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Remember when I said I was getting a big stick!?

88gmctruck

88gmctruck

02GMCtruck
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Location
Auburn, Wa
Well, here it is! Went out today with Devin (83GMCK2500) and Brandon (07HDclassic) and grabbed a new trans for the 88.

The donor truck was a 94 Chevy 3/4ton 4x4 with a 7.4L/NV4500/241/14 combo with 128k. The front diff on the truck genaded itself and the owner just gave up on it (really would have been a simple fix IMO, but whatever). The truck itself was a farm truck, probably had never been washed and had not one straight panel on it. :nonod:

Oh and the best part..... $400. For everything. I mean everything. Trans, bellhousing, flywheel, pressureplate, clutch, all hydraulics & lines, pedals, wiring, transfercase, i mean the works. I even grabbed the little black blockout plate for the guages cluster to be put in place of the PRND321 indiactor.

The parts train
P1080710.jpg


NV4500 in all 200lbs of cast iron glory
P1080725.jpg

P1080717.jpg

P1080712.jpg

P1080709.jpg


32-spline NP241C
P1080716.jpg


And all the other stuff that makes the conversion work
P1080711.jpg

P1080713.jpg


Oh and the blockout plate from the cluter to replace my P-RND321 indicator :D
P1080715.jpg


So it took us about 2 1/2 - 3 hours to pull everything. I couldn't have done it without Devin and Brandon helping, it just made everything so much easier.

Now to get the darn thing in....

NV4500 conversion: $400
Lunch and beer for helping friends: $100
Having a big stick to shake: Priceless :drive:
 
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Probably be waiting till the week of thanksgiving, so I have the time to screw around with it.

Yeah, $400 is dirt for this thing, considering i got all the parts for the conversion and the t-case as well.
 
I have been toying with doing this on my '83 K20. The 700r4 is starting to crap out, and I would really like a manual in it.

I look forward to the updates to your project.
 
Yeah, the swap is looking like it's going to be pretty straightforward, since the truck was the same bodystyle as mine. The hardest part is going to be cutting the floor and mounting the pedals.

Oh yeah, FYI the NV4500 is the same length as a 700R4. No driveshaft modification required.
 
Whew...When I saw the thread title I thought Tank was gonna preach to us about his liberal use of Enzyte...or he's been getting a big stick from one of his online dates...):h
 
Update: I still have grease/dirt/oil under my fingernails, my coveralls & sweatshirt still smell like gear oil, and I'm still sore. :D
 
Wow. talk about a steal at that price.

I wish i could've found one around here for that price. I would've used a NV4500 in a heartbeat.

Can't wait to see the progress on this. :D

88gmctruck said:
Oh yeah, FYI the NV4500 is the same length as a 700R4. No driveshaft modification required.
Click to expand...

Nice. Makes me jealous. :p my Sm465/np208 was the same length at the 700R4/np208 that came out. Should go in fairly easy. Mounting the pedals wasn't that bad when i did it in mine. It wasn't a 10 minute job mind you, but it wasn't the end all of jobs either.
 
83GMCK2500 said:
Update: I still have grease/dirt/oil under my fingernails, my coveralls & sweatshirt still smell like gear oil, and I'm still sore. :D
Click to expand...

You survived. You know I appriciated the help, and know that it is going to be much more fun and stonger as a result. You know our little outing today would have been much more interesting if the truck had the trans in it already.

iamdave0887 said:
Wow. talk about a steal at that price.

I wish i could've found one around here for that price. I would've used a NV4500 in a heartbeat.

Can't wait to see the progress on this. :D

Nice. Makes me jealous. :p my Sm465/np208 was the same length at the 700R4/np208 that came out. Should go in fairly easy. Mounting the pedals wasn't that bad when i did it in mine. It wasn't a 10 minute job mind you, but it wasn't the end all of jobs either.
Click to expand...

Yeah, give me a few weeks to collect parts and find time and I'll definately keep everyone up to date, probably do a build thread since it seems there aren't any out there.

Yeah, GM got real wise in the late 80s/90s and started making most combinations of transmissions the same length. (i know off the top of my head that the 4wd versions of the TH350/700R4/NV3500/NV4500 are all about the same length). I measured the 700R4 in my pickup and it's within an 1/8th of an inch of the NV4500.

Oh, my pedals are super easy. :D I just swap brake pedals and bolt in the braket for the clutch pedal to the firewall and dash support, only have to drill two holes for it and one where the master cylinder goes through.
 
88gmctruck said:
You survived. You know I appriciated the help, and know that it is going to be much more fun and stonger as a result. You know our little outing today would have been much more interesting if the truck had the trans in it already.



Yeah, give me a few weeks to collect parts and find time and I'll definately keep everyone up to date, probably do a build thread since it seems there aren't any out there.

Yeah, GM got real wise in the late 80s/90s and started making most combinations of transmissions the same length. (i know off the top of my head that the 4wd versions of the TH350/700R4/NV3500/NV4500 are all about the same length). I measured the 700R4 in my pickup and it's within an 1/8th of an inch of the NV4500.

Oh, my pedals are super easy. :D I just swap brake pedals and bolt in the braket for the clutch pedal to the firewall and dash support, only have to drill two holes for it and one where the master cylinder goes through.
Click to expand...


Those pedal do sound super easy. I had to drop and remove the steering column to get at the column support brace. From there i had to remove the entire brace and replace it with one from a factory manual truck as it had the clutch pedal mount welded to it.
 
Well, I still have to drop my column to get the brake pedal switched out (and it gives me more room) but that is about it.
 
Well, I ordered a few parts to get things going.

4 quarts of Amsoil sythetic MTL GL-4 gear lube.
12" Hays 90-103 Super Truck clutch
Jegs 168-tooth flywheel

Once the parts get here, we should be about ready to go. I'll update the progress here.

Mods, if you want you can move this to the appropriate forum and change them name to "88GMCtruck's NV4500 Swap"
 
One thing I found when out when I did mine. There is a small bracket that goes between the firewall and mounting bracket for the clutch pedal. It is spot welded from the factory. If you can go back to the donor truck and get it is fairly easy to drill out the spot welds. If not a 5-6" piece of 1x1" box tubing works too. Box tubing is what I did. Just watch if you weld it in that you dont' burn thru the firewall. You are welding on the "Waterbox" under the windshield. Good luck it is not a bad job just takes time.
 
I'll check into that, I didn't notice anything back there but if there is, the 1" tube is going to be the way I go. I'm not driving an hour to go get the bracket from the parts truck.

Edit: Waterbox under the windsheild? Mine is on the fender, and the clutch master cylinder is right below the brake master cyliner.
 
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