Borg Warner T-10, shifter question

This T-10's maybe from an 82 Firebird. The 3 holes you see held a mount for the torque arm that came from the rearend. The shifter mounts high, and on the right side. Do you think a conventional, low mount Hurst shifter will/can work on this trans? Anyone mess with this before? It's going(?) in my 32 with limited space under the tunnel (channeled).

Anyone? I need to know if i should waste my time and money getting a clucth for this thing tomorrow and bolting the assembly in my chassis this week

 

anyone? I need to know if i should waste my time and money getting a clucth for this thing tomorrow and bolting the assembly in my chassis this week

 

Yes. As a matter of fact my Hurst shifter tower is a MOPAR unit with the Pistol Grip, and I just matched up levers and rods at my local speed shop ( they had tons in boxes ) and it works fine. Tower cost $5 at a garage sale and only a few dollars for the other parts; could'nt beat that. Still not sure what my Super T-10 came out of but it's got a 2.64 first gear and the speedometer bullet is on the passenger side.BUTCH.

 

Hurst makes linkage to mount it low like a muncie transmission. Mine has the speedo drive on the other side of the tailshaft, so that may be different. Is a 82 camaro the 3rd gen body style? If so that goofy shifter position may be so the shifter goes through the same hole as a T-5. It may also have an angled tranny mount so the shifter angles towards the driver like a T-5.

Is that a backup switch covered in tape by the reverse lever? Mine doesn't have that either.

Dave

 

I'm not sure what you're telling me here. Did yours have the 3 holes like mine where the torque arm mounted? Did your new shifter mount THERE?

 

(1) what do i ask for and where will it bolt up? If i ask for Hurst for the 82, it'll come out HIGH where it does now (like the T-5)

(2)You may be right, that's what it appears to me as well

(3)Yes, i believe so

 

Groucho, here's more fuel for the fire and complicate your decision point. I'm planning something similar for my channeled A. I've got a '79 Vette S T-10 and it has the more conventional tailshaft housing. Mount the shift arms opposite, pointing down and you'll save some tunnel room - that's what they do in Vettes. Next, for the clutch, think hydraulic. You can pick up '84-'88 Corvette setups pretty cheap and get bellhousing, slave and master cylinders, clutch and flywheel that all match. If you want to complete the picture you could even use the '75-'82 Corvette crossmember, you would have to cut the width.

 

I'm already doing the hydraulic clutch. It's a great problem solver, and they've always worked great for me. I'm pretty sure mounting the rods face down will make it shift backwards. 1st and 2nd swap spots on the shifter as well as 3 and 4. I'm pretty sure my trans is 82 ONLY, and noone makes a conventional shifter for it. Pre 82 is your normal trans where the shifter goes, and post 82's are 5 speeds, making this a real bastard trans. I'm hoping i'm wrong

 

Maybe you could change the tailshaft housing and use a regular shifter?

 

Good idea. I gotta bet nobody's gonna waste time and money making a shifter for this "one year only" trans to fit in a generic hot rod

 

Groucho, Check out the Hurst web site http://www.hurst-shifters.com/ and call Hurst (who is now owned by B&M in Chatsworth CA) they show your tranny I.D. as 455. My dam dial-up is so slow I didn't have the patience to find out if a shifter was availible!

 

You could fabricate a plate to mount the shifter lower (more conventionally) like a '60s mounting plate and bend and shorten the shift rods to fit (or fab new ones). I saw the headers on your shoebox - this shouldn't be a big deal.

 

I see your area of concern, and it looks like you need one more lower bolt hole further forward of the "trac arm mount" lower hole. First off, virtually all Hurst shifter towers are the same. Different shifter sticks are then used on the interior of the car. Then different linkage and levers get used. NOW HEAR THIS: Had a 72' Nova SS with Saginaw 4-speed and stock shifter mounted to crossmember. Switched to Hurst and it mounted to transmission by a plate that bolted to the transmission mount and a U-Bolt that wrapped around the tailhousing/bushing housing. That mount would also fit a T-10 or a Muncie, but those transmissions had mounting holes in their tailhousings, and not all Saginaws did. Then just bolt your tower assembly on, fit the appropriate rods/levers . Don't go on what's IN THE CATALOG. Otherwise you are probably going to have to swap to another tailhousing or modify the one you have. Easy enough, it is aluminum. BUTCH.

 

That's another good idea. I had that mount also on a Saginaw i put in another hot rod a while back. Anyone got a picture of that mount? I vaguely remember what it looked like

 

I would think you could go with a "catalog" setup (shifter + installation kit) for a regular ST-10, then fab a plate to bolt the shifter to the 3 holes on the side of that tailshaft. This plate would be pretty simple, just some 1/4" or 5/16" plate with 5 holes in it. One or two would need to be threaded. (The two that mount the shifter body.)

On the other hand, mounting the shifter body up higher gives you straighter shift rods, and allows you to run a shorter stick but still keeping the knob up within reach on these older cars. The shorter stick will net a shorter throw at the knob, but yield the same results at the shift levers on the tranny. Just something to think about.