Hi all. I've been hurting my brain real bad reading posts and info all over the 'net at how feasible/possible/cost/pita it would be to convert an early 1980's side shift 091 into a nose-cone shift to be used in a late 1970's (1977 to be exact) bus. I'm mechanically somewhat knowledgeable and while I can do stuff like tuneups, brake jobs, electrical, straight-forward welding, etc, I've not had experience doing actual work inside transmissions or engines (other than a lawnmower engine in grade 9 a zillion years ago). Some posts I read say it's a nightmare and difficult parts to get, others seem to blow it off like very straight-forward.
The reason I'm asking is I have a 1977 standard bus with original tranny that has lost its ability to downshift into 3rd from 4th (sounds as bad as when you accidentally try to shift into reverse when driving forward in any standard tranny car) and grinds 4/5 times going up into 3rd from 2nd unless you really wait a good long number of seconds for the engine to slow down and even then it sometimes grinds. Changed the transmission fluid out even though I already knew in my heart this particular problem would not be going magically away. I have the opportunity to buy a good 1981 091 transmission but it's got the side shift.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks in advance.
-George
