Saginaw 4 Speed

[WTexChevy]

I just swapped a 3 speed for the Saginaw 4 Speed transmission. It was pretty straight fwd but I thought I'd share a few things I encountered.

Trans bolts right up. I did change clutch out but splines, pilot, etc. are the same. Bottom two bolt holes in m trans. were not threaded so I had to use two longer bolts and nuts.

Floor hole: I found a Hurst Comp. Plus 4 speed shifter and the floorboard hole is way off from the Daytona 3 speed shifter I had. Plan on some cutting/patching depending on what you got. Long "S" type shifter barely clears the bench and shifter sits WAY back on trans.

Slip yoke is different. Trans length is the same but the spine count on the 4 speed is 27. I believe it's the same at a TH350 yoke.

One question I had for anyone who has done this swap, did you fab a crossmember or let the trans hang like the 3 speed? I'm thinking about giving it a little support with something.

[HumphreyMurdoch]

Good info

I did a T5 swap in my '62 and I just let it hang in the breeze.

I'm no mechanical engineer but it seems like a 3rd mount might cause a bind or unwanted stress on the other mounts.

[AcampoDave]

I used my e brake cross mount and welded a perch to it. If I remember right I had to flip it over and remount the, e brake hardware. There might have been a few short spacers involved too. It's been a while since I put in my Saginaw, but if you want I can post a pic tomorrow or Saturday at the latest of what I'm trying to describe. And yep the shifter sure does sit back but I gave in and went buckets and my dad built me a cool retro 70's style vinyl upholstered console with a flip top and drink holders.

[WTexChevy]

I forgot to mention the E-Brake issue. I just bent the pivot tab down and mounted the e-brake bellcrank under the xmember. It actually seems to work better.

As far as the transmission mount... I found an old traction bar snubber and cut some off of it and mounted it to the e-brake member. The trans sits on top of it. I figured it would help take some of the weight off the mounting ears.

[jjzepplin]

I haven't got mine all together yet and it's in a 72 but I built my own x-member out of a 4x4 t-case member and it clears the exhaust pipes which are tucked up pretty high and level with the frame rails.
I heard you could just hang it from the bell housing member but I'm going to be testing the guts of that posi and don't want any surprises.

[AcampoDave]

Took some pics after work. I put my e-brake mechanisim underneath too. And I do believe I really did flip the whole cross member over as well. After welding on the mount perch, I used spacers at the frame to line it all up.