I have been reading post by flat about T5 transmissions swaps. I have a couple of questions I need help with. The articles may be there already but I did not find them. I have a T5 out of a 83 S10. It has the 3.50 first gear ratio. I am looking to adapt it to a 59 ab or 8ba flathead. Depends on which block checks good. This is a non world class trans. I know what the articles and magazines say but I am looking for real world experience. Will this trans hold up ok under a strong flathead. No blower, just good heads, cam, and so on. Also what would be the best way to adapt it to the 59 ab engine. How about the 8ba. The car will be a ford coupe with 8 inch rear with 3.00 gears at this time. Thanks.
It will work fine, I use a ford truck hogs head, a Dwight bond adapter, and a camaro clutch disk. The rest is just nuts and bolts.
I used the Offenhauser adapter from Speedway, slightly warmed flattie and a 3.55 8" rear. Woke the flattie up compared to the 3.0 that I had. Also the sedan weighs in at about 3100 lbs. Got 19 mpg bac and forth to the Jalopy Showdown with a 4 bbl. RB
Dont worry about the 5t it will take it. I run one in my coupe. I have 3.55 gear in a 8in made it from Denver co to Viva Las Vegas no problem 17.6mpg over the mountans. Cornhuskers has a great kit well made call him nice guy..
I'm thinking about doing the same set up. I have pretty much the same questions. Glad to see I'm not the only one
if your using an 8ba- i used a truck steel bellhousing. speedeway adaptor that has chevy side fork. chevy stamped steel fork. chevy oversized face throw out bearing. flathead flywheel, stock s10 clutch disc. forget diameter. and original three finger flathead pressure plate. all went right together. except you have to do some clearancing. for the steel fork to work in the adaptor. the adaptor is a copy of an old offy one and was originally designed to be used with a thinner cast iron fork. you also have to slightly drill out the four ear holes on the tranny. using allenhead bolts to bolt the trans to the adaptor makes things easier too. dunno exacly about doin it with a 59ab.
heard a flattie with a t5 and 4.11 gears goes real nice. put a t5 in a stock 50 sedan. the stock rear has 3.72 ish gears. stock type tires. first gear gets ya rollin real quick. hit seconf at 15-20 mph. but i was doin 80 in it in o.d. and it sounded like the motor was barely tryin. car has no tach. def a great driver friendly upgrade.
Check out this thread on Fordbarn early V8 forum. http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95535 An easy way to adapt a T5 to an 8ba. The T5 will stand up fine on the street as long as you don't power shift it. It is only rated at 310 ft lb. It is not a racing transmission.
They have that style or the one that uses a Chevy style clutch fork. That's what I'd use, so you can upgrade to a diaphragm pressure plate, and add a hydro throwout bearing.
BurnoutNova: Grumpy? I may be old but I still have a hell lot of satisfied customers over the last 15 years. Also helped a lot of people solve their problems after they have bought from brand S!
Did you ever end up putting the T5 behind the flatty? I'm in the same boat as I just blew up my 4th BW 3 speed with overdrive. Not doing it again, going T5.
I'm using the hogshead with mine, and a 4:11 rear end gear (halibrand quickchange). I am using a Ford bolt pattern T5, so I built my own adapter plate. The ford pattern is being manufactured now, so it can be purchased. As far as I know, you have two basic approaches, use a hogshead with a flat adapter plate or an adapter bellhousing on the 59a. On the later blocks there are other options like using the steel ford bellhousing and redrilling some holes. A lot of folks seem to like the wide gears of the S10 T5s, I prefer the closer ratios like in a FOX mustang box.
If anyone doesn't know what a "hoghead" is it is a slang term for the adapter Ford used to mate the truck transmission to the 59a blocks.
The Jalopy Journal
