireman/Mopar buddy Aaron over to weld in the pivot shaft bellmount bracket to the frame. Here is where to put it. You really need to feel and even get a torpedo level on it to know where it goes..Put it alittle closer towards the outside of the car. It will aid in removing and the movement of the pivot shaft (Z Bar)..

Next, we obviously had a lift, so you get that trans somehow ,through the clutch and into that pilot hole. Do not let it sit unbolted , as you will positively bend various imprtant objects in there !!!

Get your trans to bell bolts going in, and also your tranny crossmember and mount bolts in also. Torque everything to factory specs..

We actually completely installed the trans before we welded the frame bracket into place. For those that care..

More info to follow tomorrow, sorry if you are in the middle of installation..!!

Nice step by step.. Hey Fluffy, didn't he tell us to shush for the pic..

Looks like Bob was about to pull out his 9 and busta cap.



... nice shot, you caught me as I was making sure my lipstick was ok.

Wow, I wasn't ready for a photo, that's terrible.
I was reaching for my camera to get a photo of the car. Our son's in his dirtbike uniform and my wife thinks we're all crazy.

That was really fun to hang with some of the guys on this site and help get a very cool Mopar on the road.I think it will be a nice street/strip ride that is fun to drive.Hey Rick I wan't to make a pass down the 1/4 in that car.
Gus

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That was really fun to hang with some of the guys on this site and help get a very cool Mopar on the road.I think it will be a nice street/strip ride that is fun to drive.Hey Rick I wan't to make a pass down the 1/4 in that car.
Gus

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I treally was. Hey Gus, can you make the details and I'll post the pics for the upcoming pics ?? I'll do my best , but I was locked in up ontop of the lift...