Great looking car! Not on LI, but am in Upstate, NY near Ithaca. Great color choice. What 5 speed swap are you looking at?
silversport transmission makes the TKX 5 speed bolt in swap. retains factory clutch linkage and very close to factory shifter position, and includes a hurst shifter kit for the shifter.
Mine was originally Martinique blue, but I am in the middle of painting mine a later GM silver. Itnthe same silver I painted the AMC bracket car.
There are a couple good options out there for a 5 speed, but with what Tremec has done with the new TKX I believe it is the only way to go. What rear gear are you running? The TKX is available with both a .82 and .65 or so ratio so if you already have “highway gears” you can get by without swapping the rear. The 1st gear ratio is deep enough to make up the difference. I’m running a TKO600 with the .82 fifth gear ratio and 3.08s
Good to hear from you and good luck with your project
I live in Bergen County in NJ.
JT
The TKX is mist likely what I'll be going after since thats all that SST offers now.
currently have factory 3.42s was up in the air between going to 3.08 and keeping the 4 speed or going 5 speed and staying 3.42s, but im on my 3rd T-10 now and think it's time for a stronger transmission.
Are those American Racing AR23s? Not in NY at all but I sure your sentiment regarding being a little different. Not that I dislike SE’s, but you see them a lot. My 77 was silver originally but in bad need of paint when I bought it. I just don’t care for silver on the 77/78s. I would've kept any other factory color but but decided on black. I went with the charcoal/red decals that would’ve been on the car when silver to be a little different plus I thought it would look good on the black car.
I’m jealous of your upcoming 5 speed swap and looking forward to seeing the progress
yes on the AR23s. they came on the car when I bought it from the PO, who had bought it from someone else that seems to have built it in the mid 90's. had these wheels, huge speaker box in the back package tray, kicker decal across the back window and street glow neon tubes running around the bottom of the car. can't knock them for it though because that was the 90's street style. I can however knock them for some of the hacked up wiring they left behind for me though