Mayolives Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 My T5 (NWC) is at G Force and will hopefully be ready for me to install within the next few weeks. I read a post somewhere, pertaining to modifications needed to install a T5 in a 240, but I'm installing it in my 78 280 body and it will have an aftermarket Long shifter. Will any modifications be needed to the shifter/tunnel area for this install? John Coffey's sticky says the length of the T5, from the bellhousing to the center of the shift pivot, is 29 inches.This is about 1/4" shorter that the same dimension of the five speed I removed from the car. Any other installation tip on the subject would be very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 My T5 (NWC) is at G Force and will hopefully be ready for me to install within the next few weeks. I read a post somewhere, pertaining to modifications needed to install a T5 in a 240, but I'm installing it in my 78 280 body and it will have an aftermarket Long shifter. Will any modifications be needed to the shifter/tunnel area for this install? John Coffey's sticky says the length of the T5, from the bellhousing to the center of the shift pivot, is 29 inches.This is about 1/4" shorter that the same dimension of the five speed I removed from the car. Any other installation tip on the subject would be very helpful. The length difference can be very misleading - the shifter on the Datsun T5 sits much higher than the one on the Datsun n/a trans, so much so that you will have to clearance the hole in the tunnel for the shifter body. Because of this, you don't get to use the angle of the shift rod to set the shifter position back. The shifter will come through the console much farther forward than stock, and it does not clear the existing hole. What are you doing for a tailhousing? Is gForce modifying it for you? How about the pilot shaft? Both will need to be modified from what gForce supplies normally. As far as I know, gForce has not done this to a Datsun trans before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayolives Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 TimZ, G Force is using my NWC tailhousing and is modifying it for me. The input (pilot) shaft will remain the same. How much farther forward will the new shifter be? How much do I need to alter the stock hole in my tunnel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 TimZ, G Force is using my NWC tailhousing and is modifying it for me. The input (pilot) shaft will remain the same. How much farther forward will the new shifter be? How much do I need to alter the stock hole in my tunnel? As I recall, the shifter lines up approximately with the front edge of the opening in the console. This is for an L6, right? I don't think their standard pilot shaft is going to work with that - unless they have something new, their standard choices were too short and the wrong diameter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayolives Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Yes, the trans is for my L6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 My T-5 behind the SBF is within 1/2" of the original shifter's location and the surrounding shifter body is below the surrounding tunnel sheet metal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 IMPORTANT TOOLS YOU WILL NEED!!!!!!! http://album.hybridz.org/data/500/pic_104s1.jpg John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayolives Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Thanks John! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayolives Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 As I recall, the shifter lines up approximately with the front edge of the opening in the console. I don't think their standard pilot shaft is going to work with that - unless they have something new, their standard choices were too short and the wrong diameter. The pilot shaft that Gforce uses is the same lenght and diameter as the original one but the splin is 1 1/8" x 26. I will not be able to use my original clutch. However, I'm using a Centerforce DFX clutch setup and Centerforce will change the clutch hub to fit the new size input shaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 The pilot shaft that Gforce uses is the same lenght and diameter as the original one Are you sure about that? When I did this, neither the GM or Ford-style pilot were the correct diameter or length. Did they add another input shaft option? The pieces that I'm seeing on their website are the same as what I got and it was not the correct size or length for the L6. We are talking about using a Datsun ZXT T5 here, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 I was able to find a pic showing the difference between the two input shafts: also, here are some pics of the tailshaft housing mods: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 I didn't modify my 240 at all. The shifter won't come out from the top, however. Mine is a 72 and I used a Hurst Competition Plus T5 shifter. The mods to the car they were talking about may be from an early 240 which IS different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 I didn't modify my 240 at all. The shifter won't come out from the top, however. Mine is a 72 and I used a Hurst Competition Plus T5 shifter. The mods to the car they were talking about may be from an early 240 which IS different. The car I was talking about was a 78 280Z. Perhaps the shifter I am using (Pro 5-0) is taller than the Hurst shifter, but mine definitely required clearancing of the hole in the trans tunnel, and it wasn't even close to fitting in the hole in the console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1 Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Tim, why is the rear of your tailshaft welded up? Was it damaged or did GForce install a larger bearing? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Tim, why is the rear of your tailshaft welded up? Was it damaged or did GForce install a larger bearing? John The output shaft of the Gforce T5 is considerably larger that that of the stock Datsun T5, so much so that there is not enough material there to accomodate overboring to the correct size for an appropriate tailshaft seal. We had to build up the diameter of the end of the housing, then machine it for the proper seal. You'll notice that we even had to add some material on the inside of the shifter box so there wouldn't be a hole there. Gforce did not do this work - Kevin at the Gear Box did this work. To my knowledge, his is the only shop that has done this mod with the Datsun T5 housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 My Hurst shifter is actually quite a bit bigger in some ways than that one. I was able to use the stock console with a little trimming at the front of the opening. My shifter was the bolt-in for a Fox bodied Mustang. I ditched the goofy handle and bought the shortest pull back shifter that Hurst had in the catalog. I used my press to bend it about 1 1/2" closer to the driver. Here's a shot from SUmmit's site but you can't really see all of it: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 this may be REALLY dumb. is our datsun T5 the same as any other T5 minus the bell housing? could you order an new T5 and put on the old bell housing? something like this? http://www.g-forcetransmissions.com/tran_gt-5.asp and another one, would dog gears be a big no no for street use. just another while im at it syndrome. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 this may be REALLY dumb. is our datsun T5 the same as any other T5 minus the bell housing? could you order an new T5 and put on the old bell housing? something like this? http://www.g-forcetransmissions.com/tran_gt-5.asp and another one, would dog gears be a big no no for street use. just another while im at it syndrome. jimbo No, it's not a dumb question and its not obvious. The Datsun tailshaft housing is unique in that the shifter box is located farther rearward than either the Ford or Chevy variants. The trans I showed above uses the gForce gearset with the Datsun bellhousing and modified tailshaft housing. Also, the Datsun gearset housing is non-WC and is too small, so you need to replace it with a WC gearset housing. We used a Ford WC housing for the gearset and the Datsun bellhousing and Tailshaft housing bolted right up. I was tempted to go with the dog gears, as Kevin was pretty sure he could set one up with a synchro'ed 1st and dog gears on the rest, but it sounds like it would be extremely impractical for the street. Here is a side view of a ford t5: Here's one for a Camaro: Compare those again to the tailshaft housing in the above pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayolives Posted March 11, 2007 Author Share Posted March 11, 2007 Update on the T5 Installation. I received the T5 from G Force a few days ago. I found G Force to be easy to deal with and the gear box was shipped to me in about two weeks after they received the core I sent to them. The installation was straight forward with no surprises. I had a new 3" aluminum drive shaft made due to the difference in length of the T5 compared to the 78 box a had been using. No modifications were needed to the tunnel area but the T5 does set forward about an inch more that the stock gear box and the Long shifter I installed does set up higher and through the hole in the tunnel. I don't know how this would effect those who have all the stock interior stuff around the shifter due to my car being a gutter track car with only the bare essentials. I haven't driver the car yet but will be at Road Atlanta next weekend for a track event and I will post my driving impressions at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HB280ZT Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 So if the shifter sits 1" forward then you can see about moving the motor and tranny back 1" to compensate for it, at least that is what I would like to do in my car!! I just picked up an 82 280ZXT T-5 to eventually put in 77 280Z. So if you can post any pictures it will help me in the long run. So what did the tranny shop do to your T-5? HB280ZT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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