Yeah got into diagnosing cooling issues, assuming that was the problem. The shifting does sound strange.
My old ford falcon used on cold mornings used to travel at a snails pace, like a belt or clutch was slipping in the box, you would have to increase the revs and then it would slam into gear, clunk in the diff, and do a skid then take off.
Would often happen when the box was trying to downshift, like it would appear to get caught in 'nuetral'.
Guess it was lucky that I got rear ended and car was written off in that regard.
Yes manual conversion just because plz