Chevy T5 Behind Ford 2.3L - How?

Quote
Robert Culbertson
Yep, and lucky for you that adapter I linked to will mount a trans straight up or over at 17deg. Because volvo peeps will mount the motors vertical for older cars or to clear bigger turbos with stock-ish manifolds. Stock 240 Volvos have the engine sitting at a 17deg angle.

Also, the trans is mounted at an angle due to the bell housing. The transmission mounts are not rotated. So there shouldn't be an issues except in shifter placement.

Ooh goodie me! So the Volvo and Ford Bellhousing patterns are the same?

This is a Merkur so the block is straight up.

I guess the rotation was for packaging in the Camaro/Firebird, so it doesn't NEED to be mounted that way for my application (other than having to have a mount to correct it somewhere, either keep it rotated at the bellhousing and have a flat trans mount, or straight up at the bellhousing and an angled trans mount).

Quote
deaner

Quote
dunhamr1

Quote
Robert Culbertson

Quote
deaner

Quote
Gravity Fed
http://www.thegearbox.org/catalog/item/3819132/3532263.htm

Both sales/tech guys here are saying they aren't real OE parts and at that price are reproduction. I haven't been here that long to see first hand but we've had nothing but problems with repro gears according to the guys that know more than I do.

I wouldn't worry about the strength of aftermarket gears with a turbo 4. Big heavy v8 and sustained torque, that might cause some concern. A lot of the "issues" with t5s stems from people drag racing with 400+hp V8s.
As far as a new T5z, they are very crudely assembled. The one I just dove into had rust on the bearing surface and ALL the bearings were low/loose on preload. It was also FILTHY inside. I have no idea how you get that much dirt into a new trans.

You can easily swap gear sets if they are both WC. Get the peelable shims from 5speeds.com

If one was swapping the gear sets, and everything seemed ok, would it be worth doing a rebuild at the same time, or just straight swapping?

Depends how far down the rabbit hole you want to go lol. Pulling the gear box and tearing it down isn't the biggest job in the world now that you can leave the bell attached to the block. Longest part of working on these things is cleaning everything haha. You COULD spread the pain out some and rebuild it later. It'll give you practice!

Well luckily all the T5 stuff isn't in the car yet, I can continue to use the stock T9 in the interim

Quote
dunhamr1
Ooh goodie me! So the Volvo and Ford Bellhousing patterns are the same?

This is a Merkur so the block is straight up.

Shoot! Derp. I realized the volvo pattern is offset.
The Volvo and Ford t5 are different.

The T5 and GM/TKO pattern are in-line/parallel with each other. So... Mounting the Gm trans to the ford bellhousing is possible if you can get the input shaft length correct.

Another option is to weld on ears for the wider GM mount locations, or drill holes. I'm sure you know someone that can weld aluminum and doesn't mind a fun challenge.

Quote
Robert Culbertson

Quote
dunhamr1
Ooh goodie me! So the Volvo and Ford Bellhousing patterns are the same?

This is a Merkur so the block is straight up.

Shoot! Derp. I realized the volvo pattern is offset.
The Volvo and Ford t5 are different.

The T5 and GM/TKO pattern are in-line/parallel with each other. So... Mounting the Gm trans to the ford bellhousing is possible if you can get the input shaft length correct.

Another option is to weld on ears for the wider GM mount locations, or drill holes. I'm sure you know someone that can weld aluminum and doesn't mind a fun challenge.

Just called the guys about that adapter, I'm not too worried about the rotation (I guess the Volvo bolt holes would go unused). T5 holes would mount to Bellhousing, and TKO holes would go to Chevy T5 trans. I would make an offset mount for the crossmember to take that up. It wouldn't NEED to be rotated for my application.

My only concern would be the pass-through hole. They said their adapter has a 5 1/4" OD on the lip, I'm going to measure (or try to look up) what the T5 Bellhousing has in it. He suggested machining the bellhousing to .001" over and press-fit it.

All of this makes me wish I had a CNC machine and the bolt patterns for everything, I'd just design and build my own adapter... Too bad machine work is expensive!

Quote
dunhamr1
All of this makes me wish I had a CNC machine and the bolt patterns for everything, I'd just design and build my own adapter... Too bad machine work is expensive!

That can all be done on a manual milling machine. I've made some incredibly accurate parts using manual machines and layout ink.

Quote
Robert Culbertson

Quote
dunhamr1
All of this makes me wish I had a CNC machine and the bolt patterns for everything, I'd just design and build my own adapter... Too bad machine work is expensive!

That can all be done on a manual milling machine. I've made some incredibly accurate parts using manual machines and layout ink.

Well yes, that too. Hmm, I may need to get in touch with the machinist at my college and perhaps pick something up during Prescott Rally...

I might have a spare 4-cyl bell just like you have. I can weld some ears on it and punch some holes in. Let me know what the input shaft length is and I can even space it off... if need be.
It's just taking up space right now. I'm

Quote
Robert Culbertson
I might have a spare 4-cyl bell just like you have. I can weld some ears on it and punch some holes in. Let me know what the input shaft length is and I can even space it off... if need be.
It's just taking up space right now. I'm

If you're up for it, that's probably the most direct route to get this mounted.. I'll have to make some measurements. For the input shaft, what should I measure?

Mounting face of trans to tip of input shaft and to the tip of the splines.
I have a 4-cyl T5 I can compare it to.

Quote
Robert Culbertson
Mounting face of trans to tip of input shaft and to the tip of the splines.
I have a 4-cyl T5 I can compare it to.

Best I can tell in the dark with calipers is 5.539" from mating face of transmission to end of the splines (where it necks down for the pilot bearing) and another 1.076" to the tip of the input shaft.

I have a 4cyl t5 I can measure up as well to get a baseline and make sure we're measuring the same thing.

Reading up on things more, and taking the bellhousing off of the Camaro box, I've discovered that it's a NWC. My ford case is WC, so that nixes any idea of swapping THOSE gears into THIS case.

Now, I still might be able to pick up some World Class 2.95 gears, and that might work..

Hopefully we can do something with adapter plates and not have to disassemble some transmissions...

EDIT: After talking with High Performance Transmissions (5speeds.com), as long as the transmissions are both NWC, or both WC, the gears can be swapped between them. Lining up input shaft lengths and diameters is separate issue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2017 09:11AM by dunhamr1.

I'd just swap gears instead of figuring out adapters and stuff. It seems really intimidating but these transmissions are very simple.

Quote
deaner
I'd just swap gears instead of figuring out adapters and stuff. It seems really intimidating but these transmissions are very simple.

Yeah. Hard part will be input shaft lengths / dia

I can't swap the gears from the 2.95 box that I have into the Ford case I can because one is WC (Ford box) and the other is NWC (GM).

I'll need to get WC 2.95 gears to use the case that I have, unless I can get a NWC Ford case decently cheap.

How many teeth are on the input shaft of the gm trans?
Pull the four bolts holding the front cover on, pop the cover, rotate input shaft until the half-moon cutout clears the lower counter gear and remove.
Keep the tail of the trans high so all of the roller bearings don't fall into the bottom.