sm465 to th400 what little things will i need? other Q's?

[ncgamedog]

i am leaving the manual realm for the th400 (b/c of cost of doubler). i have a guy willing to trade even for my 10spln 465/205 for a rebuilt 400/203 combo and i traded a d60 rear for a 32 spline 205. i told him i would make a package deal and offered up my pedal assembly. so will an auto pedal assembly simply bolt up? i have an auto column lying around from an 80' but none of the linkages, wwyd? i thought about a lokar shifter. anyone done this? is there anything else i might need besides a flexplate and trans cooler to do the swap that i'm not thinking of? would the crossmember be in the same location? or even the same crossmember?mounts? HELP! i just want to have my ducks in a row b/c wheeling season is breathing down my neck and i dont want to be down all summer. thanks for any help- justin

 

[mrdrinksalil]

Deff swap crossmembers with the guy you are tradin with. Worst case you'd have to just drill different holes then. As for the manual to auto swap, I'm currently building a truck that had a manual in it and I'm putting in a th400 also. I havn't completely made up my mind yet, but the Lokar is looking like the right choice. I was going to go B&M or Hurst with a cable set-up but I dont have a cage in the truck right now or a good place to put the shifter. I want it close to me so I can really bang the forward and revese in the mud. The Lokar looks like it might be hard to slam around. You also gotta remember a tranny cooler. If you have a cooler in your radiator all you need is lines. I tihnk around $50 from LMC Truck. You're also gonna need a flex plate for your engine, cause you'll be ditchin your flywheel. You might also need to have your driveshafts shortened/lengthened.

 

[ncgamedog]

thanks for your input. i was aware of the flexplate and cooler, i plan to run some type of external cooler maybe somthing w/ an aux. fan. one thing i want to be sure of is keeping that thing cool. i have always been leary of autos b/c there is just so much that can go wrong. the last thing i want out in the middle of the woods is tranny probs. yeah i talked to lokar yesterday and as far as fitment i think it will work great. the nostalga 23" shifter is demensionaly very close to the stock 4spd shifter. it also has 360* rotational adjustment and you can lean it forward or backward. i dont know about slammin' it around though. i know lokar has been in the hot rod business for a long time and i would expect high quality out of their produts, so i would imagine it could handle the abuse. it may be a bit awkward being that long though huh? i'm like you i dont have a cage yet to mount the cable style to. i think it the lokar will look cool though, and besides, for me, i do mostly trails and crawling so i wont see a whole lot of 1st to reverse jerking. any more input on tranny swap things? thanks justin

 

[mrdrinksalil]

glad I could help. Post picks of the4 Lokar when you get it,.