72 Auto Tranny to 72 4-speed?

[landmizzle]

Hi all,

Well, I may have found a '72 240Z to replace my dearly departed one. It's still very tentative at this point. The only real problem with the potential car is that it has an automatic. I still have the carcas of my old 240Z and the engine,4-speed, drive-line, and clutch related stuff are still available and healthy.

My question is, how involved is it to convert from an automatic to a 4-speed. I would need to have a mechanic do the job, because of my lack of talent, tools, and time. Any idea how much something like this would cost. I think I have everything needed parts-wise to do this conversion, my cost would be wrapped up in labor. Has anyone else done this conversion? Any ideas or suggestions?

I'm going to talk to my mechanic tomorrow and get his opinion but, I thought it would be nice to hear from you folks.

Best Regards,

Landmizzle '71 240Z

[beandip]

I haven't done such a transfer. Since you have the parts it should be stright forward exchange. Not a whole lot more than doing an engine swap. You can keep the automatic radiator if you want . One thing if you do the exchange I can use the flexplate ( this is what the fly wheel is called for an automatic) . Mine has a damaged ring gear. I have my car stripped inside and out , engine, tranny and interior as will as both front finders and so on . I am keeping the auto trans. as I prefer it and installing a 280XZ engine. So I have done this kind of stuff in the past and am actively in it , but not specificly this transfer. It would just intail removing the peddles and master cylinder and slave cilinder form the donor and installing it on the new one. Wireing and everything should be the same for everything. All the best Gary

[peterc]

I did just such a tranny swap on my '72. On one hand it is a straight forward swap. The required holes in the firewall for the clutch master cylinder are already there, the rubber brake line supports on the firewall have room for the clutch line, the drive shaft bolts right up, etc.

On the other hand, time-wise there's way more than just swapping out the tranny. You have to replace the brake pedal support bracket with a brake/clutch bracket. I found this to be about the most difficult and time consuming part, especially if you don't want to pull the dash first. You may also have to do some minor trim work on the tranny tunnel to be able to access all the gears.

There are also some electrical considerations. for example, the automatics have a interrupt switch so you can only start the car in park and neutral. You have to be sure that you short this switch or you 'll be wondering why you can't get the car started.

All in all definitely a worthy project, just be sure to get a firm price from your mechanic up front, then make your decision.

Cheers,

Peter