5 Speed Swap

[Ondonti]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3.0l Sleeper well let me tell you.. after having that car for 7 years and on its second a604, putting the manual in was like getting a new car.. amazing... let's see here.. for the pedal assembly.. considering how i got mine out of a daytona in the junkers.. the seat wouldnt come out so i ended up just smashing the whole dash and steering wheel out of it.. hahaha but in your won vehicle.. youll need to take out the drivers seat and have ALOT of patience. i had an air ratchet to help me but if you dont have one expect to be under the dash for a while.. basically you unhook the brake pedal from the cable and then undo the ends of the shaft that they pivot on.. pull the shaft out with the pedals and your done.. then just do the same to put them in your car. shifter bolts right in... tranny bolts right up, etc everythings a match as long as its outta a shadow.. some parts are interchangeable with other cars.. when i did the swap i collected parts over time cuz i needed little things that were forgotten about. so heres a list of what i got for the 5 speed swap only.. i did alot of other things but nothing to do with the swap price in CND approx. a543 tranny ($300) manual saginaw axel's (200) t2/t3 clutch/pressure plate (200) fidanza aluminum flywheel (400) flywheel bolts(25) manual tranny bracket poly manual tranny mount ($35) bobble strut bracket for tranny (mine didnt come with one) solid adjustable poly bobble strut ($35) poly shifter bushings($40) tore out my tranny computer/wires and ABS computer/wires shifter cables clutch cable shifter knob($30) new throwout baring($50) now all thsoe prices are not accurate just close to what i remember so getting a car with everything in it for 400 thats a bonus in my eyes, except i went with mostly all new parts dont forget you have to weld the bobble strut to the kframe theres alot of info about how to do the swap and if you get stuck dont hesitate to ask...

TU is selling the Fidanza flywheel for $299 currently, you dont need to buy manual axels.....so that will save someone $300 if they try the same thing.

[Eight-Sixer]

about the bobble strut mount for the 5 speed, could it be possible to drive the car <5 miles to fab it up and weld it or will i have to rent a portable setup?

[3.0l Sleeper]

well all i know is that a guy didnt use a bobble strut and split the casing on the tranny. so i dont know if id try it.. i just dollied my car to a shop with a welder... and then dollied it back home.. dollie cost 24$ from u-haul... go to this page and scrolll down to the very bottom... youll see a pic of what happens if you dont use a bobble strut..
http://3.0spirit.tripod.com/5speed.html

[mwinkle353]

Well, when I did my swap, I didn't install a bobble for almost a year. And I didn't have any "issues", other than a lot of driveline lash. But then again, I was also using "solid" motor mounts.

But when I did finally installed the bobble mount, I noticed a huge difference in how it would put the power to the ground.

[Eight-Sixer]

what si the bobble strut mounted too and can i take it off my car befor ethe swap and fab it up then put it back on?

[Tim_K]

Sounds like the hardest part of the conversion is swapping out the pedal assembly. Then after that, adding the bobble strut mount to the K frame.

I'd do the pedal part of the job first, then after that comes the rest. I can always drive it as an automatic with 3 pedals on the floor until the next weekend if it takes too long.

What about the clutch cable adjuster? Does it bolt / mount to anything, or is it just on the end of the clutch pedal?

Anyone know where I can find a parts car to get EVERYTHING needed to swap a 543 into my '93 Shadow ES? I'm in the Pittsburgh, PA area.

[Eight-Sixer]

Looks like Tim and I are Going to be doing this at about the same time huh.....

[92lebaronGTC]

I'm going to need to bookmark this thread for when I do my 5spd swap! I can't wait!!!!

[moparmut]

No the pedals are not that hard, it just a lot of time lay on the floor board w/ your feet on the head rest. There's not need to drop the steering column. If you look were the brake pedal is theres a 4-5" long shaft running parallel w/ the dash i think it has two 1/2" nuts on each end. Unbolt one of the nut and slide the shaft out the brake pedal will fall and put you other one in the other way. It's a lot easier than a 5.0 bc you have to weld those in these just bolt in so +1 for DODGE. I found a 543 in a 92 Duster for $150 guess I should have them cut the bobble strut off the K frame while there taking out the tranny.

[jory]

^+1 to everything he said. I actually cut the bobble strut mount off a 5 speed k frame and had it welded on. And you don't have to take out the dash or the column or any of that crap, just swap the pedal shaft and pedals. and fabricate a pedal stop so the pedal doesnt go up too far. That part is easy, I just had to cut and twist a piece of flat steel that I bought for .50 at the hardware store, then i drilled a hole in it and bolted it to the column and adjusted it so the clutch pedal was perfect. Check out the links that have been posted, they go through everything in detail.

[3.0l Sleeper]

never said you had to take out the dash or the column.. from working at a auto wreckers for a couple years ive learned how to strip something real fast.. so comnidering how the car that the pedals came out of was a rust bucket the seat was ruted in place and there was no tilt on the column.. so I tore the dash and column out.. to put them in my baby... i just nicely took out the drivers electric seat and laid down and went to town with my air ratchet.. the swat is really easy.. im going to take a bunch of pics and make a link to go along with jory's.. then all you will have to do is READ the links.. haha..

[jory]

good idea, if I had a bunch of pictures to go by when I did my swap it would have been a lot easier. That's why I made my page and took pics along the way. And I drove without a bobble strut for.. maybe 4 months, and the motor moved around like crazy and both of the side mounts were totally torn up by the time I welded the bracket on the k frame so I filled them in with windshield polyurethane. The improvement in traction and stuff was great, I think you should weld the bracket as soon as possible if you are planning on swapping in a manual. and with the solid mounts I can feel the engine just a little bit at idle, makes it feel like it has cams or something haha.

[Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eight-Sixer yah I was thinking that but when Pop's a Chystler master tech, its hard to hide stuff from him, hell, the first time I opened the hood in front of him he knew I swaped the TB.

So here's how to convince him: Auto....25-27mpg highway. 5-speed.....28-30mpg freeway. At $2.50 per gallon (and it'll go higher this summer, believe me) those 3 extra miles per gallon mean 36 extra miles per tank, or a savings of 2.75 per tank. At $400 for the parts, you'll pay for them in 145 gallons, or about 120 tanks of gas. That translates into about 36,000 miles. You'll make the money spent on the parts in about 3 years if you drive 12,000 per year. That's figured at 2.50 per gallon. At 2.75 or 3.00, it'll pay for itself even quicker, and don't be surprised if gas hits 3.50 for 87 this year in places.....

[Cromax]

Hey guys thats my car that the casing cracked.. and the bellhousing had a tiny crack when i put it in.. So the torquing of not having the bobble strut made the crack expand.. I welded that case and 15 000 km later it still holding good

[Eight-Sixer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avenger So here's how to convince him: Auto....25-27mpg highway. 5-speed.....28-30mpg freeway. At $2.50 per gallon (and it'll go higher this summer, believe me) those 3 extra miles per gallon mean 36 extra miles per tank, or a savings of 2.75 per tank. At $400 for the parts, you'll pay for them in 145 gallons, or about 120 tanks of gas. That translates into about 36,000 miles. You'll make the money spent on the parts in about 3 years if you drive 12,000 per year. That's figured at 2.50 per gallon. At 2.75 or 3.00, it'll pay for itself even quicker, and don't be surprised if gas hits 3.50 for 87 this year in places.....

seriously, you rock.
this convinced ma, now i have to wait for pop to get home... i hope he had a good day.