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Im a total noob and about to buy a 69 cutty with a console shift auto. Im gonna swap the tranny out for a 5 speed manual and I intend on pulling a 1200lb tent trailer with it. Besides proper diff gearing and keeping the engine cool what do I need to know?
IF you do some research on this site you will find threads about this very thing. Oldsmobile engines at least pre77 did not have the crank shaft drilled for a pilot bushing for stick shift applications. There is a few things you can do to get around this. But that is the main issue you will deal with other than getting all the correct parts to make a stick shift change over.
As for the rest of the changeover depending on what transmission you use and what gearing you already have you might need to change rearend ratio. This would be more for the stick shift change not pulling the trailer. That is a light trailer and should not effect the car much once the car is set up correctly for the stick shift change.
Hope this helps. Others might have a link to the various threads addressing the stick shift changeover.
If the five speed you were planning on using is a low-cost, readily available T5, don't expect to get much past the end of the driveway while towing a trailer. An adequately strong five speed will cost over $2500.
Thanks, joe! Im in this for the long game. Any recommended transmissions?
TKO 500 or a used T56 if you want to deal with the adapter issues. Either way, you're looking at floorpan mods (in addition to dealing with the undrilled crank).
I did a 5-speed swap on mine. There is a lot to it if you've never done it before. Buy a complete kit from somebody, piecing it together may save a few bucks but it's a pain in the butt. And if you have any questions along the way, you can ask the vendor you got the kit from.
September 18th, 2016, 10:04 PM
