Tranny Swap and More

[Smallpants]

Big changes coming to my 74 Auto. I've had the car for a couple years now and had about as much fun as you can with an auto. To this point I've changed the wheels and tires, beefed up the front brakes, changed all the bushings, upgraded sways bars, springs, shocks and struts.

 

But now that my teaching year is over and I'm free for the summer I have a long list of things to do to the car. I'm swapping the auto for a 4 speed manual. Since the exhaust will be off I'm upgrading that. I'm converting the rear drums to disc brakes. I'm deleting the back seat and adding a roll bar and racing seats. An Esty carpet kit should finish things off. I'll document all of this here and I'm sure I'll have some questions about the tranny swap I'm hoping folks can help me out with.

 

Here we go!

 

This needs to change.

 

 

Some of the parts for the tranny swap waiting to be installed.

 

 

*Edit* I've Added a Parts List for the Transmission Swap

 

-4 Speed tranny

-Rebuilt 4 speed driveshaft (Ireland Engineering)

-Manual Pedal Box

-Aluminum gas pedal (Ireland Engineering)

-Pedal box rebuild kit (Ireland Engineering)

-Pedal Box Insulation (above and below)

-Instrument cluster with tachometer

-Clutch master cylinder

-Clutch slave cylinder

-Transmission mount (Ireland Engineering)

-Guibo (8 bolt)

-Guibo bolts

-228mm Aluminum Flywheel (Ireland Engineering)

-Sachs clutch kit

-ARP flywheel bolts

-SS clutch line (Ireland Engineering)

-Brake fluid reservoir kit (Ireland Engineering)

-Shifter refresh kit (Ireland Engineering)

-Dual shear selector rod (Ireland Engineering)

-Performance Brake booster pivot sleeve (Ireland Engineering)

-Redline MLT

(Still thinking about ideas for shifter boot and knob)

 

I'm sure there's a thing or two I'm forgetting. I'll add those as they occur to me.

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Smallpants
Add Parts List

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Do you already have a 3-pedal pedal box for the job?  Obviously an important part but trying to find a decent, no-so-rusty one can sometimes be tricky, so start hunting now if you don't already have one!  I think the brake fluid reservoir on the other had will be easy to come by, and I'll go ahead and recommend an upgraded stainless steel line to go from the clutch master cylinder to the slave cylinder.  I'm assuming in that pile somewhere is all fresh shifter bushings, etc. And kudos to you, 3-pedals for the win!

[Smallpants]

15 minutes ago, AustrianVespaGuy said:

Do you already have a 3-pedal pedal box for the job?  Obviously an important part but trying to find a decent, no-so-rusty one can sometimes be tricky, so start hunting now if you don't already have one!  I think the brake fluid reservoir on the other had will be easy to come by, and I'll go ahead and recommend an upgraded stainless steel line to go from the clutch master cylinder to the slave cylinder.  I'm assuming in that pile somewhere is all fresh shifter bushings, etc. And kudos to you, 3-pedals for the win!

 

I have a beautiful powder coated box that I forgot to throw in the picture. (There's a story behind the box that I'll get to as I start documenting the build). And you're right about it being tricky to find a good one. I have a fluid reservoir kit, SS clutch line, shifter rebuild kit from Ireland Engineering in that pile of parts somewhere. Tonight when I have some time I'll put together my parts list and post them.

[Smallpants]

Shifter platform is a little rough. Need to do something about that. 

 

Why pushout a bushing when you can burn it out? (Yes, it's kind of childish but I can't resist the opportunity). 

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Lol, looks like you have everything on track then!

[dave-r]

Just did the same upgrade to my '75 auto over the winter. So much more enjoyable!! Hit me with any questions you may have as it is all fresh in my mind. Left my auto badge though as I had already done all my body work and paint a few years ago. Have fun!!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Smallpants]

48 minutes ago, dave-r said:

Just did the same upgrade to my '75 auto over the winter. So much more enjoyable!! Hit me with any questions you may have as it is all fresh in my mind. Left my auto badge though as I had already done all my body work and paint a few years ago. Have fun!!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Thanks Dave. I'm sure I'll be taking you up on this offer.

[Smallpants]

First thing I did on the car was remove the rear drum brakes, change the rear wheel bearings while I was at it and install the Ireland Engineering rear wheel disc brake kit. Still waiting to bleed the brakes. No sense doing it until I've changed the brake fluid reservoir.

 

While I was working on the bearings and brakes, I had the car up on jacks and over several days sprayed PB Blaster on any bolts I was going to have to break loose for this project. I also drained the automatic transmission fluid and disconnected the cooler lines.

 

Today I started by taking off the exhaust from the header back.

 

Still not sure yet but I think I'm going to replace all this with Ireland Engineering's 4 to 1 step header and stainless steel exhaust. Still considering my options so I decided to leave my exhaust manifold on for now. 

 

Next I removed the driveshaft. Last week I bought this 20 volt impact wrench from Harbor Freight and let me tell you it was worth every penny. Bolts just flew off! 

 

Last thing I could get done was remove the auto pedal box.

 

 

Say bye bye.

 

Back at it tomorrow.

