'69 Barracuda T56 swap, floor, cross member
- Thread starter 340sFastback
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340sFastback
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Finished welding rear section in. Finally got around to cutting console bracket out of old floor section and mocked up console. Console is in original location but required some trimming of the front section in order for it to set down. Also some notching on passenger's side where it sets on the upper cross member hoop. Trimmed console areas will be covered by the carpet "skirt" that wraps around the console. And I have two of these green consoles so I can hack one of them up without too much worry.
340sFastback
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I was pretty sure some type of raised area would be needed around the shifter but I wasn't expecting it to be this much raised. Anyway, made three sided rectangular cut, bent up, fabbed up some sides, and then fabbed up a piece to extend the back some.
340sFastback
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Raised hump/pad fully welded in
340sFastback
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Trans fits in the car now and clears tunnel.
Two areas, both clear now, but need like 1/8 more clearance:
1) driver side rear where that solenoid is close to tunnel. This was clearing before raised hump/pad was welded in. The tunnel in that area will be able to be massaged out easily.
1) New raised pad, the top around shifter opening, needs to be straightened cause wire wheel grabbed it and bent it down and reduced clearance.
Will be easy and quick to correct.
Two areas, both clear now, but need like 1/8 more clearance:
1) driver side rear where that solenoid is close to tunnel. This was clearing before raised hump/pad was welded in. The tunnel in that area will be able to be massaged out easily.
1) New raised pad, the top around shifter opening, needs to be straightened cause wire wheel grabbed it and bent it down and reduced clearance.
Will be easy and quick to correct.
340sFastback
Well-Known Member
It appears that the angle of the console 4 spd shift handle will intercept with the offset shifter lever which extends 2.75" forward. Console is positioned in factory location. So it looks like I will be able to weld the reproduction console 4 speed shift handle to the offset shift lever to create a factory 4 speed appearance and hide that 6 speed trans.
340sFastback
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The factory 4 spd console shifter handles are angled forward when in 1'st and 3'rd gears. Sort of an awkward goofy angle but that is how they were. So my 4 spd console which I keep in home office is mocked up to have that angle. I transferred that angle to the other green console I am using in the garage. But pretty soon I am going to have to take this nice 4 spd shifter/console out of home office and put in car.....soon....
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mygasser
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it's nice to be able to hide the 'conversion' under the stock console. will a stock carpet fit if you cut up the centre of the tunnel area? where it'd open up due to the bigger tunnel it may well hide under the console. don't know if you'd thought about it but the 'ribs' on the tunnel showing each side could be hidden by adding some dense sponge forward and behind them before fitting the carpet. 
neil.
neil.
it's nice to be able to hide the 'conversion' under the stock console. will a stock carpet fit if you cut up the centre of the tunnel area? where it'd open up due to the bigger tunnel it may well hide under the console. don't know if you'd thought about it but the 'ribs' on the tunnel showing each side could be hidden by adding some dense sponge forward and behind them before fitting the carpet.
neil.
Stock 4 speed carpet fit right over mine, no cutting needed. And I took the floor over the crossmember on mine. The carpet is actually a bit loose on the drivers side, an auto carpet would probably fit better.
The console on my car is a bit further back than stock because I didn’t offset the shift handle, but other than that it hides the tunnel pretty well.
You can see the carpet and console mounts in this one, the hole was for the old 4 speed
And with the console installed
One of these years I’ll have to add the carpet trim to the console, which will cover the old 4 speed hole.
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340sFastback
Well-Known Member
Shortened the front console bracket. I cut it in half, rebent it, cut a bunch of length out of it, then welded the two halves back together. You can see how long/tall it used to be in second picture back when the original front floor section was still in the car. The lower front area of the console has also been shaved 1/4" or so to get console to sit lower on the taller trans tunnel.
I also used jack stands to hold the car level side to side then used level on console and rebent bracket to fit. I plan to get front seats out of storage bolt them into car to do some test fitting prior to welding in console brackets. Cause the gaps between console and front seats are tight and need to be uniform/balanced to get the correct look etc etc etc.
Note that console and front seats are centered in the car side to side. But transmission tunnel is offset to the passengers side. So console sort of hangs over the trans tunnel on the driver's side because console is centered and trans tunnel is offset. Rocker to rocker its 58" so 29" is center on the tunnel marked by a sharpy in the first picture.
Why does T56 shifter end up near center in trans tunnel? Because Tremec clocks the transmission rotated 5 degrees toward the drivers side to angle shifter toward center of tunnel.
