T-5 tranny bell question

[Guest 240Z_72]

It's 'proud papa' again sorting out my recent score...I would like to put the T-5 back in my '78 V8Z. The P.O. swapped in a TH350 before he sold it, and the T-5 came with it, but there is no bell. It says it's an '86 Firebird Borg & Warner. What bell do I need to get? Let's see, I need a clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, shift fork, and slave cylinder. Pedal and master cylinder are still intact. Anything else? I don't think I use the one from the TH350 do I???

 

-kurt

[QWKDTSN]

let me stress that YOU NEED THE SMALL SIZE flywheel. 53 teeth. I went around in circles for literally a month trying to get the correct bellhousing, flywheel, and clutch to match up because people gave me the wrong parts and it was a big mess. I ended up getting a 16lb steel flywheel from eBay for a hundred smackers. the 68 tooth flywheel I have left over weighs a whopping 30+ lbs! I had a local clutch place (Southland Clutch) piece me together something that would handle 400 horses easy and be streetable. I'll maybe be pushing 350 at the limit, so drivability is my main concern. You need to look for a bellhousing that tilts the transmission fifteen degrees towards the driver's side of the car. To determine this, check the shape of the housing. It comes to a point, that's the top, that faces up. Now check the bolt pattern where the bellhousing mates to the tranny. If it is perpendicular to the point on the top of the bellhousing, it's no good. If it's canted to the left, it's good to go. I think there's only one bellhousing that tilts it the way you want it so if it's tilted it's the one. I think they're aluminum, mine is. I picked up a new fork from Napa, the throwout came with the clutch, and I got my slave cylinder from Kragen. The master cylinder you need is a 7/8" unit, NOT 3/4" as the JTR book states. I got mine from Summit, it is a Howe aluminum master cylinder. Check to see what size yours is since you state that you have one.

[QWKDTSN]

Here, this is what you need

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1848307697&r=0&t=0

 

Or this

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1848242110&r=0&t=0

 

Note in the first picture (you can see it best) the angle of the mounting surface compared to the point on the bellhousing.

[Mike C]

McLeod makes a scattershield that is drilled for both the conventional 4 speed pattern and the T5 pattern. I don't know if you can use hydraulics on it or not, but you do have the option of either flywheel I believe. PAW is a McLeod dealer. Otherwise, Nion has got you set up. FYI, you'll have to fab a rear mount because of the 15 degree rotation of the tranny on the bellhousing. You can use an 84-88 Corvette bellhousing and ream the mounting ears on the trans to fit the SAE bolts instead of the slightly smaller metric fasteners used on the T5 bellhousing.

[Guest greimann]

I have a T5 in my ZX and have taken a slightly different route. I went with a bell housing that puts the trans straight up. In my case I found a universal Chevy / BOP bellhousing that works for all GM blocks and has the proper bolt pattern for the transmission. I believ all GM manual transmissions have the same bolt pattern. Putting the transmission straight up puts the shifter right in the center of the tunnel. I am using a Mcleod hydraulic release bearing kit I got from PAW. It come with master cylinder and slave cylinder. Also using a Centerforce I clutch.

 

Just an alternative method.

[QWKDTSN]

Actually, my way my tranny mounts in the rear is fine. I bought the mount from Kragen for seven bucks or so. The transmission mount bolts up to the transmission at the same 15 degree angle that it is tilted, so even though the transmission is tilted, the mount is still straight up and down, you don't need to fab anything. As for the difference between tilted and straight, I'd go for tilted. It puts the shifter right into your hand.

[Mike C]

oops, right you are Nion. I was confusing this with my conversation with a buddy on putting a T5 in his 69 Camaro. Using the straight up bellhousing causes mount problems. This is where the McLeod bellhousing comes in handy since you can rotate the trans the 15 degrees and use a TH400 crossmember. This lets you keep the stock mechanical linkage in a Camaro. The hydraulic throwout bearing is really expensive isn't it? That is the advantage of the 'vette bellhousing since it has a slave cylinder mount provision. GM was sure kind in keeping the trans patterns reasonably consistent!

[v8zed]

OR--- You can go completely crazy and use a bellhousing from a V8 Monza from the mid to late 70s. It has the throwout arm angled down about 20 degrees to give extra tunnel clearance. It came with a cable actuation and that is what I use. I made a 2 and 1/2 to 1 ratio bellcrank and mounted it on the pedal assembly with an aluminum plate on the firewall to resist flex. I did this because I had the ZX brake booster and thought that a hydraulic master would not fit. I found out late I was wrong. I also got a deal on the bellhousing and was having a hard time finding a camero type. this did put the shifter in the upright position but worked fine for me.I am using the 53 tooth flywheel from a chevy six in a row . It is light and also for an internally balanced motor. Again I was using what was at hand. I built a tile into the JTW type rear mount to deal with the angle of the T5 rear mount.

 

NOW I would say that it was too much work but I will also say that it does work well for me.

 

Round and round we go, where we stop no one knows.

Dennis