First off, you gotta watch drilling on flywheels to balance them per that Mopar Performance manual...I've sold more flywheels to "At home balance drillers" for this very reason. Had a guy on another forum Granted, he probably didn't do it correctly as some have had some success in doing this, but he finally had to just buy my 11" flywheel for a "truck" 360 Mopar. Yes, the cast crank 440, 400, and 360 engines unlike their "Brand X" counterparts, don't lend themsleves to having a manual trans installed behind them very easily..For every time I caution against this procedure, there's always someone that tells a story of their own success in doing it and "It wasn't that bad"...Well, I've found that if you try and tell someone to do something that only AFTER they have attempted it themselves numerous times, you kinda just offer the easiest solution to the problem rather than try and tell them the procedure anymore. Some people can get what is concieved as a "Very simple procedure" by one member here, and f*ck it up so bad that they tend to end up just going the easier route and buying the correct factory parts to make the procedure work without having to "Think", or "Do" anything that's concidered by some to be "Shade tree" or "Taboo"...Yes, I could drill a crank in the car for a 4 speed, but would I try and tell someone here to try it? NO...EXAMPLE: Reason being, I tried in vain to explain that all these "So called" Disc brake "Kits" you see advertised on E Pay for the 1957-58 Plymouth cars are nothing but Volare/Aspen set ups from the junkyard that have been cleaned up, new parts sourced from the local auto parts store (Calipers, hoses, etc), and being sold in "Kit" form for the "Plug and Play" croud, at huge money. However, the ads NEVER mention the geometry difference in using these set ups as I found out early on on my own car. I tried and tried to tell folks that all the "Kit" you are paying $250.00 for to adapt the A body 11" rotors and GM calipers to your '57-'58 Plymouth was small "Adapter ring" machined on a lathe and a couple caliper brackets that anybody could make in their home garage. Now, the problem lies here. I got the "Well, not everybody has access to a lathe and such"...I did it on a damn brake lathe...You mean to tell me NONE of the guys had access to their local mechanics brake lathe sitting over in the corner of their shop NOT being used as most shops don't bother with turning rotors anymore cause it isn't worth it when NEW rotors are so cheap??
Bottom line? Yes, You COULD try and make the cast crank work with a straight gear, but just because another member has the "Shade tree" ability to make something work, doesn't mean ALL have it....
