I'm interested in any tips, hints, wave-offs, horror stories, raves, etc., from anyone who is or has run a T-5, particularly a WC, behind a SBC. TIA Mike
Yup, running my t-5 behind a 350.. seems to be fine.It has put up with some serious punishment. I don't drive my cars easy..I did end up changing the shifter on it..It has the stock tailshaft so my shifter is almost against my seat. The s-10 tailshaft will move it up a bit. I converted from another 5 speed and found out the spline on the input is diff..so I had to change my clutch..Good luck with your conversion. It is well worth it..EVILT
I've got a World Class T5 in my Roadster. Had a 283 with a McCulloch Blower on it. Now it has a 327 with out a Blower. I had the Tranny rebuilt before I put it in the Car. Weak Syncro in 5th gear ( pretty much from the start ), now the Synchro on 4th is getting weak. But I really like the Tranny. Good gear seperation ( even if the step from 4th to 5th is a little big ),and it shifts pretty nice. Easy to hook up to a early SBC, with a old bellhousing...
I've got an NWC behind the sbc in my truck, 50 chev. Only problem I had was the trans mount sits at about a 30 degree angle to the crossmember with an earlier aluminum bellhousing. I built an angle plate to move the mount back down to the crossmember. Shifter come out close to the seat but i made an adapter to use a hHurst handle and move it out at a forward angle. To shorten the throw between gears I modified the shifter from an S-10. Straightened the lever part to bring it more up right. Shortened the throw by about 30%. The one I used is the longer s-shaped lever. Can't remember the year it came out of, was in a salvage yard. I don't take it easy on this tranny and haven't had any problems yet. jerry
Mike, The Rolling Bones shop truck runs a built 283 with NWC T5. It isn't driven easy either. Made the trip to Bonnevile from upstae NY and back without a glitch. He runs a 3:78 rear and cruised 80+.
I have a Camaro WC/S-10 hybrid. One thing that is no one is talking about is the speedo drive. The S-10 and Camaro has the speedo drive in different places on the tail shaft. And the tail shaft has a smaller diameter on each side of the speedo gear. Had to metal spray mine to build material up to have somewhere to put it. /Mikael
I used a '91 S-10 that had the electric drive. I had the tranny shop install an earlier tail shaft and housing with the mechanical output. The chevy output mates right up to my Model A speedo cable. Couldn't be easier.
run a T-5 behind a SBC. Several issues must be addressed. The biggest issue is the T5 index is smaller than the center hole in the SBC bell housing. The clutch disk also must be ground in the center a bit to clear the pressure plate. The transmission input shaft nose must be shortened. The absolutely flawless approach to this is through Advance Adapters. They will sell you every thing you need to install (correctly) the T5 behind a SBC. You can buy just the index ring (a must) from them or the entire assembly. They will send you a free booklet with EVERYTHING you need to know relative to the conversion. I'd start there. Good Luck.
WHAT?!? Glad no one told me because I've been running around with mine all summer as just a bolt in application.
Im running a camaro t5 in my channeled A. the angle mount of the trans helps give more foot room around the gas pedal. You have to run the camaro bell with it for the angle mount. the bell also has a bracket on it for a hydrulic slave.
I have been running mine for 5 years. I have a 70 chevy pu 383 sbc with a t5. Had to shorten the drive shaft and use gmc astro van clutch disk, only mods i made. Pull a ski boat all over CA all summer and fall with no problems, except the speed really creaps up on the freeway.
Here is some additional T-5 information. This is assuming you're using an S-10 transmission. The input shaft of the transmission has a special spline size of 1"-14. You will need to shorten the input shaft 9/16" as per the illustration below, as well as shorten the bearing retainer 1-1/4". This prevents the retainer from bottoming out into the pressure plate. The bellhousing has a bolt pattern identical to the T-5. The indexing diameter of the bellhousing will require a bushing that will reduce the index size from 5.125 to 4.686. Without this bushing the alignment between the transmission and bellhousing will cause transmission failure. Of course, as always, there are other crude but effective approaches. Good luck!
So I suppose this info applies to someone with a NWC T-5 behind a SBC? 'Cause a World Class box is a straight bolt in, nothing crude about it. At least until they started using Ford ones.
They came in various cars with various engines & both WC/NWC were offered at the same time in same models. The T5 has got to have more varieties/flavors/mods than any other tranny - it was used in so many different cars for 15 years or so... WC trannys aren't necessarily stronger - torque rating is still application & gearset dependent. The NWC trannys are rated at no more than 265lb/ft of torque - as are some WC trannys. The primary difference between WC & NWC is WC uses roller bearings under the gears vs bronze bushings in NWC & the blocker rings are are composite vs solid bronze for NWC. NWC uses traditional gear oil (70 wt) & WC uses ATF. The torque ratings are generally gearset dependent - as a rule of thumb, the higher the first gear (lower numerically), the stronger the tranny. This is due largely to the T5's aluminum case construction & the gears are literally pushing themselvels apart - there is quite a bit of case flex in T5 trannys which is bad for strength. Finding a WC tranny - you can look for known original applications ('85-up V8 Mustang (all '86-up), V8 Camaro/Firebird ('88-up), S10 '93 only - there are others), run the tag number & see if you can figure it out (most tag# lists don't tell, a few have partial data), or you can look at the front countershaft bearing retainer - the one on the left is NWC, the one on the right is WC.
