My 1991 Z04-Converted "Base" - now with two additional gears

[Baims_91Base]

Been awhile since I've posted an update anywhere on things, so I thought it was time to check back in. I also recently finished up a new mod to the car I'm posting this about and wanted to share - plus, I'm getting pretty excited about finally being able to go to Bfest this year!

Pulled my GTU off the road because I decided it was time to stop putting money into an aging chassis - had some cancer in a few spots and was just a matter of time (made it over 300k though so not too bad). I'll still keep it for parts, but it's been the donor for what I'm about to share.

The last time I posted about my '91 base, I just finished up a dash swap and MPFI conversion (running 94 ECM). Finally got the kinks all worked out of that in preparation for boost. What happened next was the result of fate (GTU dying) and me having 5-speed withdrawal symptoms -- I decided I would swap the V6 drivetrain into my 91, with some help from KFLO. (Compared to what he went through installing a 5-speed into his 93 GT, this was mostly plug and play.)

Not too much for pictures -- I don't have a suitable camera at the moment other than what's on my phone. Kurt took some with his digital camera, but I think he was waiting to post any of those until I spilled the beans.

Presenting a somewhat unique swap: 2.2L MPFI mated to a V6 Getrag
(not as aggressive of gearing as what would have been in an Isuzu, but more durable of a transmission and will be better for my plans with it down the road)

Also ended up with a fresh batch of Pennzoil syncrhomesh, Mobil1 10w30, AC Delco PF47 filter (can rock a PF52 now with the huge-ass auto transmission out of there but had to use what was around for now),new lifetime axle passenger side axle, new flywheel, and "less than 10 miles" Clutchmasters stage 0 disc I had around from ages ago.

Pics! (Hoping Kurt shares additional, better quality pictures for us all)

And finally, a picture of both the current cars parked in the street (not my house!)






Donor transmission from 88 GTU...originally from Pontiac 6000










And finally, current pick of the active L-bodies.

EDIT: Sorry for the massive pictures - they're small in filesize atleast . Give me a few minutes and I'll resize them down from 1600x1200.
EDIT2: OK, resized them. http://www.berettaspeed.com/dustin/5speedswap_teaser (for the 1600x1200 versions of these, still at same low-res quality though)

[Barry]

Good stuff, car looks great

[KFLO 93 GT]

Hell yeah! This was a great mod for sure, and while it took a bit longer than the weekend we had hoped - I think a week total time with only 4 - 5 working days is pretty solid. Plus a few other things like tackling the rear main seal, oil pan gasket and the jackshaft backet modding added some time. Overall there were a couple of unexpected things, but we worked through them and I think the end product turned out damn good.

I'll finally get to work on unloading and resizing those photos now.

[Cliff8928]

So it was a 2.2 TBI/auto now going to be a 2.2 MPFI Turbo / Getrag? That's different alright... Hope the clutch holds up.

[weba]

Interesting combination for sure, can't remember anyone doing that before. I Really need to find Getrag to replace my Isuzu...

[Wanako]

oh hell yea! the win is strong here!

[KFLO 93 GT]

So yeah, my shop played host to the swap with the initial intent being to start on a Friday night and hopefully have it finished up by following Tuesday night. Between some setbacks, and a fulltime work schedule for both of us the swap went from Saturday afternoon to the following Saturday evening, with the car sitting untouched on Wednesday and Thursday.

Here was the scene on the first Saturday. Woody should be a fan of this photo:


A day of medium paced work resulted in this:


and this:


We finished gutting the GTU that same morning, so a lot of time went to that. But it seemed like a fair rate of work to still get 2 cars pretty well gutted, while still being careful. At this point I had a messy shop and Dustin had a car that was destined for the junkyard if we couldn't make this work. So with that in mind I set to work on preparing for the 5 speed parts to go into the car. Removing the flexplate left me looking at a long leaking rear main seal, so I installed a new rear main as well as a new oil pan gasket.

When the price of new is roughly the price of a resurface, new is the way to roll. Work discount ftw:


After that I decided to go smoke a cig and take the one required photo for all 5 speed swaps:


Yeah, that's right, I said it.

