Hello Hopefully someone has been down this road before. As the title suggests I would like to fit a T5 from a Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon to a 261 Chev engine. There appears to be a multitude of different input shaft lengths and spline counts, depending on model or original fitment. I intend to use the truck bell housing and possibly the original clutch. I have seen a number of T5 threads but these seem mainly to be aimed at the US fitted boxes. Part of the reason for going this way is to keep the cost reasonable as these gearboxes are reasonably common in Australia. Therefore can someone who has researched this, or gone down his road before, let me know which box I should be looking to buy to make this as simple as possible. Thanks Steve
I just thought I would move this u the list to try and catch the Tuesday afternoon browsers. Thanks Steve
use a clutch plate to suit the trans and a pressure plate to suit the flywheel. https://www.australianclutch.com.au/ they can supply the measurements you will need to take to get the 2 parts to meet. they were helpful to me adapting a TR6060 to a B Model Ford
The V6 T5's have the Ford style bolt pattern casing. If you can find a T5 from a 5.0 Holden V8 it has a Chevy bolt pattern casing and the correct length input.
Thanks Mimilan, that is exactly the type of feedback I was after. I have had a habit of buying the wrong parts over the years as I thought they would work but latter found out I should have got a different variant. That would not be so bad but I always seem to get less than what I paid. I guess I am just lucky that way. Steve
Once I had the lead from above I found this diagram. I thought I would post it as it may help others.
Suggest you also get the current Australian Street Rodding magazine as there is quite a bit on using the T5 gearboxes in the tech section by Ted Robinette.....also excuse my ignorance but whats a 261 Chev from?.........assuming that its a US sourced Chev engine wouldn't the GM patterned "B" gearbox bolt straight up to the 261 bellhousing?..........andyd
The 261 is out of a 1958 Chev truck. The seller told me that the truck it came out of was used by the Warwick dairy in the 60's to pick up milk. The 261 essentially a bored 235. You are correct that any "B" gearbox should bolt up. The differences are spline count, spline length and pilot bush size. Thanks to Mimilan the the V8 commodore should work. It has a spline length of 8" and a count of 10 with a "B" bolt pattern. I am in SEQLD if anyone has one under the work bench that they want to sell. Thanks Steve
The 261 was a Chevrolet six cylinder made from 1954 to 1962 for medium and heavy trucks. It was based on the Chev 235 six cylinder with heavy duty crankshaft, connecting rods etc. but most parts interchange with the 235. In addition to Chev trucks it was used in Canadian made Pontiacs from 1955 to 1962. I think the Pontiacs sold in Australia and New Zealand came from Canada, if they had an OHV six, this is the engine. American made Pontiacs never offered a six in this period. It is considered the biggest and best of the Chevrolet sixes made from 1937 to 1962 and will bolt into those cars and trucks. It was a good engine in its day with a decent hop up potential, overshadowed by the new Chev V8 that debuted the next year.
You'd think it would have dawned on me what the 261 was from........I actually had a 1957 Canadian Pontiac sedan Delivery for about 10 yrs up to 2005, long soldandyd.........and yep it HAD a 261 six............I just assumed you were referring to some oddball Chev V8.........lol.........heres a pic of it...........andyd
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