76 Matador swap questions PLZ HELP

Hello, new to the forum. I picked up a ‘76 Matador a couple years back. It was in rather good condition. Tuned it up and stuck a little money into getting it where I wanted it to be at the time. The transmission gave out for whatever reason, but the 5.9 still fires up and sounds healthy. I am back to a point where I can afford to fix it up, and reall want to do whatever’s nessicary to keep the original motor, but have a 5 speed manual. Im very novice in this stuff, and haven’t a clue what I need to look for or where to start in ordering parts. If anyone can help me out, give me some direction with specifics, it would be a tremendous help.

Acupholstery2018 wrote: Hello, new to the forum. I picked up a ‘76 Matador a couple years back. It was in rather good condition. Tuned it up and stuck a little money into getting it where I wanted it to be at the time. The transmission gave out for whatever reason, but the 5.9 still fires up and sounds healthy. I am back to a point where I can afford to fix it up, and reall want to do whatever’s nessicary to keep the original motor, but have a 5 speed manual. Im very novice in this stuff, and haven’t a clue what I need to look for or where to start in ordering parts. If anyone can help me out, give me some direction with specifics, it would be a tremendous help.

You don't go to a catalog and start ordering parts like you can Camaro where you can build the whole bloody car and get every last screw from a book or web site.
There will be certain things you will need for sure, otherwise, most such things are take it as it comes and figure it on the go.
Obviously the CORRECT flywheel for THAT engine size, the clutch parts, linkage may be an issue for a Matador, as maybe the pedals, etc. but AMC conversions are out of books, and you won't be ordering the parts, you'll be looking for them like placing want ads once you find which parts you are lacking for a specific car. 

Or if someone wants to be really old school "different" there's always the ol' Clutch-O-Matic option...