1984-87 hydraulic clutch and manifold interference

[kipps]

I posted this to the LS-swapped squarebody group on Facebook. I'm double posting it here so it can be found by internet searches.

Feel free to post your own successes and failures in clearing the sm465 slave cylinder, either with manifolds or with headers.

I did a quick mock-up of a typical 1984-87 hydraulic clutch combined with various factory LS exhaust manifolds.

The first two pics show a 1998-2002 Camaro/Firebird manifold. This one fits pretty good. It's not perfect, but it's probably the best clearance you'll get between a manifold and the slave cylinder.

The second two pics show a typical truck manifold. This particular manifold is a 2010 Tahoe, but I think they're all very similar. The only way this clears, is if the slave cylinder is turned upside-down like shown. Even then, the heat shield would need to be removed to avoid interference. An upside-down slave can work, but you'd need to bleed the slave before installing it on the bellhousing. Also, the truck manifolds are typically too wide for our squarebody frames. You might be able to get by with a truck manifold on one side only; I'm not sure on that.

I tried a Trailblazer SS manifold, and there was no way that was going to clear the slave cylinder at all. I did not try a 2010 Camaro manifold in this experiment, but I'm reasonably certain that won't clear at all either.

[AussieinNC]

Have you considered using a fully internal hydraulic release setup....and it opens up your choice for exhaust manifolds.


Speedway motors has a bearing set and its a reasonably easy install....
Hint....extend the bleeder pipe to make bleeding the system easier...

See youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LInO0DnnhDw

Speedway Motors link
https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Chevy...SABEgLuJfD_BwE

[kipps]

Originally Posted by AussieinNC

Have you considered using a fully internal hydraulic release setup....and it opens up your choice for exhaust manifolds.

I'm actually going a different route. I'm installing a late-model nv4500 with the factory internal slave. The truck is described in my signature.

I'm just posting these pics because this is a pretty common question by LS swap newbies.

If you have the part numbers and/or pics showing how to retrofit an internal slave into a typical sm465 setup, please post them! That's completely in keeping with the theme of this thread. I want any and all reasonable options mentioned for folks who want to keep their sm465 behind a LS engine.