300 with manual transmission?

[67]

Hello,

I would like to swap my 2 speed automatic for a manual transmission.
my enigne is a 300 for now future plan is to drop in a 350
i located a 5 speed out of 1989 trans am v6
a borg warner 4 speed
a late 60's oldsmobile 4 speed that was mated with a 301 block

what would be the best choice?

thanks

J

[67]

come on guys a little help would be appreciated

[bob k. mando]

any transmission that will mate up to a 300 will mate up to a Buick 350. SBC is a different bellhousing.





i located a 5 speed out of 1989 trans am v6

what size v6? a 231ci or 3.8L or 4.1L are all based on the SBB v8 and will bolt up directly to the 300/350.

other displacement GM v6s are based on the SBC and likely wouldn't work without adapters.

this one would be good for the OD and broad range of gearing but i doubt that it would really stand up to the torque of the v8s very well if you're going to be using it hard.

the Borg Warner T-10 is also not known for it's durability.



a late 60's oldsmobile 4 speed that was mated with a 301 block

the 301 trans will have the correct bolt pattern as the engine is a Pontiac design. i'm not sure about the placement of the starter knockout in the bell though. the Buick has the starter on the passenger side.

there are GM manual bells with starter knockouts on both sides so check it out to see what you've got.

it's possible you could use the trans bell from this setup on with the other transmissions.

is this a Muncie or Saginaw?

[67]

Thank you very much for your reply Bob,

The V6 is a 2.8L Good to know it would bolt right on and then get torn apart by the V8 torque

The olds 4 speed is sold allready

found a guy who sells 2 muncies today, he emailed me the cast numbers:
3885010
3851325

while trying to decode these i've read something about a 'dead' first gear.
and the need for a certain rear end gear.

How can i determine what rear end gear i have?

Would rover maybe have a transmission that would fit? with the 215 buying used by them and all

Thanks again,

J

[bob k. mando]

The V6 is a 2.8L Good to know it would bolt right on

no, the 2.8L is derived from the SBC. the 3.8L is based on the Buick v8.




and then get torn apart by the V8 torque

baby it and you can make anything last forever.



Would rover maybe have a transmission that would fit?

Rover kept the Buick 215 bell pattern which is not the same as the 1964 and up BOPC pattern. you can still use a Rover trans, just like you can use any trans. you'd just have to buy or fabricate adapters.

an oddball place to look for transmissions that you probably won't think of would be late 60s to early 70s AMC/Jeep trucks. they were using Buick 225 v6s and 350 v8s as powerplants.

check out my thread here for pictorial reference:
http://www.teambuick.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9781



while trying to decode these i've read something about a 'dead' first gear.

Muncie 4 speeds have rings on the input shaft which designate their gear ratios. M22 is a "rock crusher", i don't know that it has any rings.

Rings   1st     2nd     3rd     4th
   0      2.56   1.91    1.48    1.00
   1      2.20   1.64    1.28    1.00
   2      2.52   1.88    1.46    1.00
 M22    2.20   1.64    1.28    1.00

and the need for a certain rear end gear.

this has more to do with whether or not you want to go drag racing or highway cruising. if you want to cruise i certainly wouldn't use anything shorter than a 3.08 and you'd probably prefer something in the 2.70s. for drag racing you might go tighter than 4.10.


if you step up to a good 5 speed you can have both. usually a 5 speed will have a shorter 1st gear than anything you're looking at here plus an OD gear somewhere around .80



How can i determine what rear end gear i have?

the cheap and sleazy way is to:
1. set your parking brake
2. shift to neutral
3. chock a front tire
4. jack up the rear tire on the opposite side from the chocked front tire
5. mark the drive shaft and the inside sidewall of the raised tire with grease pencil
6. rotate the driveshaft by hand and count the number of rotations it takes to make the rear tire go around once.
7. divide by 2 if this is an open differential ... if it's a limited slip diff you'll have to jack up both rear tires but you don't divide

this will get you close. you can rotate the rear tire more turns to get a more exact approximation of the ring/pinion ratio.

GM also stamped the front of the passenger side axle tube with a two or three digit letter code. this will tell you the year, gear ratio, ring gear size and differential type the factory put in your car. then we just have to decode it.