[TobyB]

Quote

Redline MLT

Mutton, lettuce and tomato, when the mutton is nice and lean?

 

I didn't even know that ARP made flywheel bolts for the M10.  Make sure

they're the right length, as there are at least 3 possibilities, and only one

will be right for you.

 

t

 

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Unless your car engine is pretty modified, you might want to just start with the IE 'shorty' header.  Will be a nice step up from stock, and I think the 'long' headers are more intended for cars with more aggressive camshafts, but if it's what you want, I also won't stop you! :D

http://www.iemotorsport.com/bmw/item/02shortheader.html

[Smallpants]

6 hours ago, TobyB said:

Mutton, lettuce, and tomato, when the mutton is nice and lean?

 

Make sure they're the right length, as there are at least 3 possibilities, and only one will be right for you.

 

t

 

How can I not take the advice from a man that drops a "Princess Pride" quote on me. Sir, you are as wise as Miracle Max.

 

Considering I've already proved I make simple mistakes (Oh, and for the record it's Meatball, Lettuce and Tomato) I'll double check the flywheel bolt length. Ireland Engineering sells them and this is what they gave me.

 

Here they are.

[Smallpants]

2 hours ago, AustrianVespaGuy said:

Unless your car engine is pretty modified, you might want to just start with the IE 'shorty' header.  Will be a nice step up from stock, and I think the 'long' headers are more intended for cars with more aggressive camshafts, but if it's what you want, I also won't stop you!

http://www.iemotorsport.com/bmw/item/02shortheader.html

The more aggressive cam is coming. When I bought the car I had my mechanic look the engine over but haven't done a thing to it since. I wanted to upgrade tires, brakes, and suspension first. 

 

I'm hoping by next summer I'll finally be doing some things to build more horsepower. The step header is only about about $100 more so I'm inclined to go that route. But I'm still open to ideas like yours.

[Smallpants]

Before I get to today's work, let's talk about my pedal box. Ah yes, my pedal box. I bought a pedal box assembly six months ago or so. When they arrived I gave the dissasembled parts a quick look over and put them on a shelf. A few days ago I decided to put the box together using the Ireland Engineering pedal box refresh kit. First thing I wanted to do was bolt on the clutch master cylinder but there was a problem. See it?

 

Nowhere to bolt the cylinder. I'm assuming this is an auto box but not sure. My auto dosen't have that hole but who knows. Whatever it is, it's useless for my needs. 

 

I live about 20 minutes away from Ireland Engineering, so I gave them a call to see if they had a manual box sitting around. They did and it was powder coated. I was super salty on my way over to buy it considering I had already paid for one but when I saw this powder coated box my anger melted away. It was so nice I didn't even care anymore. Look at it. It's glorious!

 

Now with the box I needed it was time to assemble it. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting from what I had read about the process. Well that is until I tried to attach the clutch master cylinder to the clutch pedal and realized this pedal did have a hole. Again, see the problem?

 

Now I was fully triggered. I don't know what this pedal is for but again it's useless for me. I dissasembled the box and called 2002 AD which is about 10 minutes away from my house and asked if the had a clutch pedal. They have dozens so I drove over and picked one up. Notice the difference. 

Well, with the correct clutch pedal I re-assembled the box and the drama was finally over. (P.S. I contacted the seller and were working things out about the incorrect parts). 

 

As for today, after prepping and painting the shifter parts yesterday, they are ready to go as of this morning. 

 

I disconnected the auto gear selector from transmission. 

 

And it's gone.

 

 

Now it's time to get the auto tranny out. I disconnected the reverse light wiring, kickdown cable, and speedo cable. One thing I didn't have to remove was the exhaust support bracket because there wasn't one. This is all that was there. 

With everything disconnected from the transmission I removed the 4 torque converter bolts, the transmission bolts, and pulled the tranny off. A couple more bolts and the flexplate is gone.

 

 

Now get into the corner with the other unloved parts!

 

With the transmission out, I turned to the removing the instrument cluster.

 

I thought this was going to be a lot tougher than it was but it was a snap. Disconnect the speedo cable, a couple thumb screws and it was out. 

 

While I had things apart I also upgraded the brake booster pivot sleeve with the Ireland Engineering kit. 

 

 

Last thing today was fitting the new pedal box. 

 

 

One thing I'm curious about is this small box connected to the speedo cable. Is it for emmisions or something? Only one wire was connected to it and the others were hanging loose. Is this thing necessary? If not should I pull it?

 

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by Smallpants
Remove picture

[TobyB]

Yup, smallbox is 'service needed' indicator.

 

Looks like you had a mechanical clutch pedalbox.

Or at least, pedal/

Someone might want that...

 

i

[dave-r]

One modification you may want to consider before you get everything out back together is, I suppose, since it was automatic my pedals are TIGHT!! Like had to try every pair of shoes I own to find a pair that fit between the transmission hump and the brake pedal. I know one other member that has cut 1/2 to 3/4 inch off the right side of brake and clutch pedal and re welded back on the left hand side to add clearance. I will be doing it shortly as I don't want to be stuck wearing skate shoes all the time!!

Caveat, I do wear 13-14 shoes depending on brand, so if you have smaller (normal) sizes feet you may be fine!!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk