Being young, I look to more experienced people for advice on how I should build my car. I told my dad's best friend that I wanted to convert to a manual transmission and he suggested getting an old "rock crusher" 4 speed. Any thoughts?

 

Muncies' and camel-hump heads are 40+ years old, but still are thought of as the best performance parts you can get.. Sadly this is far from the truth and you'd have a much easier time, be less expensive, and more reliable just getting a direct replacement T5 setup from another thirdgen Fbody.

 

i would say go for it, but they are not cheap. i believe from what i remember they cost over a $1000 to rebuild a 4 speed but that's just the parts not the labor.

 

4 speeds dont have overdrive either. stick with a 5 speed with OD.

 

Muncies aren't great transmissions. They were just better than other offerings at the time. Their main problem was the cases were weak (T5s suffer a similar problem) so the lesser angle on the gear teeth is a band-aid. A Super T-10 (which came in some 82 F-bodies) is a lot better trans if you want a 4 speed.

I don't suggest doing anything that hurts the function of the car (like losing OD.) A T5 would be a fine choice to run w/ your 305 for a while and you can plan a bigger, stronger engine and a T56 or other manual trans. in the future.

 

I bought a 91 S10 2.8L TBI 5 speed (T5) for my daily driver (gets me 26.45 mpg to work). The Trans Am is my project. I plan on putting at least 400hp in the engine. Roll cage and body stabilizers to prevent the chassis from twisting. OD is not needed. This is going to be my weekend street beast.

 

I was thinking of making an improved version of what these guys did. They calculated all overall price and got 447hp for $3500.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/eng...ock/index.html

I have a bare block 350 sitting in my birds front seat waiting to be built, has no cracks, no rust, and it doesn't have any signs of having a ridge. It's an 010 block from a 78 Camaro. It came stock with 180hp, so my guess is that the owner pulled the engine and threw something beefier in. It's only a 2-bolt so I'd have to get it splayed, but I only bought the bare block for $25.

 

Anyone have any opinion on the brands and parts used in that build?

 

Decided to not use their build. I would like to make my own, and upon further studying, their block is a gen II and mine is a gen I, the parts don't work right.

 

Sounds like you're replying back to your own posts about a motor? You might want to try opening up a thread in a motor/engine forum, you won't get much feedback about it here on the transmission forum...

 

I have a motor build thread posted and they were assuming I was going to stay automatic. So I posted a link to my own thread in my engine build, thinking they would check it out. I read on the thread and realized that when I made it, I didn't know as much about what I wanted. Thank you for input.