T-5 interest

[Phoenix]

Todd, Ricky Slade's GT will be far from stock. He's made a full frame for it and has made the front end 3 inches longer.

pic

[neuropel]

Ahh, OK....I remember seeing pictures of his car now.

So if Ricky's Camaro T5 will hold up to a V8, it sure seems like these trannys should be able to handle the HP and torque of a 4 cylinder CIH Opel, even turbo charged, yadda yadda yadda. It all really comes down to what it would cost to get the transmission geared effectively for our application.

Todd

[cherokee]

Originally Posted by rowdygt For hardcore performance...perhaps a T-5 hybrid using a world class camaro T-5 with an S10 tailshaft. That would give you a more desirable gear ratio with the shifter in the correct location in the car.

If you want a regular T-5 that will hold together under some big HP#'s you need to talk to gforce, they can also fix you up with what ever ratio you want for "normal" cut gears. They have some pretty nice stuff over there. And they can beef up just about any config of T-5 that you want them to. If you have a grocery getter that you want OD in that is do-able with a T-5, if you have a full on race motor that is do-able with the same T-5 with different guts.

When I talked to them several months ago they could make a S10 tranny in what ever ratios I wanted, in a dog box config, that would live behind a pretty hot opel motor. All for less then a "real race" transmission, All I need is the adapter plate. Now if Oldopelguy is building a plate to mount up the the T-5 that is just one less step I have to do. It would also be nice to have OD in the wifes DD

[opelbits]

Originally Posted by namba209 That's what I get for not re-reading the original post. According to the info Bob loaded a bit ago, check column "B", there's 18mm difference in the input shaft length, and IDK if the pilot bearing dimensions are the same for each input shaft. Hopefully Stephen has all that figured out as to which tranny/input shaft will work with the adapter plate he's getting made. The difference beween the two S-10 trannies listed is only .2mm which shouldn't make a difference, but the others may not work. I'll just sit back and watch as this unfolds, so as not to throw any more garbage in the game.

Some more garbage:

I was looking at T5's and what was needed to put one behind a Ford 351C. The T5 input shaft was 3/4" (18mm) too long. There are two solutions, one is an adaptor plate that marries the T5 to an original 69-70 bellhousing, or, one company offers T5's/Tremecs with a shortened input shaft. The same company offers a shifter relocation modification that moves the shifter about as far forward as you can get it on the T5/Tremec. I'll see if I can find the link to their site.

If the adaptor plate is the right thickness, it would make up for a difference in input shaft length (provided the shaft is longer than the Opel shaft). This still leaves the matter of pilot bearing size and depending on what the T5 came out of, input shaft diameter.



Depending on price, I'd be up for a T5 to Opel adaptor.

[Ricky Slade]

From what I am told the tail shafts of either will fit the Borg Warner T-5. The S10 tailshaft being much shorter and the camaro a little longer.

[MantAscona]

Hey Todd,

Can I get a photo of that Chevette bell housing? Thanks.

Duane

[namba209]

O.K., based on what Stephen added, I can presume that the adapter plate will be for an S-10 T-5 and he has probably already checked the pilot bearing size and it is compatible with the Opel crank. Now let's look at what I have and see how it can equate to the Opel engine/T-5 setup. First I've got the 3.4L V-6 with an advertised 160 HP @ 4600 RPM and 200 ft.lbs torque @ 3600 RPM , and it revs really quick. I haven't checked what I'm doing in each gear/RPM. On my application, 1st gear is almost useless, I reach redline almost immediately, but it will leave marks on the asphalt. Paul Heebing left about 20 feet of rubber when he drove it. No noise, just rubber on the asphalt. 2nd gear can be used to take off with minimal clutch slippage and really puts you back in the seat. 3rd gear, with just a touch of throttle and your doing 30 MPH. 5th gear just a tad off Idle, about 1400 RPM and your doing 40 MPH. At 70MPH in 5th it's right at 2000 RPM. Once I get the fan belt problem figured out, I'll take it out and see what RPM in each gear equates to as far as MPH, up to the legal speed limit, or a bit beyond. Now the CIH engine, I presume will get RPM a bit slower than my V-6, and just maybe the S-10 T-5 will work quite nicely with that configuration, IDK. But I do know, with the shifter centered in the console hole on a GT, the driveshaft will go from an overall length of 22", including yoke and both U-joints. to 1/2 the length or 11", and can't be balanced by the driveshaft shops, but there is a way of doing it, installed in the car.

[neuropel]

Originally Posted by MantAscona Hey Todd, Can I get a photo of that Chevette bell housing? Thanks. Duane

Yes, I'll try to get pics posted here later this evening. Unfortunately I have two dead digital cameras at home as my son has misplaced our battery charger - WITH the extra set of batteries!

