Story and photos by Bill Neumann

I built my coupe old style as you can see, and I thought the Muncie would fit that bill. But I was wrong. The new Chevy ZZ4 engine and Kugel independent rear end are new modern components — the Muncie just didn’t fit in. Add to that, at 65mph the engine was running 3,500rpm — couldn’t stand the noise. I guess I could have changed the rear end ratio from 3.50 to maybe a 3.27 or lower, but that was expensive too.

My coupe is finished to perfection, both underneath and on top (as you can see). I did a lot of work. I smoothed the Muncie case, painted it to match the body, chromed the levers and shift rods and added a Tilton Engineering hydraulic clutch assembly, so there was nothing wrong with the original build.

After a lot of emails and phone calls, I figured that the Kiesler could fit without too much alteration to the floor. Other easy modifications: make new cross member trans mount (which is a bolt-in), shorten drive shaft, and install a new clutch disc because the input shaft spline is different.

Mark Bohlen owner of Bent Custom & Performance in Chatsworth, CA did a great job of plumbing my brake lines and a few other small jobs during my build, so I decided he was the one to cut out the floor and make a new tunnel cover. He’s very particular and careful in his workmanship, and that’s what I needed because of the level of finish on my coupe.

I had the new Kiesler painted to match, and I switched out the case bolts to ARP stainless steel and polished the heads. Totally Stainless also made new button hex plugs to eliminate the backup light switch and neutral safety start switch units for a clean look.

I gave Mark an assist in bolting in the new painted trans cover using 6-32 SS button head screws — me in the car wrenching the SS Nyloc nuts and Mark pushing the polished button heads up from the bottom and holding them tight.

Mark made the new trans rear mount and I had the drive shaft shortened and re-polished at the Polishing Shop in Oxnard, CA. On the inside, only the carpet needed to be replaced, and Mike Harper, who did the original upholstery handled that. Now it’s all back together and everything looks great!

Results: the shifting is really smooth — I couldn’t believe it could be so smooth and effortless changing gears — what a difference here! And the coupe is now a quiet cruiser in fifth gear. Mission accomplished.