[KFLO 93 GT]

Part 2:

Soo... moving along, all of the clutch parts and the flywheel were installed with blue threadlock and a double check on the torque wrench. As a side note nearly every bolt we took off and put back on was hit with a bench grinder fine grade wire brush and installed with blue threadlock, ease of installation was total win. We ended up running into a couple of issues that we didn't completely foresee ahead of time. #1 was the jackshaft to block mount. The 2.2 5 speed cars never got one, and the v6 block is a lot different shape than I4 unit... so that left us to cut, heat and hammer the bracket from the auto. It didn't turn out pretty, but it's there so by default it has to be better than a super long-ass cv with no bracing. Note: the upper right bolt has a washer on it, it just had to be slotted a lot to bolt onto the 5 speed's jackshaft.





Next in line was redrilling the tranny side bracket for the lower dogbone. This one was a surprise, but it makes sense as the opposite side dogbone mount on the 92+ cars has to be moved back an inch. Unfortunately in the process of drilling that bracket my drillpress took a crap, so it got finished by hand, and it turned out solid. No good pics here, but at this point the 5 speed and engine were now fully mounted in the bay, cause for a photo in itself:





Somewhere along the lines and not necessarily in chronological order as represented here, the firewall got drilled and modded and a clutch pedal was installed. Shift cables were also put in the car and hooked up proper, including some respringing of the cable "tangs" so everything is noice and toight on the shifter unit. Starting to look proper, that is my last photo of the interior anyways, I figured I'd leave finished shots for Dustin.







First start revealed a shim was needed on the starter. 2nd start revealed the dust cover reused from the auto was getting butt raped by the block side of the flywheel. So following that delay we fired the car up one more time, and damn was it quiet! So we took the quiet car out for a test drive and the rest is history so far. It seemed to engage smoothly and predictably and shift great. Which I'd hope, we probably put 2-3 hours into bleeding the slave just to avoid any possible issue.

So that's that, and I'm getting hardcore about swapping it out now and damn damn pumped up for BerettaFest. With that being said, I'm looking at going into business for myself for the summer, and will be available to do some port work - or travel to do some swap work.

[MY91GT(Z)]

nice job fellas this car has came along ways and the best part is not much money needed to be spent ofr the swap either

[3X00-Modified]

for a second there... just a second... I thought you were actually planning on putting the V6 in the 91... LOL

what a shame you didn't... HAHA but then again 2.2L soon to be turbo 5-speed as noted is a very un-common combination and quite unique.

[woody90gtz]

Down with the autos! Looking good, man. That exhaust & oil filter setup is a little weird...haha

Whose 3rd-gen? Details?

[Cliff8928]

Next in line was redrilling the tranny side bracket for the lower dogbone. This one was a surprise, but it makes sense as the opposite side dogbone mount on the 92+ cars has to be moved back an inch.

That doesn't have to be done on a V6 at least. Did you change the front engine mount bracket to one from a 5-speed? It's a little bit longer than the auto (at least on the V6). Also, the trans side brackets are the ones that came off the GTU, right?

[KFLO 93 GT]

The 3rd gen is my dad's 84 Z28 w/ 305 HO. Nothing too crazy mod wise, mostly bolt ons. All of the computer junk i gone, the shitty factory exhaust manifolds have been replaced with some Summit shorty headers which are about to be replaced by some Dynomax long tubes. It's got a non-computerized QJet on it, but that's getting ditched for a Holley and Edelbrock intake mani when the long tubes go on. I tried to talk him into going for a cam and heads as well, but there are other play toys that need the monetary attention instead.

One thing I'm curious about is how 1st gear will be in this car at WOT. The car still needs a lot of break in miles, but first gear seems pretty punchy for being a taller ratio than an isuzu 5 speed. As for the clutch, I think it'll hold for a while honestly, even under boost. I think Dustin has some pretty conservative ideas for PSI and power output. Down the road I'm sure something a little stronger will be added.

- Cliff, that redrill does need to be done on 92+ cars if the dogbone mount bracket doesn't have two mounting holes - or if a guy doesn't use a shorter dogbone. I believe Woody and Heavywoody both made the drill, as well as Weba in converting his black GT. Dustin's car still uses automatic engine side mounts and brackets though. We had the engine mounted on 3 points with no dogbone - and it became pretty clear a redrill was going to have to happen because our lack of 4cyl 5 speed engine brackets.

[Cliff8928]

Actually, nothing needs to be done on a 92-93 because the engine side bracket has two holes in it. It's the 3x00 swaps that need the hole drilled..

Either way, the 92+ mounting is irrelevant to the 87-91. If you used the torque strut and all the brackets from the 5-speed, it should just bolt on.

[99GaGT3X00]

that's still my favorite base conversion and the car that got me wanting a Z04 kitted car.