54 Chevy 235 Swap to T5

Hello everyone, from Fort Riley...I been reading for days the threads about swaping the old 3 speed of my 235 with the S10 T5, lots of great info...getting a bit confused...Need help clearing this out and this is what I am trying to do: I have a 51 Chevy Styleline that has a 54 235 engine and want to replace the 3 speed with a T5...can someone clear for me if this will work or I need to change the bell housing, I know about the clutch and the drive shaft is just that all the threads refer to truck 235 engines but noe talks about car 235 engines, are they the same or the bell housings are different? Guys thanks for all the help you can give me

 

hello, you need a truck bellhousing. i used the truck pressure plate with chevy astro clutch. i even used the car linkage. didn't have to shorten anything. made a new driveshaft hooked to a s10 4x4 rearend.
the car bellhousing is to small in the center and wrong bolt pattern. that would require a adapter plate.
i have a spare truck bellhousing if you are interested.
now you need to do a proper intro. tell us about yourself and what you are working on. ask questions on the main forum.

 

Using the truck bellhousing is the hard way.

The clutch fork is in a different position. You will have to re-fabricate the linkage. Hope that you are good at geometry and ratios.
The side motor mounts are different, you will have to re-fabricate those.
The input shaft is too long for this setup and will need to be shortened, as will the throwout bearing collar.

Or, just bolt on the adapter to the stock bellhousing, and swap the clutch disc.

Depends on how much work you want to do for no good reason, or if your time to do all of that is worth less than $175.

http://www.hotrodworks.com/catalog/...-n-2100-t5-trans-to-1949-1954-chevy-cars.html

Personally, I get paid for results, not for the process.

 

Either way, you need to buy, fabricate, or adapt to, a rear crossmember.

Those who say you can run without just have not yet broken the transmission case. I have had two customers bring me broken cased T5 235 swaps, where they though they could go without.

 

i used the car clutch fork and yes i put a rear crossmember in. i didn't use the side mounts on bellhousing. i also must have got lucky i didn't have to shorten shaft .

 

Thanks Guys, all is clear as water now...I located the T5 tranny from a 83-87 S10 and the adapter plate from one of the other posts...now for the rear, I understand I have to replace the rear axle and drive shaft, can I use the rear axle from a '99 S10? I imagine the S10 drive shaft wil not be a direct bolt on, so custom made, correct?

Thanks

 

I used a 57 chevy rear. I've read that a 4x4 S 10 will work too. I would measure the rear you are looking at to see if it will fit. I would also check the gear ratio. I'm running 3.70's but 3.55's would be ok too. I personally wouldn't want to run anything higher or lower than that.

I had a drive shaft custom made for a pretty reasonable price but again you will have to measure to see if it will fit.

 

There are two internal gear sets in that age range. Either one can be made to work. It is just a matter of matching the rear axle ratio to that set. The S10 axle have ratios that span enough that there will be one that will work.

Check the transmission. There should be a metal tag on a bolt that holds the tail housing on, if it is still there. The transmission would also have a decal on the top cover, if if it is still there.

There will be a number on it. It will read 1352-XXX, with the XXX being the three digit build code. Post that, and I we can see what gears it has.

If both are missing, shift the transmission into first. That's far left, and forward on the shifter. If there is no shifter, the shifter socket on the rail needs to go right, and back (the shifter is a single pivot, the rail moves opposite of the knob).

Mark the input and output shafts with a Sharpie. Turn the input shaft and see how many times you have to turn it, to get the output shaft to turn one time.

You should get either just over 4, or just over 3-3/4 turns.

Post what you find, for better gear selection.

The 1999 S10 4x4 rear will work. It is 58"-59". You don't want a ZR2 rear, or a 2wd rear. They are 63", and 54-1/2", respectively.

The driveshaft will be the wrong length, but otherwise correct. Depending on its specific design, you may be able to simply have it shortened at a driveshaft shop. Grab it, if you can. If not, custom.