Hi All,

Wanted to post some pictures and descriptions of my automatic to manual transmission conversion in my 1971 Chevelle, in case it was useful. This process should be roughly the same for all 68-72 GM A-bodies, but YMMV.

I'm going to gloss over the TH350 removal, as it is pretty straightforward, and focus more on the issues relating to stuffing the T56 Magnum into the car.

So the plan is to cut the tunnel out, insert larger patch with opening for shifter, design custom center console to fit over new transmission tunnel, then reinstall.


Here's the victim: 1971 Chevelle with a Dart 427ci SBC, 12 bolt rear, truetrac diff with 4.11's, aftermarket front and rear suspension from SC&C.

https://imgur.com/eJmrGza

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Tired old TH350 waiting to be removed:

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I'm going to try to link an Imgur gallery to this post, but it doesn't seem to want to preview the pictures in the actual post - anyone have any tips, let me know.

https://imgur.com/gallery/Kffb6LJ

Started with a conservative cut to see where the trans wanted to sit, then marked the outline of the patch, and a dotted cut line ~1.5" inside of that (orange lines)

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Tunnel cut out

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Got this patch panel from a guy on ebay - fit over the area perfectly! Was shipped to me flat, so I just bear hugged it around a pole until it was generally in the right shape, then I bent the edges of the floor at the solid orange line up to mate with the face of the tunnel patch. Seems like it's going to work well.

(not sure why the image rotated sideways)

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Been waiting a long time to see this! T56 fits perfectly in the opening.

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Cut an ugly hole for the shifter to pop through - will clean that up later.

(image rotated again for some reason)

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View from underneath.

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In the meantime, I've also been working on the design for the new center console. Feedback and suggestions definitely appreciated, as I've never made one before.

Plan is to wrap the black surfaces in black microsuede to match the corbeau seats, and the grey faces on the top and around the shifter/buttons in a black madrid grain leather to match the dash.

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Excellent work! Looks like the patch panel couldn't have worked out any better.

Thanks, Chris. You're right - the tunnel patch was spot on. Although I needed to extend the shifter opening farther back than I would've liked to allow the rear shift rail to clear (since the patch set so low there).

But I checked out your T56 install, and I had been thinking about doing the same thing with a shifter access box to cover the hole and seal around the shifter. Your car looks awesome!