I am buying a 4-speed stick shift from a guy, it came off a late 70's truck, and works. I am wondering if anyone knows how to convert a 78 camaro to that with minimal chassis overhaul.

 

I'm not sure what tranny came in pickups. If its just the same Saginaw that everything else had, your good. I'd look into it first. The truck may have a really steep first gear and less than perfect gear ratios for a performance car.

After that is a simple task of getting camaro pedals and z-bar assembly. Can't be done without that. No frame mods need to be done and the crossmember will work just fine.

 

the truck had the same engine as mine, i wouldnt think the gears would be that different

 

Well I once rented a Rider straight truck for moving, it had a 454. Do you think it was geared the same as Corvette with a 454. The point is the general had only a hand full of engines over the years. A 3/4 ton pickup w/ a bed full of parts and tools towing a trailer loaded with your average drag car would use a hellava lot lower gear to move from a dead stop than your average 79 Camaro. Gears are a multiplier of torque.

With all that being said. I still don't know what tranny is in the truck and thats all I was suggesting you do is find out before you have a tranny in your car that has you wound up to 6 grand at 15 mph in first gear. You better be lightning on the clutch, because while your shifting into second I'm gonna roll past about 50mph grabbing second.

 

Damon is giving you some great advice. Trucks often have what is referred to as a "granny gear" 1st. They can be so low that most truck owners use them as a 3 spd. and never use 1st gear unless they're pulling heavy loads. Engine sizes don't mean anything in regards to what tranny is used. All Chevy trannies will interchange between all the V8 models.

 

Granny gear, the words I was gonna use. Thanks Vall.

I'm not tryin to be a jerk, I also just did this swap 3 months ago so I do have a good idea of what you in for.

 

I don't know if the length of the transmission is the same. I would assume Damon would know what he's talking about with being able to use the same crossmember though. You can check this link and at the bottom of the page it will give you some information on transmission lengths. I know swapping from a th400 to my t-56 I had to do some modifications to my crossmember.

 

The 400 is the only oddball I know of. The t56 swap on the other hand I don't think anyone can get out of that without a welder or a prefab crossmember.

 

Well lucky me found out that you can use the th400 crossmember for the swap. You just have to cut off the mounting pad and make a new one that's flush with the bottom almost like a skid plate (actually it's about an inch raised from the bottom of the crossmember). I had a machine shop fab me up a channel iron mount to give me a lot of room for welding on the front and bottom of the crossmember. Works real nice.

 

Someday. Some how I will have overdrive. I'm thinking TKO, the 6 speed might be too heavy my intentions.