Auto to 5spd: Pedals In! 1 Question Though
 

YESSSS!!! THE PEDALS ARE IN! IT TOOK ME ALL FREAKING DAY BUT THEY ARE IN! Changing my 85 GS 4 Speed automatic to a 5 spd manual by way of the 83 donor car that I stripped last winter. I decided to finally face the music and put the pedals in today for some strange reason. I have been doing mainly body work for the last couple days and decided to switch it up a little. My car is already gutted because I'm getting ready to paint it, so I didnt have to do much to get to the pedals. Spent about 2 hours trying to get the auto pedal assembly out. Took off a bunch of stuff, some of it wont go back together now. Ya know.. the usual. :D Got the 83 pedals and compared them to the 85 auto pedals. A word to the wise if anyone attempts this in the future. THE BRACKET ASSEMBLY ON AN 83 IS DIFFERENT THAN AN 84-85!!! THEY LOOK VERY SIMILAR BUT THEY ARE NOT EXACTLY THE SAME! I learned the hard way. Spent another hour and a half maneuvering the 83 pedals and finally got them in. The wouldn't line up right and I started getting suspicious. Spent another 30 minutes taking them back out. Measured all the dimensions and turns out one of the bolt holes is about 1/4" different, thus throwing off the whole assembly.

So... I took apart the 83 pedals and mounted them on the 85 bracket that was originally in my car. (Like I should have in the first place). Spent another hour putting them in and finally got it mounted. Everything is good and they feel great is the car. The clutch pedal is nice and stiff. Feels really good. :D

I have one small question about something that I encountered during today's escapade. There is a small round black canister with a brass colored cap on it that was mounted to the pedal assembly in my 85 GS with a 10mm nut. I can't get the nut back on because I screwed up the threads on the stud when I was battling with the pedal assembly. My question is: Can I just zip tie this thing out of the way or does the pedal bracket act as a chassis ground for this thing? I have no idea what it does or how it works. I just want to make sure that I'm not taking away its ground by zip tieing it up underneath the dash. WHAT DOES THIS THING DO, AND DOES IT NEED TO BE GROUNDED? Picture attached below...

PLEASE let me know if you have any clue what this thing is for. After I decide what to do with it I can put my dash back together tomorrow and be done! Thanks guys!

Jamie

I can't help you on your question, but take plenty of notes for me, I'll be doing the same thing to my son's 84, as soon as he learns how to drive it with an automatic first!!!!!

Blueraven

hey dad!. next time we go driving in it, how bout u tell me the things i am doing wrong so we can start planning something like this. (after i get the funds)

damn. that looks like alot of work. i feel for you. and good luck with the rest

gregs did this not too long ago, i bet he could answer this question...but i haven't seen him on the forum in a long time :(

anyone know what happened to him?

Rx7Carl has informed me that this is the fuel pump relay and it doesn't need to be grounded. So I got out some zip ties, and EVEVERYTHING is finished now as far as the pedals are concerned.

As far as Gregs, I saw a thread a while back where he said he got kicked out of his parents house or something along those lines. From what he said he's been having a rough way to go lately and doesn't even have internet access.... that's all I know though....