Have a 55 Studebaker with a renovated 259 V8 that i will tune a little with cam and bigger valves etc. Wonder if there is any adapterkit to adapt a 5 Speed behind it or if any tranny will fit on it. Has a 3 Speed now and want to get it to lower the rpm. Would be thankful for some awnsers and tips
Yeah. Just find a Stude bellhousing from a T10 car. It should bolt right up. I actually made a pattern to put a Saginaw 4-spd behind a Stude but sold the engine in the process.
Bendtsen's has an adapter to use a Chevy transmission with the Studebaker. It is not cheap at $895, though. http://www.transmissionadapters.com/studebaker_to_chev install.htm
Norrland, the Studebaker 4 speeds have the same bolt pattern as Ford not sure about input shaft length but I do know the Studebaker input shaft is a bit longer than a Chevy t-10 input shaft and also a bit larger in diameter where it goes into the pilot bushing. Hope that helps.
Yes, good suggestions. No, not all accurate. Maybe, go over to the Studebaker Driver's Club forum where it's been covered a dozen times. A couple of SDC vendors offer kits to adapt some 5-speeds to the Stude V8. Studebaker used their own version of the T10; a 2.20 close ratio B-W with the Chevy pattern in '61-early '62, then, they changed to the Ford pattern in late '62 - 64. Trannys and bell housings for each are still out there. The various T10s can be adapted from one make to another, but even though the bolt patterns may bolt up, input shafts are different. jack vines
Back in high school days, we put quite a few chevy 4 speeds behind stock and modified stude v8s using very little money, and the standard bellhousing. It wasnt hard for us high school kids when parts were plentiful. I bought a bit of bronze oilite stock to have local machine shops make custom pilot bushings any time we needed a couple. HD Chevy clutches, greatly beefed up clutch linkages (we bent quite a few stock linkages with the heavy clutches, but as youngsters we found it gratifying to be able to bark the bias ply tires in almost any gear) , Zoom Clutch, and off we went. any of the newer 5 speeds that used the traditional chevy trans configuration would be the same installation. I dono about any newer configuration trannys, just the "traditional" ones. I don't remember what throwout bearings we used. Some configs used stude t.o., some used chevy. Sometimes we needed no sleeve to adapt, once in a while we used a short piece of exh pipe or a cut down oil filler pipe to line the sliding area on the input snout to match a diameter. whatever had the right size, we reconfig'ed to fit what we wanted. Then later, in 1974, in an Orlando driveway we worked out the details and the first installation to put a "late model" Lakewood Oldsmobile scattershield on a Stude v8 and then we could use all sorts of 4 speeds in our hotrods. That was also back when we bought several NEW Weber alumimum flywheels for $45 each. Dont worry, most of the 4 speed swaps used stock flywheels. You won't need a special one. At the time, we thought we really accomplished something. Looking back it's all simple stuff I traveled all over the U.S. with homemade cars without a thought of not making it. Decades later, I am still using a v8 Lark engine we pulled out of a 140,000 mile car in that Orlando driveway in 1974. After a decade and a half with a t-10, I made an adapter to use the "new, fantastic" 700r4 behind a Stude, and still use it today. I sold thousands of those adapters in the 80's (th350) and 90's, and I hear that a few ppl make their own versions today. I think I have seen several years back, several writings from people who have put in 5 speeds and other trannys in their studes, and have detailed their installations. Ill bet that a little googling around will turn up some very helpful details on them. why be ordinary?
Contact Phil Harris. He *had* a proper certified bellhousing set up for a 5speed. The guy who did them(initially for his own project car, then made some extras to help defray the initial cost. You know how that story goes... ) passed on, & the last I talked to Phil, he could get maybe one or two yet. Maybe. Believe guys' daughter still has the patterns/rights. Phil would know. IIRC, they *were* in the $500 range. You still needed the flywheel, pp, clutch, n mechanisms,& maybe a starter,(etc.) Don't remember which exact 5sp(Richmonds-I think?), but no others will fit that bellhousing - which was the issue to selling more of them. Dealing w/an input shaft that is too long is easy, too short is a bit more hassle. &, BTW, make sure you dial-in the bellhousing to the block, before you pin it. It is important. As Jack said, go to the SDC forum, or better, the Racing Studebakers forum. Loads of info on just about anything you can imagine for Studes. Worth your time. &, Dave: I'm still waiting for the custom(that you agreed to do - ahead of time, prior to payment) trans adapter plate I paid for, many years ago. It might not be worth hashing out here - but I can. Too much trust on my part, not enough honesty on yours. So far: I'm short the paid-for stude trans adapter. "Patiently waiting"... Marcus...
Here are a couple of different recipes for a 5-speed Stude... This one with a GM T-5. Rather straight forward install. http://www.studebaker-info.org/text3/text2009/studext5.txt This second one is for a Ford T-5 or Tremec. A bit more involved, though it might be easier for you than locating an early four-speed bell housing and a GM T-5. Lots of pictures on this thread. http://forum.studebakerdriversclub....-Studebaker-Avanti-TKO-5-speed-install-how-to
I also wanted to say... Studebakers were available with a Borg Warner three speed with O/D. This might be an affordable alternative to a five speed., provided you don't have your heart set on a late model trans. I have an extra one that I would sell to you cheap, but shipping that boat anchor to Sweden would probably cost as much as the car you are putting it in. They were common enough that you could probably source one in Europe without too much trouble.
Here is a kit I bought last year from Fairborn Studebaker. Invoice with name, phone number and address is pictured above. I bought this to use a 5 spd Mustang V8 (T-5) trans in my '60 Lark which has a 259, column shift three spd/OD. As you can see in the photos, the kit includes adapter plate, pilot brg, TO brg, a seal, bolts and a new front bearing retainer. Just add a little labor. Ray
My 1956 Stude 1/2 truck runs a factory 5 speed overdrive.....one of two ordered that way with a V/8 and damn if they weren't the same color compo.....it's really heavy....so I don't think you will want to run it.....have two extra's though.
I used to really like the Stude w overdrives (T86) when I first started driving, but when I started breaking so many, I switched to a stronger Packard T 85 O.D. hard to find even in 1972, which lasted longer but still broke (in the early 1970s), after that it was T10s from then on. I hear so many times, people saying how cool to get 6 gears with the overdrives, but why wait a few seconds between every gear change? All talk. You've lost any street stoplight contest on your very first slooooowww shift.... then it breaks anyway. T 10 T5 T56 is the way to go in my view unless you have to have an automatic. why be ordinary?
Back in the day the dirt track racers liked the 259 CI because of the torque, my son and I built a 1959 Lark,it has the 259 in it. we put a T-10 Four speed in it,runs fairly decent. As far as cams,other than getting one reground, Studebaker used a R-1 cam,not quite 3/4 .they are still available. I am running a Stude 289 CI in mine,has the R-1 cam and Carter 4-barrel
I purchased a adapter kit from Dan Giblin to adapt a T5 to my Stude 289. Works great! http://www.studebaker-info.org/Tech/Transmission/giblinT5/giblint5.html
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