I also used jack stands to hold the car level side to side then used level on console and rebent bracket to fit. I plan to get front seats out of storage bolt them into car to do some test fitting prior to welding in console brackets. Cause the gaps between console and front seats are tight and need to be uniform/balanced to get the correct look etc etc etc.
Note that console and front seats are centered in the car side to side. But transmission tunnel is offset to the passengers side. So console sort of hangs over the trans tunnel on the driver's side because console is centered and trans tunnel is offset. Rocker to rocker its 58" so 29" is center on the tunnel marked by a sharpy in the first picture.
Why does T56 shifter end up near center in trans tunnel? Because Tremec clocks the transmission rotated 5 degrees toward the drivers side to angle shifter toward center of tunnel.
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340sFastback
Well-Known Member
Other thing I noticed is the console has stops/ledges molded into it that the tops of the front console bracket rest on. Note how the rebent bracket top edges rest on those molded into the console stops.
340sFastback
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I wanted to verify seat to console fit so took seats out of attic and bolted into car. Here is the auto console before car was taken apart compared to the console on top of the bigger trans tunnel:
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340sFastback
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Other seats in car for test fit pictures. Seats are able to move full forward since console is positioned in factory location. So if my 5' 5" tall wife wants to drive it sure move seat forward go row some gears.
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340sFastback
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Used self tapping #8 sheet metal screws and locked the console brackets in location on the floor. Then used the factory original hardware to screw the console to the floor brackets to verify all fits. All screwed down the console is very rigid grab it tug it and it does not move.
NOTE forward screw inside console storage area is offset toward the passengers side where as screw toward the rear is centered in console. That means floor bracket is offset around 1/4 inch or so to passengers side. For what ever reason thats how they did it....took a while to figure that out cause who would think forward screw is offset toward passenger's side?
NOTE forward screw inside console storage area is offset toward the passengers side where as screw toward the rear is centered in console. That means floor bracket is offset around 1/4 inch or so to passengers side. For what ever reason thats how they did it....took a while to figure that out cause who would think forward screw is offset toward passenger's side?
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340sFastback
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Welded console brackets to the floor. After welding I removed the screws that held brackets in place and welded screw holes shut.
340sFastback
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Fabbed up some metal to weld a 3/4 pipe to the 6 speed shift lever. The pipe is .012" inner diameter larger then the 4 spd shift handle so slight loose fit. The idea is min welding on the chrome shift handle to reduce chance of chrome discolor. Thats the reason for this 3/4" pipe approach.
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340sFastback
Well-Known Member
Cut a slit in the side of the 3/4" pipe, clamped with vice grips, then ran a hot weld up the slit to weld the shift handle to the pipe. Chrome shift handle did not get discolored. No clearance issues when shifting through the 6 gears. Wrapped some old ratty carpet around the console to see how it looks.
340sFastback
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Here is a video of me going through the 6 gears:
340sFastback
Well-Known Member
Took a universal shifter boot cut one rib out of it to make it shorter/narrower. Then used 14 gauge steel and fabbed up a bezel/collar for it. Since it is a short throw shifter it only moves around 3/8" or so where it comes up through the boot so no worries about boot tearing from stress.
Also welded a bracket to tunnel for the reverse lockout module.
Also welded a bracket to tunnel for the reverse lockout module.
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340sFastback
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Addressed the two outstanding clearance issues then sealed all the weld seams and painted the tunnel
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340sFastback
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Unmasked the car and got holes drilled in firewall for clutch master cylinder. Had to clearance inner fender with a hammer to get master cylinder to fit. Also reinforcement plate that goes inside the car needed a bit trimmed off it to clear the contour in the firewall on left side. Did not think I would be able to drill through fire wall with pedals in the way so clutch pedal installed removed several times to get master cylinder limed up. Push rod looks to go straight into master cylinder and alignment seems really good. Pedal goes down and up smoothly. Will be able to proceed with permanent pedal installation next.
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mygasser
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very nice work, the pushrod alignment looks spot on
neil.
neil.
Nice!
Sorry if I missed it, is that clutch master cylinder mounting block the one a member here was making? Do you mind if I ask what you used for the clutch push rod and how long it ended up being? I have a couple of those angled firewall mounting blocks and eventually plan on moving the clutch master on my Duster down to that location. It works ok where it's at now but I think that's a much cleaner look and I'm going a bit smaller on the clutch master bore anyway.
340sFastback
Well-Known Member
Its a Silver Sport hydraulic clutch kit. This is what was on my invoice from when I bought it. It seemed like centering it in that oval hole in the firewall put the rod in alignment. Pedals were from Silver Sport also. Like others who have used their kit you have to dent your inner fender to get clearance for master cylinder to fit.
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