1985 VK with VJ stamped 304 V8 out of a VL carby.
I used a VNSS T5 transmission C/w flywheel, clutch & driveshaft (out of a wreak) Went out and purchased a Dellows T5 bellhousing (trimatic bolt pattern) & their rear gearbox member (at the same time I swapped out the plastic factory release bearing carrier for a “Dellows“ steel type). The location of the gear lever is about 50mm back from where you need it, so a simple block spacer lands it back in the right position. The drive shaft was a mixture of the front half of the VN & rear of the VK (I got the centre bearing & UJs replaced & balanced all at the same time, can’t remember if the rear section remained std, shortened or lengthened). As for clutch actuation; as mines a VK I used the correct VK V8 pedal box & a heavy duty clutch cable (Dellows part, if you run extractors, the exhaust and the clutch cable run very close to each other & the std clutch cables have plastic adjusters which melt trust me!).
As I was never 100% happy with the clutch feel with the cable set up (worked fine & quessing exactly how GM engineered it). During COVID when I was bored, I fitted manual VL pedal set (direct bolt in), VL master cylinder & bespoke/hybrid salve cylinder to achieve the right throw. (The slave cylinder bracket is from the US, for a 80’s Mustang T5 hydraulic conversion kit which needed modifying as its originally located on the LHS of the box). Just drilled a hole in the std clutch fork for the push rod.
If I had my time agin I would use “CONICU” bracket with 3/4 [19mm] bore m/c as it has plenty of options for slave cylinders bore sizes. The factory VL m/c is only 5/8 [16mm] & the pay off is a “heavier” feel. At the time I did my conversion I wanted to keep a factory look! [that’s a VS booster in the pic & fits snugly behind it]
