Hot Rods 1932 Ford 5w Refresh Thread - Closed Driveline T5 now!

Next, I needed to build a rear transmission mount. The @Kato Kings kit allows you to use any early Ford rear trans mount. I chose to go with the '37-41 rear mount, as I thought it would work best for my application. Now this car already had a set of Industrial Chassis k-member legs, which worked very well for this conversion. I think that these legs more than offset any torsional stiffness that I lost with the removal of the "bridge" of the k-member, but it also provided a solid structure for building a rear trans mount.

I built a curved boxed structure that attaches to the bottom flange of the k-member legs, and also attaches to the vertical walls. I felt this helped create a torque box (paired with the k-member), further offsetting anything I lost with the removal of the "bridge".

 

Since the trans was now firmly located, I was able to mark the k-member for a final trim to allow sufficient clearance for any engine and trans movement. Once that was complete, I welded a return flange to the k-member off the rear that wraps from the top flange, all the way down, around the trans. This was another measure to ensure sufficient torsional stiffness.

 

Even though the "heavy" fabrication was done, I still had a bunch of small, but important, things to build.

There is no longer a short throw shifter available for a Jeep T5 shifter. I'm a big fan of Pro5.0 shifters, so I picked one up for a Mustang, and machined the base plate off of it. I then drew a new flange in CAD, and had it laser cut from aluminum. I welded the two pieces together, finishing off that task.



Next up was tackling the torque tube and driveshaft. In the middle of this T5 project, I decided that I wanted to build a fixture for shortening torque tubes. I've always been hesitant of the angle iron method (I know it has worked for a lot of people) because I was very concerned about ensuring both ends very not only parallel, but also concentric. If you look at a cross section of an original torque tube, you can see that the tube is not perfectly concentric.

I picked up a machined steel mandrel, and built a fixture that registered in the front bearing bore of the torque tube. The other end utilizes a sliding collar, with a flange for the banjo end to bolt to. I've found this fixture to work very well.

 

I then moved onto the driveshaft. This car had a '33-34 shaft in it from before. I decided to shelf it for a future project since it was already the correct length for a '40 rear end in a '32 frame. I had some extra front couplers from '35-36 driveshafts that I had built exhaust systems from. I machined a pilot in the back end to allow a press fit into a new chromoly DOM tube. I then picked up a 6-10 spline coupler from @Mac VP to use on the rear. This coupler works out well for a guy building a tube driveshaft with 6 splines as the coupler has enough diameter on it to be turned down to fit in shaft. Just like with the front coupler, I turned a pilot on the 10 spline side to allow a press fit into the tube.

I used the tailstock on my lathe to press the couplers in each end of the tube. After that, I checked it for runout before welding everything together.

 

Since the T5 is a bit taller than the early Ford trans, I did have to slightly trim the toeboard and floor for clearance. I made a trans tunnel from some 18g steel to cover this transition. It looks taller in the photo, but the peak of the tunnel is about 1.5" from the floor.

 

As I had mentioned, both the S10 and Jeep transmission were only on the non World Class design. The Jeep trans in general has a pretty poor gear ratio selection, so I knew that I needed to change it. I wanted to utilize the 2.95 gear set used in many Mustangs and Camaros, which is a close ratio gear set that's very fun on the street. I also knew that I wanted a World Class box for the improved syncros and higher torque capability. That set me off in a big research project to understand how I could get there. It's a big story in itself, but the important take-away is that you can't swap mainshafts between NWC and WC. I obviously needed the very short Jeep mainshaft to use the Jeep rear housing. To make a long story short, I was able to locate a factory Tremec shaft that had the Jeep length, but the WC interface.

Once I had that in my hands, I sent my mockup parts and mainshaft down to Astro Performance in Florida to assemble the trans. They've done a few open T5s for me, and I've been very pleased with the work. They put together a 2.95 gear set using all Tremec made parts, and a good used 2.95 input since Tremec no longer manufactures one. It's paired with a 0.63 OD. Once that came back, I ran a dial indicator on by bellhousing combination to confirm it was in tolerance before bolting up a new RAM diaphragm clutch. Once the trans was in the car, I assembled the rear mount and got the engine/trans secured in place.

 

I've had the car back on the road for a couple of weeks now, putting more shakedown miles on it since the T5 conversion. I've logged about 250 miles so far, and the car has been working out very well.

I should also mention that while I had things apart, I sent the rear end to Hot Rod Works for a refresh. We ended up replacing just about everything due to some past work that wasn't up to par - this rear end had been converted to slide-in axles at some point in its life using early F1 parts.

 

Amazing work Cory!

 

Professor Taulbert. Thanks for another lesson in hot rodding 101. Great write up! Thanks for taking the time to go into the details.
Mike

 

Great thread and don't know how I missed it earlier.

 

Thanks.

 

Great tech on the Torque tube T5
Not an easy thing to do properly, but pretty
damn cool in the end.

 

Bitchin'. I was just talking to someone the other day about a closed driveline T5, and we were wondering what gears were available and if you could use a WC case/guts. Care to share the Tremec main shaft P/N or application? Thanks for documenting your build(s); they are some of my favorites to drool over.

 

Great work Cory! You went above and beyond on your conversion!

 

As usual your work is outstanding.

 

Very cool work my friend...was good to see ya in Texas by the way.

 

1352-671-103 is the Tremec part number, but finding one is the problem. The best I've been told was it was used for a European T5 application.

 

how much did you chop it i love it and getting ready to do mine

 

Reading the thread might help

 

WOW!!!!! it just keeps getting better and better. I have some of those drive shafts ends laying around from my exhaust as well.

 

That Tremec mainshaft is available but the price is a breathtaking $ 524.91 from these guys: http://www.makcotransmissionparts.com/346672BB.html

The amount of information and the quality of work Corey has put forth in this thread for us is simply amazing! I just reread the entire thread last night and its like going to school, but I'm not sure I can pass the test!

All of this from a humble "hobbyist" makes me say "We're not Worthy!!!!"

 

It's chopped 3 1/4" at the a-pillars, and about 2 7/8" at the back wall.

I'm glad I kept the old ends around!

 

Thanks - and I'm just a hobbyist too!

Did you happen to confirm if Makco has that shaft? I ran into an issue where I called several vendors who list the WC shaft, but no longer can get it.......

 

No, I just saw that they had it listed on their website so the only way to know for sure would be to give them a call.

Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Guess this thread is as good of a place than anywhere to drop in the update that we drove this car to the Hot Rod Hill Climb last month. The car ran well there and back, and we even made a couple of runs up the hill too! The total trip came in at 3,061 miles.