cdnpont wrote:

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Remember that temporary teck screw method of retaining the bracket.

It beats trying to clamp it through the wheelwell, and really holds it tight and square for welding.

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 AND.... remember the placement is not that critical as you know Carl ( you posted the pictures). The only "critical" point I think is getting cross rod so that it does not bind. So if you mocked up the bellhouse, hung the cross shaft WITH the frame bracket on the end and then scribed a line around it.  

Another thought, What if you used some epoxy to place the bracket first, then welded it after?

Finally got a few hours this afternoon to work on my car again. I've been dreading the tab on the frame for the Z-bar but they say the best thing to do is tackle your fears head on, so I did!

I have an empty Muncie case and tail housing so I put in the bellhousing, bolted up the "Muncie" and started test fitting. 

I loosened up the inner fender to give me a bit more work space and that was a good move. I blocked it up with a couple of 2X4 chunks.

When I was working in there I noticed  one bad word molded into the rubber body mount cushion! Hopefully you can read it...

I tried positioning the Z bar nicely over the divot and didn't like that location, it seemed off a touch. I have the good fortune of having my factory manual trans  Strato Chief in the same garage, so I went to look at it. Yup. Z bar is about 1/2" back of centre on the frame divot, just like some of those factory ones pictured in the 4 speed conversion sticky thread here in the power train tech forum. 

After lunch, my afternoon ritual of a 4km walk, then nap time with my red blankie with our kid's trusty little pooch (as pictured) that we are babysitting, then it was back to the garage.

Armed with my big old C clamp which was just barely big enough I was able to clamp the tab down very firmly and tack welded it.

Removed the C clamp and gave it all I had with my little mig, which was hopefully enough. I'm very happy with the fit, it seems to line up great.

Now to the inside of the car and started using a carbide bit in the die grinder to remove the welds holding down the automatic hump. I have those cut out, all that is left to do is drill out the last spot weld but it was suppertime. 

Anyway, time to walk away from this computer and get back to work.

I got the auto hump removed. Interesting, it had 7 welds that looked like arc welds holding it on, and one lonely spot weld. I'm wondering it got spot welded on just to hold it in place and then at some later point on the line the finish welding was done?

After that I just hacked a hole in the floor big enough to mount the shifter adapter plate and shifter body. I'll do the proper cut once I am able to determine the correct location for the hump.

At the rear of the auto hump opening you can see where I drilled out the one spot weld.

After I was done for the night, it was time to empty the rock tumbler that was running all day cleaning my U joint hardware. I love how it is my hired man and I can do other stuff while it works! It does a way nicer job than the wire wheel or whatever I used to clean parts with. 

Before-

After-

Are you doing another one of those cut and beat it into submission humps?

4SPEED427 wrote:

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I'm torn. I have this rusty original that I bought from Howmac. When I did the black car 10 years ago I had one similar and fixed it. 

Or I have the one that will require me to up the dosage of my blood pressure medication.

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 buy the one on ebay and get a body guy to rework it to your rusty one

Good to see they are getting closer to making a better part.

Truth be told, after the insulation and carpet go down, any wonky shape will be much muted. Only the builder knows...

65 SD L79 wrote:

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 buy the one on ebay and get a body guy to rework it to your rusty one

-- Edited by 65 SD L79 on Friday 26th of January 2024 03:59:04 PM

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 Did you check the 3 reviews on Fleabay.... All 3 guys said it was scrap.

All i can say is holy moley you have some energy for an old man.   I just spin records and walk. Quite a job to turn that sows ear back into a silk one!

That is going be something else!

65 SD L79 wrote:

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Sorry about the derail Carl, what happened today?

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 I didn't get much time to work on it. Between running errands, my two 4 km daily walks, helping my wife in the house preparing for a gang of 15 here tomorrow (delayed Christmas gathering with our family and our friends with their family) all I had time for was to get the holes made for the clutch rod boot at the firewall.  Oh, and I cleaned up all my tools. Not sure about you guys but usually on a project I get to the point that I just have to do a major cleanup and put all the tools away. I know I'll have to start fresh again pulling tools out when I start at it again on Monday but it had to be done. 

Bummer of it all is it looks like there will be 2 days this week that I will have little or no time to work on it. Some of my days this week had me into the garage until close to midnight. I'm loving it, this is how I used to do it when 30-40 years ago when I had a project going.

I hope to get back at in Monday morning. Next on the list will be swap that big ugly pedal out for 2 smaller pedals, cut the hole in the floor to proper size, install flywheel, clutch, clutch linkage, 2 new u-joints in the correct driveshaft etc. Once I get a piece of metal to patch the hole from the automatic hump and weld it in, then it will be Muncie installation time! Once the trans is in, install the shifter and linkage, back up lamp switch with wiring and then put the seats/console back in.

My goal is to have the conversion mostly complete by about the 10th of Feb, but we'll see if that happens. Because of my wife's physical limitations I'm needed in the house frequently so there is no such thing as continuity or a full work day for me. And that's not complaining, just stating facts. I have a wonderful wife who puts up with me being in my garage working an awful lot of hours when she'd likely prefer my company in the house!