3spd saginaw to 4 spd saginaw- will this work?

[walkerb]

My 74 shortbox steper has a 3 speed that WAS on the tree but the po moved it to the floor. He told me and I believe that it the original trans.

My questions in will the 4 speed pictured below work?

If I go and look at this what do I look for?

Is $100 a decent/fair price?

Anyone ever had a 4 speed rebuilt? Expensive?

Thanks for the help and info!

[manimal]

I did this to a 1974 Nova back in 1987! It was a direct bolt in for me,as long as both trannies are the same length/output spline count,it should swap right in.

[manimal]

AND you will need a FLOOR SHIFTER!

[Dieselholic92]

Originally Posted by manimal

AND you will need a FLOOR SHIFTER!

He said the previous owner moved the shifter to the floor

[Keith Seymore]

Absolutely!

Did that on my 80 pickup when it was new. Went from a Saginaw three speed on the tree to a Hurst floor shifted four speed with a 3.11:1 low gear.

K

[walkerb]

Originally Posted by manimal

AND you will need a FLOOR SHIFTER!

Are you saying I'll need a shifter because its a 4speed. And that I cant use the 3 speed shifter I have now?

[walkerb]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Absolutely!

Did that on my 80 pickup when it was new. Went from a Saginaw three speed on the tree to a Hurst floor shifted four speed with a 3.11:1 low gear.

K

Will everything from my 3spd work on the 4 spd? Clutch, shift fork etc...

Sorry for the possibly stupid questions. This will be my first time with the stick stuff.

Thanks for the help

[manimal]

You will have to get a different shifter. The three spd will only have 2 levers,the 4spd will have 3 and different linkage.

[Dsquared]

every thing else will work.GM made a three speed overdrive too,trying to remember how it looked. summit racing sells the hurst shifters and the saginaw linkage kit. you can take the side cover off and look inside to dee if anything looks broken. if you don't know anything about them,do not take them apart. you'll be lookin for days tryin to find all those needle bearings. if everything looks fine and there is no sign of water damage, then you can replace the seals and try it out. there is a seal in the front behind the cover(it installs upside down) and a tailshaft seal. by the way,make sure you mark the front cover so it will be in the same place when you reinstall it. there is a small opening beside the front bearing that must line up with the "port" in the cover.

[Dsquared]

make sure it turns freely,you will have a little bit of movement in the front shaft because the needle bearings are oil fed. if it fells like it has rought spots,then it needs to be rebuilt.

[Weasel Diesel]

I run a Saggy 4 spd out of a Vega in mine. 1,2,3 are close ratio, then you hit 4th and it goes 1:1 and a major drop in rpm's. Thru hard city driving I hardly ever hit 4th. But I'll tell ya this much, from red light to red light it takes off like a scalded dog with his head on fire and his butt catch'in.

[manimal]

Originally Posted by Dsquared

every thing else will work.GM made a three speed overdrive too,trying to remember how it looked. summit racing sells the hurst shifters and the saginaw linkage kit. you can take the side cover off and look inside to dee if anything looks broken. if you don't know anything about them,do not take them apart. you'll be lookin for days tryin to find all those needle bearings. if everything looks fine and there is no sign of water damage, then you can replace the seals and try it out. there is a seal in the front behind the cover(it installs upside down) and a tailshaft seal. by the way,make sure you mark the front cover so it will be in the same place when you reinstall it. there is a small opening beside the front bearing that must line up with the "port" in the cover.

NP833, it was a Chrysler trans.

[SSC's76]

I ran a saginaw 4 speed for about 3 days way back when I was a retarted kid and it was a waste of my time and money I dident have. I was running a sb and a 3:42 ratio rear end on stock size tires. 1st gear was useless about 10 feet and shift I had better results using it like the 3 speed I had in it before.

[walkerb]

Originally Posted by Dsquared

every thing else will work.GM made a three speed overdrive too,trying to remember how it looked. summit racing sells the hurst shifters and the saginaw linkage kit. you can take the side cover off and look inside to dee if anything looks broken. if you don't know anything about them,do not take them apart. you'll be lookin for days tryin to find all those needle bearings. if everything looks fine and there is no sign of water damage, then you can replace the seals and try it out. there is a seal in the front behind the cover(it installs upside down) and a tailshaft seal. by the way,make sure you mark the front cover so it will be in the same place when you reinstall it. there is a small opening beside the front bearing that must line up with the "port" in the cover.

Great info man Thanks. If all moves and looks good, you think its worth $100?

[walkerb]

Originally Posted by SSC's76

I ran a saginaw 4 speed for about 3 days way back when I was a retarted kid and it was a waste of my time and money I dident have. I was running a sb and a 3:42 ratio rear end on stock size tires. 1st gear was useless about 10 feet and shift I had better results using it like the 3 speed I had in it before.

Really. What I thought I would do this for is the better crusing. I live 1 hour drive from where I work and want to drive this there every so often.

Do you not think this is a good choice?

[Dsquared]

Originally Posted by walkerb

Great info man Thanks. If all moves and looks good, you think its worth $100?

yes

[Dsquared]

people like the four speeds for the sound of changing gears....the more the better. It's all 1:1 in high gear anyways. it's really your preference

[80SPORT]

I think the bore in the bellhousing is bigger on the truck the the cars;so you MAY have some clutch alignment issues;measure the od of the front bearing retainer on the 2 trannies.
The bolts may hold it close enough ...but you could have chatter if it is off center.

[walkerb]

Anyone know if the bellhousing are the same between the straight 6 250 and the sbc?

[manimal]

Mine was. In the same Nova, it started life as a 250/3 on the tree. It became a 383,4spd......I used the same starter,bellhousing,linkage and clutch.

[SSC's76]

Originally Posted by walkerb

Anyone know if the bellhousing are the same between the straight 6 250 and the sbc?

Depends on which size flywheel you have. they will bolt to each other, pattern is the same but a v8 truck uses a larger bell housing and flywheel then what you might find in a car. I dont recall if the 250 flywheel will bolt up it may if you are using a the older style block. Then we get into the is your block provisioned to run the car pattern starter? Some are some are not. I know there is a funkey starter out there an OEM unit that mounts in the truck location but fits the smaller bell housing but finding it might be hard. A mini starter may work if it has enough adjustment. When I converted the wifes car from a 250 to a v8 everything transmission wise just fell into place I dident have to squat with the linkage and I did use a truck bell housing from a 78 since I wanted to use the larger clutch with the 383.

If you are replacing a existing 3 speed it will bolt right in and its the same spline so clutch wont be an issue and neither will the clutch linkage you can seriously unbolt just the trans and slide the new one in place. As far as the other question I dont remember what ratio 1/2/3 are but on all of these 3 and 4 speeds its 1:1 in high so there will be no diff once you slide it into 4th over the 3 speed.

[tkeduk8r]

if you REALLY wanted a unique cruiser you could find an old OD unit that was found behind many of the cars of the late 50's and early 60's (trucks to till 69 i believe) and retro fit it on the rear o fthe four speed... There are online articles on doing this and it would be the best of both worlds as long as you arent going to abuse it. LINKY
Kind of a neat deal and would be unique..... OR find the MY6 OD 4speed used in GM trucks from 81-87.....
--Mike