banger/t-5. halfass tech part two!

to bring you up to speed,i'm installing a t-5 behind my 29 4-banger in my roadster.the last post was drivetrain assembly,so this segment will focus on frame mods,hanging the rear,and misc. crap..to make room for the beastly t-5,i braced the frame in 2 places and knocked the rivets out of the main crossmember,and moved it back 3 1/4 inches. this means i will also have to extend my e-brake rod,brake pedal m/c shaft,and re-arrange some plumbing and wiring.i also had to fashion an e-brake adapter that bolts to the t-5.

 

then i used an open drive kit from hot rod works (cha-ching),and converted the rear to open driveshaft.this means i need to change my wishbone setup,as the old model a ones are not only crap,they mount to the now nonexistent torque tube...

 

...

 

i want my roadster to appear traditional on the outside,so i wanted the rear bones to appear unsplit.i also needed to make a mount for the trans,so i took a cue from pete and jakes,and made a dropped tube crossmember that also mounts the trans.i called on my old dear friend the wolf ,because i did'nt trust my welds enough for such a key piece.here's what we came up with.it's contructed of 1/4"angle, and thick wall seamless tubing. first wolf made a bending jig for the tubing,then heated and bent the tubing to our template shape.(we made a cardboard template of the drop we needed while the trans was jacked up.)

 

then we drilled the bolt pattern for the trans on a piece of angle,and bolted it in,and tacked the dropped tube to it,making sure each side was level and square.since we made the tube wider than the frame,we elected to drill holes in the side plates that the tube can go through,so we could weld both sides.

 

some of you may hate me for this,but i chose to go with poly bushings.why? because i don't want to grease them ever,and hey,you can't see the darn thangs anyhoots...i went with some 40-ish bones (i think) and those are split using weld bungs.since the rear bones don't have the meat on the end like the fronts (because of where we cut em') we felt it was wise to rosette weld them,then tig the suckers.

 

now comes the fun part. pinion angle.since only my rear spring was holding my car up,i had to first make sure it was centered,my wheelbase was the same on both sides,and my tires looked right on in the wheelwells.once that was done we had to move the yoke up and down until it was parallell with the trans,continuall re-checking our previous measurements.when everything was golden,we cut the bones to the length we needed,installed the rod ends with the OUTSIDE tabs bolted in ,and the back brackets also bolted in,and tacked everything in place.we then made cardboard templates of the inside tabs,then copied them in steel,and tacked them in.

 

so i will be updating this post throughout the week,as i am putting everything back together. hopefully i can test drive it by saturday! cheers-nate

 

Thanks, Nate! I'm contemplating something similar on my '32. This is enlightening.

 

got the driveshaft done,and put everything back together.i'm starting to almost get excited.

 

Maybe you already know it, but Hurst makes a bolt on short throw shifter for that S10 tranny. Has a bolt on shift handle too I think. Makes for easy custom shifter attachment. Hurst PN 391-0029 is the right one I think. Supposed to be around 30% less throw I think too.

Now I gotta go find part one of this as I was just asking about this very topic yesterday.

EDIT: Found Part 1 here! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92170

 

This was a great post. It's sad it didn't get more attention.

 

just a side note to nates badass tech post.

since nate's spring is reverse eyed, and all we could get ahold of was a spreader bar for a regular spring we needed to improvise!

in the photo below the red lines are a decent pair of ratchet straps, and the brown lines are 2x4's.

with the ratchet straps crossed in that configuration you can tighten them evenly back and forth. the problem with this was the spring shackles wanted to roll down toward the rearend. to stop that we put 2x4's laid flat on top of the axle housing, under the shackles. as soon as the shackles rolled down enough to hit the 2x4's the spring started to spread. then we pulled the shackles out. after we got the shackles out we SLOWLY came off on the ratchet straps evenly. it worked like a charm! we made sure not to ever get directly over the spring while having tension on it, although it never felt unsafe.

 

damb that thing looks fast already

 

Any updates on this project? Has it seen the road yet?

 

thanks dude!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have a chance to pick up an A banger motor. I had wondered if a modern trans could be adapted. Was there a post on the trans adapter, bellhousing, flywheel, etc,.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92170

 

great thread...keep us posted

 

i finished the thing,then cranked it over and bent an intake valve.then i freaked out and ripped the whole car apart.i'm currently fixing the valve situation,and doing a chassis re-do.filling all unused holes,painting,re-plumbing,etc.all my aluminum motor goods are getting polished, and i'm building a lakes style header from the torque tube i removed,and that will be sent to chrome.it was painful tearing it apart ,but it will be a much nicer car in the end.i'm still looking forward to testing out that t-5!!!!

 

awesome, now you can pick all the bugs out.

 

damn nate you and da wolf are on the ball i just need to get off my ass now and build something .that header is sick.

 

Well........keep us posted.

 

For anyone interested in doing this, or anything else related to Model As, the best site on the internet for As is the ahooga.com forum. There you will learn that its not necessary to move the center crossmember, the AA bellhousing is preferred, and most important, the yoke for the open drive that is part of the kit sold by the guy in Indiana is a POWER TAKE OFF yoke!! It is held on with a SET SCREW!! It has NO splines. Do you really want to drive around with that?

 

i used a hot rod works open drive which does,in fact utilize a splined shaft.it's covered more than once in the post.and why exactly would i use an AA bellhousing? i already had the model a one.it works fantastic and i did'nt have to spend the money or time looking for a model aa.maybe you have endless resources to pick and choose your parts,but alas,i do not. the t-5 is a good conversion,and this is how i did it.if you think it's unsafe,ask first,but closing out my post with your poorly informed overview is tacky at best.and no you don't have to move the crossmember ,you could cut it up instead,and lose the structural integrity of it.sorry if i seem rude,but i worked my ass off to on this swap,and it sucked to read your post(s) it just seems like you're dismissing my entire tech.where's your tech posts?

 

heyitsnate...your posts on this hold a lot more weight because I can see you've done this swap. Don't let that guy get under your skin. You've shown you know what your doing by doing it.

P.S. Is the car on the road yet? Anxiously awaiting a drive report.

 

YA screw that guy nate! he's my least favorite type of hamber! only chimes in with baseless criticizam, never anything helpful!! look at his other posts. you know your swap is done correctly, i know it's done correctly, anyone with half a brain knows it's done correctly!! so let him talk out of the side of his neck 'til he's blue in the face!!!

VIVA LA DEATH METAL!!

 

updates here! so far i have not gone above 1500 rpm in 3rd gear,and have gone about 40 mph.i still have 1000 rpm and 2 more gears!! 1-1 ratios my ass!! i have a few things to deal with before road-testing thoroughly ,so i'll keep you posted,but i'm really looking forward to the freeway test!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123591

 

Excellent! That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun on the open road...

 

It's been 4 month's....any project updates?