[Superthib!]

Finally got a 5 speed for the '78! and the best part it cost 50 bucks and a couple of hours of getting it out of the gutted '82 donor! It really was a "bolt in upgrade" like everyone says. The biggest hassle I had was getting the roll pin out of the speedometer gear housing to swap the gear from the 4 speed to the 5 speed (I am keeping the 3.54 rear end for highway cruising). Also the '82 shifter sat too far forward for my taste so I reused my '78 shifter. It works fine and my hand doesn't hit the vent controls.
Superthib!

 

[thezhead]

Sweet. I had a little more to do with mine being an automatic originally. And yes, the roll pin SUCKED. I didn't have drifts that small, so I sacerficed many of my smallest drill bits, but about 30 minutes later, I had the proper pinon in.

Mike

 

[SleeperZ]

Why swap the gear?

You can swap the gear and housing - they are all interchangable, even on the T5. If you just swap the gear, you can have an improper meshing of the gears and you may strip out the teeth. The shaft is already offset the proper amount in the housing to mesh to any tranny gear.

 

[madcowz]

Re: Why swap the gear?

the housings are offset different amounts. you have to use the housing the trans came with or it wont work. when i swapped my 78 with 83, the original 78 housing didn't make my spedometer turn so i had to put the gear in the 83 housing. you have to change just the gear.
madcowz

 

[thezhead]

Re: Why swap the gear?

yeah, when I went to the 5 speed, I just switched the whole thing at the cable, but then I replaced my diff with a 4.11. Went from black to red, 21 teeth I think. I actually have a only a "slight fit" because of the off-set. The 21 tooth cog has a larger diameter then the original black one. I was wondering about that. Has anyone who has put a 4.11 diff in and changed the pinon had to replace the housing aswell, because of the offset? I just can get a small piece of the "key" back in place.

Mike