My "new" '74 Duster- or why I need a project like a hole in the head

racerjoe said
As usual, thanks for sharing. I've often thought of switching from my TKO-500 to a 6 speed, but the thought of hacking the tunnel always deterred me from doing that. I like the way you did it. You didn't end up with a tunnel that looks like it belongs in a 4x4 truck! That being said, I still think I'll stick with the 5 speed because the cost/labor benefit just isn't there for me. Besides that, I am still running manual clutch linkage and have thought of switching to hydraulic. Based on your issues, I'm sticking with the linkage. I may just make it better by using some small heims to get rid of the flimsy clips that hold the rods together.
Do you find first gear to be too short with the 4.30 gears? What ratio is 1st in that trans?

The hydraulic clutch thing was more about set up than anything else, and most of it was just my fault because of parts compatibility. If I’d just bought a complete kit I wouldn’t have had the issues that I did. And if I’d checked the clearances for the new set up off the car it would have been easy. Now that’s it’s on the car it’s great, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

1st is 2.66. It’s a little short with the 4.30’s, but not bad at all. With the close ratio 6 speed all the gears are pretty equally spaced, and the first 3 or 4 go by pretty fast!

mopowers said
Nice work. Just curious- with the short 4.30's, do you even use 1st gear?

I use the HELL out of first gear! Honestly it was one of the reasons I did the swap. I was running a 3.09 1st gear 833 with 3.55’s before, so I already had a 10.97 drive ratio. The Lunati 60404 cam in my 340 is supposed to have at least 3.91’s based on Lunati’s recommendations, and I understand why.

The T56 Magnum I’ve got has a 2.66 first gear, so I had to change the rear gears. With the 4.30’s my drive ratio is 11.44, which still isn’t crazy. It’s actually one of the nicer things about the swap, it’s so much easier getting the car going. With the 3.55’s it was taking some slip of the clutch to not lug the 340 down during normal driving. It was fine if I was driving it like I stole it, but that doesn’t work in traffic and it’s my daily, so it sees plenty of that.