Auto to manual conversion. If you could do it over....regrets, pitfalls, long term opinions???

I swapped to a 4 speed March/April of 2016. (a833 2.66 first gear 23 spline) I had acquired parts over a few year period. Half of the used parts I got were junk. Some of the lesser expensive new parts were junk. Ended buying half of the parts I needed new from brewers. (they are great!)

Things I liked
-rowing gears was a blast
-way more fun when cruising around
-cool factor
-dropping the clutch in 2nd hazing tires
-no slipping like a torque converter
-no transmission lines to deal with
-enjoyed working on the 4 speed vs 727
-having an extra gear kept it in the power band
-tasha would actually drive it (hates ratchet shifters)


Things I didn't like
-I had a rear main seal leak that I couldn't figure out. The oil would get into the bell and on the clutch (not really the transmissions fault but It sucked non the less)
-Lakewood bell sucked to deal with. pretty much had to pull the engine to get the bolts out. (if I ever swap back to a 4 speed I will be using the stock aluminum bell)
-The centerforce clutch I used was too grabby. (if I had to do it over I would use the centerforce pressure plate with a stock type disc)
-getting the z-bar on and off isn't that fun. (I used a ratchet strap between the clutch fork and crossmember to pull the clutch adjusting rod out.) probably not the safest way hahahaha
-cruising low speeds (parade, stuck in traffic, etc) AJ told me about a dial back timing controller that should take care of this issue.
-little trickier getting the engine tuned
-Didn't want to run slicks for the fear of breaking everything
-I had a sweet drive shaft built for my 727 (couldn't be used with the 4 speed)
-Expensive

probably forgot some stuff. I ended up swapping back to an auto with some slight regret. What I have found is that whenever I change something 1000 other things go wrong.

4 speed swap/rebuild
Super tuning car runs good shooting for great