1991 Lumina Z34

[Skeptical]

So found another fun fact while I was prepping the other side of the engine compartment for some paint. Not only is the bracket under the dash for the clutch already there, the hole for the clutch master is already in the firewall with a rubber plug in it. I didn't look to see if the hole for the shifter cables is there but I bet it is. Makes this part of the swap ridiculously easy.




I also ordered the clutch master cylinder which comes with the reservoir, push-rod and line.

[Skeptical]

Poked around on some w-body sites to see if anyone had some pictures of the pedal mount from the manual cars. Found a pretty good one. The one on the left is what comes in the early w-bodies and the one on the right is like what comes in a 2000-ish Grand Prix. The top circle shows the clutch pedal mounting point and the bottom circle is the safety switch. I went out to the garage and stuck my head under the dash and the bracket on the car is the same as what is pictured on the left. Thankfully they didn't make two different assemblies that year. So I just need the clutch pedal itself or just make one. The pedal (not pictured) looks to be straight with a 45 at the bottom to kick it towards the brake pedal. Easy enough to make but I'll try to get the factory part first.

Edit - Actually the clutch pedal is in the picture. It's laying across the newer style mounting assembly on the right.

[Skeptical]

Attached is a list of auto wreckers showing 88-90 Grand Prix's with manual transmissions in their inventory. One of them should have a pedal cluster available...

You know, It didn't even cross my mind to look on car-part.com for manual cars and call them about the pedals. Thanks Tardis! I'll make a few calls and see if any of them have the pedal assembly! I see they also show the elusive manual cutlass too. Neat!

[DanStokes]

Attached is a list of auto wreckers showing 88-90 Grand Prix's with manual transmissions in their inventory. One of them should have a pedal cluster available...

Excellent research!

[tardis454]

You could get the Grand Prix with the manual and 3.4 too (Maybe even the Cutlass W-body but I've never gone looking for one). We had one come through the shop back at Pontiac in the 90's complete with the billion button options and spaceship looking center console computer. I haven't looked up under the dash yet to see what I'm going to do about a clutch pedal. Blindly guessing that I'll be making something from scratch because I doubt I could find the stock pedal assembly. The stock clutch master cylinder is like $30 on rock auto so I can at least use that for a reference.

Attached is a list of auto wreckers showing 88-90 Grand Prix's with manual transmissions in their inventory. One of them should have a pedal cluster available...

[Skeptical]

You could get the Grand Prix with the manual and 3.4 too (Maybe even the Cutlass W-body but I've never gone looking for one). We had one come through the shop back at Pontiac in the 90's complete with the billion button options and spaceship looking center console computer. I haven't looked up under the dash yet to see what I'm going to do about a clutch pedal. Blindly guessing that I'll be making something from scratch because I doubt I could find the stock pedal assembly. The stock clutch master cylinder is like $30 on rock auto so I can at least use that for a reference.

So for the transmission, I'm throwing around the idea of using the F23 instead of the F40. The Fiero and Cobalt guys seem to have good luck throwing a lot of power through them and they are easy to come by locally for cheap. The over drive gear is about the same too. Plus I also have an LSD for the F23 that was going in another car but hey, I can always buy another one!

[andy30thz]

How did I miss this?!? SAweet project, body looks MINT! Maybe it means more to me cause I turned 16 in 1991 and the Z34 was a HOT car around that time.(not to mention I've always been a manual guy and I believe that the Z34 was the only car the DOHC 3.4 was paired with a stick?)
I'm not crazy about the acres of plastic in the interior of this vintage car...but man, I always thought that body style was just zoomy looking in 2dr with the body kit!

I just can't imagine LS V8 noises outta this thing! I had never even considered it....? A manual swap would be bitchin!!(Thanks for mentioning a F40 trans....I didn't know about them) Although...a clutch pedal box for one of these was fairly rare when they were new...30 years ago....?
Although like you mentioned...traction will be LIMITED!(Not to mention spinning the steer tires is a tad sketchy...? LOL) Any luck finding a LSD for this thing?

[Skeptical]

Finally consolidated back down to a single location so I'll be able to start back in on this beast soon! Not much has changed on it other than it's a little dustier and has acquired more junk sitting on it. I've decided to hell with the auto and plan on swapping in a manual too. That should be fun.

[cm123077]

Following closely. Hope to see you back at it soon

[Skeptical]

It's still there! Looking like I'll be back in the spring time to get back to it. I still need to get the transmission pieces knocked out. I think finding all the beefier parts for the 4t65 is the hardest part of this whole thing (Aside from not being there). I am rethinking my cam choice too. I'm leaning towards something in the 218/224 range or even smaller.

[Skeptical]

Any updates? Have you got it running? Turbo installed?

Had some personal stuff come up so it's not too far from the last pictures of it. The subframe is back on the car aside from that. i got a couple more months I think of sorting some things out before I'll make any real progress on it. I need to get some machine work done on one of the transmission parts and order up the clutches/seals/ and other misc stuff for it. i already have the single chain, 3rd apply servo, 4340 input shaft, the right gears for the single chain. what I need to do is find a machine shop that will machine the output gear for this application. The 7/8" chain kits used the 4t40 style gears and had them drilled and the output gear machined to work in the 4t65/e. If I had more room I'd buy a lathe and do it myself.

[Russell]

Any updates? Have you got it running? Turbo installed?

[Skeptical]

Shimmed the springs and put the heads together today. Surprisingly with the stock style spring seats/seals the intakes were still a little tighter than the 1.8" spec. I did shim up the exhaust side with .015 shims so that puts them at about a 1.790" installed height and the intakes were around 1.780-1.785" if I remember correctly.

[Skeptical]

Bummer! I hate it when that happens. Your beautification efforts look great, though.

Dan

Thanks Dan! Hopefully I'll force myself to get out in the garage and wrap up the painting portion this week.

[DanStokes]

Bummer! I hate it when that happens. Your beautification efforts look great, though.

Dan