T-15, T-18 swap

Does anyone have a pattern for cutting/modifying the floor? I really don't want to over cut it, and is there a different tunnel cover used for the T-18? Know of where to find one?

 

Randy, I'm in the same boat. I was going to swap in a NP 435 in my 1973 CJ5, but I found a T-18 ready to drop in a lot cheaper than adapting and rebuilding the NP 435 to mate against my 304 AMC. If you find a pattern, let me know. Doc avah@psln.com

 

There are different floor covers used for the T-18, and I think there was some cutting on the actual floors. Maybe someone with the 258/T-18 combo will post some pictures for you...

 

The T-18 Jeeps did have a different cover, I was lucky when I did my swap and got the cover with all my parts. The cover is a little taller and wider towoards the drivers feet. The 4WD shifter stays in the same spot. This is all factory parts though, 8" bellhousing, long t-case linkage. If no one else has a picture, I can go out and lift my rubber mat and snap a pic.

 

Humm . . . What's the chance of the T18 floor covering my SM465?

 

No idea, I still have a huge hole in my floorboard where my T-18 sticks up through. One of these days I will get around to fabricating a new cover.

 

What's the chance that the original factory hole will fit both the T-18 and the T-15, and all you have to do is find a T-18 cover? My jeep is a 74 CJ5, 304....

 

I'll make some calls to some guys that have done this swap before and make a post in a day ot two.

 

OK, I snapped a few photos of my factory jeep t-18 floorboard. I got this out of my buddies all original 73 cj5 and installed it into my 73 with a 360AMC. It fits just like a 258 though. I now have a GM V8 and left it in the same location. The shift boot is just something I had around and put on to plug the hole, not orginal. If you look at the pictures, you will see a notch in the left rear of the cover, I think this was to clear the original seat brackets, which I gave away years ago. The cover looks primitive, like an afterthought by Jeep, or like something I would have made out of tin in ninth grade metal shop, not a stamped rounded piece like the 3 speed cover which I ran across this the other day in the garage if anyone needs one. Hope this helps, Greg

 

I went from a T-15 to the T-18 and had modified the floor quite a bit to make it work. I will also mention that I am running a body lift which exacerbated the problem while also using the J truck style tcase shifter. I spent an entire day building a doghouse for the tranny and tcase shifters. I don't have a pattern but can pull the carpet back and take a few pictures since I don't think I can begin to describe the demensions or what I did to make it work.

If you're truly interested in the pics of this home fabbed setup let me know as they are probably worth at least a few thousand words.

 

So the original hole cut for the tranny/t-case in the CJ will not fit both transmissions? That seems wierd. The holes in the frame are pre-drilled for both....

 

Please bear in mind that I have not done my swap yet, so I may be eating my words later, but the guys I talked to who have done this swap tell me that it doesn't take much grinding or cutting to make it work. I also saw that Warrior products at 4wd.com has diamond plate uncut covers that you could custom fabricate to cover the hole.

 

Going by memory here, the T18 shift tower is about 1" forward than the T15. If I recall I simply notched the hole forward and slightly to the left. The major fab work was done for the tcase shifter since I was no longer using the CJ style.