He must be putting a Ford T5 in a Chevy. Chevy to Chevy is a bolt in You want an 85-92 V8 Camaro T-5 Or do like I did and step up to the Tremec TKO plate
That's precisely what I plan to do. I have a WC T-5, harvested from a 5.0 Mustang, that is at first going to spend some time behind an 8BA flathead in my truck. This is a simple swap using the Ford two-piece bellhousing/clutch throwout section, an 8BA passenger car clutch disc, a pattern-to-pattern adapter plate, and a slight prune of the front end of the input shaft. At this point I'll forego a change to an S-10 tailshaft housing to move the shifter forward, and instead plasma-cut a Hurst-style dogleg shifter lever. With the change to an SBC, I'd really prefer to use the Ford two-piece bellhousing/clutch throwout arrangement with a flat-plate adapter to the back of the Chevy block. This would eliminate the normal Chevy Rube Goldberg-like arrangement of bellcranks and rods and other elements requiring substantial modifications to the vehicle. FWIW, I don't view an hydraulic setup as being much better for my application, although I have no quarrel with it as a means of controlling a clutch. I can't imagine a mechanical link as being any better that the hydraulic scheme in my BMWs; I just don't want to re-engineer a plot for my old truck that works just great as is. I really appreciate all the positive accounts of T-5/SBC combos, although I'm not surprised. It seems to be a decent real-world transmission, even in the lighter-duty S-10 iterations. The tweaks and twists and things to do and watch for you've provided have also been excellent in this thread. Thanks so much to all of you! I'll document the swap of the T-5 into the F-1, behind the flathead, and share it here, and will do the same later on when the trans stays put while the flathead gives way to the SBC. Again, thanks! Mike
Hi Mike, did you planned the swap already??How would you modifiy the stck F-1 Crossmember???From my measurements the T5 trans mount is a lot furher back than the stock one . Make new trans mount/crossmeber? I don't like to "hack" everything apart.More careful modifying. Thanks Michael
Mike, what year Mustang T5 are you using? If 94-95, you can swap in the input shaft from a 89-93 (check the gear set first, but most should swap in) & reduce the input shaft length by about 3/4" - the 94-95 models used a longer input shaft due to engine/tranny placement & packaging in the SN-95 body-style for the 2yrs the 5.0 was used. Otherwise, I'm not sure why the pruning of the input shaft would be required. Are you referring to only the very tip that rides in the pilot bushing? If so, most of the S10 shafts are shorter than required, so the Ford may be the correct length - cutting to match the S10 T5 might not be the best approach. If it's total length instead of just pilot tip, just have your bolt-pattern spacer thickness machined to correct any depth/placement issues. I guess because I don't have both of those trannys here to measure/compare, I'm not sure what you're measuring and am probably giving advice to a problem that does not exist!
How are you doing, Michael? Haven't talked to you in awhile. Fuller and I were talking about this very thing this morning, and we won't know what we'll have to do until we actually have the truck in the air and start fitting the big pieces. I do know that rather than cut the original transmission crossmember to clear the T-5 case, I'll knock out the rivets and remove the crossmember. At this point I'm counting on having to fabricate a new crossmember. Mike
I have no definite information on what will have to be trimmed, if at all, at this point because we still have to get the truck in the air and begin to present the pieces to it. If the present transmission requires some mods to fit the flathead application that would not be required for the SBC, that's okay because I have a flathead project in mind that includes a T-5. I have a good source for T-5s, so I can probably get an optimum transmission for the final scheme. Once again, thank you, Ernie and everyone else who has responded with great information!
Thanks, Root. That's great info! I've bookmarked and will download a hardcopy for my ever-growing T-5 file. Mike
The T-5 deserves its own tech thread on the HAMB. It's perhaps the most universally acceptable/adaptable/affordable hot-rod transmission to come along since the Ford all-synchro three-speed top-loaders from the '60s.
Hi Mike, yeah long time that we talked last. I bought an old house (with a big workshop) , which i had to "rebuild"... Had to sell the F1 pick up and my 40 Sedan to buy the house. The 27 will be ready for next year. I bought a '46 Pick up for cheap over here and will use a ('93 V6 S-10) T5 transmission.The T5 is Ford pattern and i have the Ford(2 Ton??) six bolt trans adapter.I need an adapter plate, but thats it. This is why i'm looking for an idea on the Crossmember Michael I hope be out in California for next year.Has been to too long....
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