Todd

[oldopelguy]

The 4 and 6 cylinder GM t-5s use the same clutch splines and pilot bearings as our Opels, so that's not a problem but rather a plus. The input shaft is about 3/4" longer than the Opel one, but the adapter will be the right thickness to make up for that. The transmission is quite a bit longer than the 4-speed, IIRC about 4" longer than the auto trans, but the auto trans yoke should work so you will just need to get an auto driveshaft shortened. The main body of the transmission is not much longer than the Opel 4-speed, so you should be able to make the crossmember work out, but it will hang down quite a bit further which might make Manta/1900 instalations difficult depending on just where the exhaust crosses over.

When it comes to gear ratios, the gearing on the s-10 unit is wider than what most racers would find ideal. First gear is, though, quite a bit deeper than the Opel first gear. That means that if you had a low, numericly, rear end (3.18:1) you would still have a deep enough first to get off quickly. Tall gears also should tighten up the gear spacing, so you would get back some of that wide ratio too. I pretty much exclusivly run the Kadett automatic rear gears in my Opels, so this works for me.

I'm hoping to get these done for under $250, maybe even $175 if I get enough of them ordered and I do the thread tapping myself. They still don't have the first one done yet, though, so I won't know for sure until all is ready to go. I might even sacrifice a bell housing or two to use as jigs and drill the bolt holes myself too to bring costs down a bit more. As you can see the price is still a bit of a moving target at this point, which is why I'm not going to commit to anything yet. Once I have them in my hand and verify they'll bolt up I'll put the extras up for grabs, the issue now is how many extras am I going to try and buy.

[opelnut10]

Originally Posted by oldopelguy The 4 and 6 cylinder GM t-5s use the same clutch splines and pilot bearings as our Opels, so that's not a problem but rather a plus. The input shaft is about 3/4" longer than the Opel one, but the adapter will be the right thickness to make up for that. The transmission is quite a bit longer than the 4-speed, IIRC about 4" longer than the auto trans, but the auto trans yoke should work so you will just need to get an auto driveshaft shortened. The main body of the transmission is not much longer than the Opel 4-speed, so you should be able to make the crossmember work out, but it will hang down quite a bit further which might make Manta/1900 instalations difficult depending on just where the exhaust crosses over. When it comes to gear ratios, the gearing on the s-10 unit is wider than what most racers would find ideal. First gear is, though, quite a bit deeper than the Opel first gear. That means that if you had a low, numericly, rear end (3.18:1) you would still have a deep enough first to get off quickly. Tall gears also should tighten up the gear spacing, so you would get back some of that wide ratio too. I pretty much exclusivly run the Kadett automatic rear gears in my Opels, so this works for me. I'm hoping to get these done for under $250, maybe even $175 if I get enough of them ordered and I do the thread tapping myself. They still don't have the first one done yet, though, so I won't know for sure until all is ready to go. I might even sacrifice a bell housing or two to use as jigs and drill the bolt holes myself too to bring costs down a bit more. As you can see the price is still a bit of a moving target at this point, which is why I'm not going to commit to anything yet. Once I have them in my hand and verify they'll bolt up I'll put the extras up for grabs, the issue now is how many extras am I going to try and buy.

The S-10 transmission is indeed steeper geared than the Opel the best combination I can come up with is a Chevette Transmission or an Astro Van transmission with a S-10 tailshaft housing to get the shifter near the right place for the hole.

[opelnut10]

Go to Welcome to Flathead V8. ORG click on flathead ford techno site and scroll down to the first T-5 swap by Mike and it will give you more information on T-5 transmissions and gear ratios for all the GM T-5 applications.

[neuropel]

Here's the 84 Chevette T5 bellhousing pics. Curious to know everyone's thoughts! This was a $50 gamble for me, so I'm not out much if it doesn't work. I got it from ABC Autosalvage in North Platte, Nebraska.

Todd

[namba209]

Todd, only a couple of observations, that may need to be addressed. You'll have to fab a bracket to hold the clutch cable at the bell housing, and there's no way to adjust the arm pivot point that I can see. Maybe the rusty bolt on the back right of the housing is where it mounts and could be changed to an Opel type for adjusting the arm. It looks good though, even has a bump for the starter nose.

[neuropel]

OK...Duane and Bob, you're being AWFULLY quiet. Any notion or suggestions on this whole T5 thing?

Todd

[opelbits]

Todd-

After reading thru the Flatheads links, it says that the Chevette T5 uses the same trans to bell bolt pattern as the Fords, not the GMs. If this is correct, then the S10/Astro trans will not bolt up to it.

[neuropel]

I now see that as well. I'm wondering why the Chevette T5 is not listed in the chart? Anyone have info on where the shifter is, or what the gear ratios are?

Todd

[yellaopelgt]

chevette T-5 transmission gear ratios - Yahoo! Search Results

Lots of good info here...just not sure how much of it applies to our opels.

Does this help???
Joe

[opelbits]

(Wrong Info)

[yellaopelgt]

(delete)

[namba209]

Joe, the T-