Converting My 1967 Convertible C4 To Manual

The build is delayed for a week, because I "thought" I could just pick up transmission oil at the local car parts place.

Fun fact: Toploaders use GL4 spec transmission oil. GL5 won't work for older transmissions as it's too slick for the synchros, or so I'm told. Which would explain why my Land Cruiser sounds like the synchros are going out sometime. I ordered enough Sta-Lube for both cars, and will get back to it next week.

I got everything running now. I posted the writeup on another forum, but will transfer it over here when time allows

Edbert said:

In to subscribe...been considering getting rid of the AOD in my '67 vert in favor of a 5 or 6 speed MT. I was thinking I'd do an aftermarket pedal with hydraulics but still want to keep informed of this.

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I'd say there is little/no transfer of information between a toploader to a swap you are talking about. Even the pedal quadrant would be completely different. The two biggest challenges on my swap was getting the pedal quadrant replaced, getting the correct bell/flywheel/clutch/etc arrangement and mounting the transfer bar. None of them should be a challenge for your proposed swap, as there are scads of ready to play aftermarket solutions available.

I finished my conversion and took it out for a test drive, amidst a man hunt for a bank robber in my neighborhood. The cops and SWAT guys thought it was cool. No bad vibrations, noises, etc..

I am running Sta-Lube 85W90 GL4 in it. The box is quiet, tight and the synchros are working well. Throws with the Hurst Comp Plus kit on it are tight and short; I ended up putting steel bushings on the shifters, which was a good thing. With the nylon bushings, you can be out quite a ways on adjustment. With the steel bushings, you are either right on, or they won't fit.

My dog realized the car wasn't just something that meant I was ignoring her. In her first open car ride, she either stood on the transmission tunnel and leaned against me, or sat nicely in the back seat and watched the world go by.

Some things about the CJ Pony "kit".

Besides the missing bushing and rotating clips, I realized that there was a reason the lower clutch throwout bushing was missing: the lower clutch actuator thingamabob the bushing goes onto is too short. Once you install the bushing, there isn't room to clip it on. I'm currently running without a bushing; pedal play is minimal.

The frame side pivot for the transfer bar was intact, but full of crap. Dug the crap out and ran a tap in it, and it installed great.

The clutch pedal to throwout transfer bar cannot be installed until the trans is back on the engine and bolted up to its support. The engine sags a bit on its mounts, and throws off the alignment.

I would suggest installing the speedo cable after removing the auto pedal quadrant, but before installing the clutch pedal quadrant. You will never have better access to that area. In fact, if you want to do anything in that area, now's the time to do it.

The toploader requires a longer speedo cable. I skillfully upgefukt mine on installation, and now I have no speedo. Need to pull it and find out why.

The toploader with the 57 tooth bell opens up a TON of room. I no longer have interference issues with my el cheapo Chinese Tri-Y headers.

The transfer bar "just" fits among the driver side header. The throwout bar does NOT. All that is required is judicious trimming of the threaded end, being careful not to trim all your adjustment away.

The CJPony supplied transfer bar was excellent. I'd been warned against them, that the weld was weak, but mine is fine.

The CJPony kit does not include the upper firewall return spring tab on the engine side. That needs to be either fabricated or taken off a manual car. Or, if you are like me, the spring is still in its package in my parts bin, as I haven't a clue what it actually does. The clutch assembly works just fine without it, and my '65 hipo didn't have one.

With the stock 3.00:1 rear member ratio, it Needs. More. Gear. Begs for it, in fact. My daily driver is a 75 Land Cruiser (named Zeke) with a 4 speed, 4:89s and 35 inch tires, so I stalled Daisy 3 times trying to get it going, forgetting that I was shifting like I was in Zeke.

I'll take some pics and post them later. Still on my hit list is to figure out how badly I screwed up the speedo.

Speaking of speedos, be careful when you remove the dash to get all the screws and the two pressed sheet metal nuts on the right side. You have to remove the ash tray to get at them. They, like the return spring, don't really do much, so I left them off on reinstall. I'd hate to mess up an original dash forgetting to remove them.

Speedo cable is installed and working, but not perfect.

Idiot that I am, I used the CJ Pony driven gear clip, which simply isn't tight enough to stay on. I found the old clip off the C4, which fits more securely.

Unfortunately, I removed the fully functional Concours correct cable, thinking that was somehow the issue, and replaced it with the el cheapo Rock Auto $8 cable, which bounces.

I'll run it as is, but will replace it if it breaks/the next time I have to do some work on it.

BTW, found the oil leak; my intake manifold had come un torqued. Retorqued it to spec and will see if it leaks anymore.