briann510 Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 i have read the JTR book a couple times now. the 2 bellhousings pictured in the book look switched with the descriptions. one of the bellhousings has a definate offset mounting pad angle the tranny sits in which would make the shifter sit more angled over to the drivers side, but the book says its the picture on the right, but it looks like in that picture the tranny would sit straight up? just curious which bellhousing most people are running with their SBC and which year 5 speed trannies are you using? do the hydaulic clutch systems only come on certain year bellhousings (the actual mounting pad for cylinder on bellhousing) with the 5 speeds? i need to start buying the items we will need for the SBC swap soon and want to get the right things or the most popular best fitting pieces people are using. the book is great info, but actually talking to people or seeing what they use as a majority puts my mind at ease more. i have a buddy that is selling an 89 T-5 out of a camaro and he says its the stronger of all the T-5's. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwik240z Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 I have read that too and I think you are right. The Camaro-FB bell housing is the one that is offset at an angle. I have a 1986 Trans am T5 in my 510 and I hooked it up to my Buick 215 V8 bellhousing which positions the trans where the shifter is upright. In this position, the trans mount doesn't point straight down but it is at an angle. I made a crossmember mount that allows the trans to stay at this angle. I have had it this way for over 5 years with no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 The pictures in my JTR book seem to be reversed too. I used the Camero angled bell housing with a 89 Camero T5. You can buy a clutch slave from Napa p/n 37821. I used a clutch MC from a Ford F150 Napa p/n 39560. The Ford MC and the Camero slave both use roll pin connectors allowing me to use a ford F150 clutch hydraulic hose. The Ford MC requires redrilling two of the mounting holes in the fire wall. Using the Camero bell housing keeps the transmission mount vertical. If you use a different bell housing the transmission mount will be at an angle which will require an angled mounting bracket. With the Camero bell housing the shifter will be angled towards the driver. Using a BM shifter for a Camero trans angles the shifter straight up. I used the Motor Sports Auto (MSA)engine and trans installation kit to mount everything. The trans mount was designed for a 700r4 auto trans, but the auto and T5 mounts must be identical because the MSA mount fit the T5 perfectly. You can see pictures of the installation at my son's picture site below. If I build another V8 Z I would use the Tilton 15/16 clutch MC and try to find a shop that could make up a -3 SS line with roll pin connectors to avoid re-tapping the Camero clutch slave as shown in the JTR book. http://www.netsnapshot.com/pcw/b?KEY=0&ACCOUNT=4581 Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briann510 Posted October 3, 2004 Author Share Posted October 3, 2004 what brand of clutch setup did you go with? and is it 10.5 or 11" as i dont know what the newer camaro's used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 Brian I used a stock clutch kit from Carquest p/n NCL-K1675-21 for an 89 Camero T5 @ $150.00. It has been 3 years since I did this project, but I recall that I had to have my old flywheel resurfaced for a larger clutch face. So it must have been an 11 inch clutch. You could check the Carquest p/n for clutch size. Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 I've got the seventh edition and I'm looking at page 5-7. "The 1984-1988 Corvette bellhousing is on the left and the 1984-1992 Camaro bellhousing is on the right." The statement is correct in my book. I have a complete engine/tranny package from a 1991 TA with the angled bellhousing and tranny. If you plan on using the T5 you described it will have the angled mount. If you buy an angled bellhousing your tranny will bolt up to the JTR tranny mount flat without modifications. The shifter is also angled so there are no problems with it being straight in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briann510 Posted October 3, 2004 Author Share Posted October 3, 2004 that is the book i have also, but looking at the bellhousing pictures the one on the left has a definate angled mounting pad for the transmission (which book says is the corvette one). the book states the camaro bellousing on the right tilts the tranny 15 degrees towards the driver, but how does it do that if the picture shows the tranny mounting pad level on the bellhousing? am i just missing something here? maybe the actual transmission even though it is mounted with the level mounting holes o fthe bellhousing on the right, the actual tranny is angled? i am totally confused here with the pictures in the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeJTR Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 The book has an error. The bellhousing on the left is the Camaro bellhousing. The latest printing (Feb 2004) corrected the error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Go to the site below and you can see a picture of a T5 bell housing. In my JTR book the picture is the same as the bell housing on the left on page 5-7 of JTR. When I did my conversion I bought the bell housing, T5 and driveshaft all from the same car. After installation, the trans mount was level and the shifter was angled, but the BM shifter for a T5 corrected the angle so the shifter was in a normal position. http://www.fbodymotorsports.com/inc/pdetail?v=1&pid=8098 Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briann510 Posted October 4, 2004 Author Share Posted October 4, 2004 Thank you! I wasnt going to bed till i figured this out. Thank for that link also! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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