Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

Installed the 5th gear/reverse lever shift fork installed with idler gear fork, spring, and shaft.

 

Knowing that the reverse idler gear needed to be replaced, I should have looked a little more closely at the mating gear on the main shaft. Having a closer look at it now, it clearly is pooched as well. I have two other spare trans, and they are also fooked. So, will have to order one up, with all the bits needed when you disassemble the main shaft. D’oh!

 

I've used transmissions with reverse gear teeth that looked that bad or worse. They work okay.
It's the forward gears that need to be nice.

 

Yeah probably since this thing will never be Hwy driven, but it’s the OCD engineer in me. Started disassembling the main shaft, and several of the forward gears look less than ideal as well. The forward gears (dog teeth) on the one spare shaft look much better, but the dog teeth are not the same shape/style, so not sure why and if it matters.

 

Some more disassembly of the main shaft. Next to is get the 5th gear off the other end of the shaft. Once that is off, it will be completely disassembled. Will see if I can use any of the parts from the other two T5s’ I have.



Wonder if this will buff out?



Wonder what happened here?

 

The welded speedo drive I believe is when a camaro t5 gears/case are used with an s10 t5 tail shaft, been a long time but I remember something like that.

 

Main shaft is now completely disassembled. Left message with Hanlon Motorsport for tech help. Before I disassemble the second main shaft I want to know if I can use/interchange the gears with the different style dog teeth.

 

Man when you build you build...much like others here...you Hambers are amazing...

 

Not much progress. Had to finally deal with my garage door which had stopped working a couple months back. Had replaced the belt twice before that (old unit from 1989). Decided to just get a new unit. Wanted them to deal with the install, but they were booked out a whole month. As I’m leaving the store, guy tells me to check the springs. Get home, and yep, one is broken. So, go back next day with the busted spring to get a new one. Get two new springs. Install them, then notice they are 10” shorter than the old one. Damn! So, go back again the following day. All in all took me 5 half days of futzing around with the door to get it working.
Think I finally figured out what I’m going to buy.
1. New second gear
2. New reverse/(1-2) slider gear
3. New (3-4) syncro gear
4. Small parts kit (shims, spacers, snap rings, etc.)
5. New seals (input/output)
6. New shift fork pads
7. New 2nd gear needle bearing
8. New 3rd gear needle bearing (if I can find one as they all seem to be out of stk of this item.

Hopefully, I’ll get everything ordered today. Took a while just to figure all that out.

Also, figured out the trans is a 87 Mustang WC unit and not a 93 or later unit.
Now working on what needs to be done (again) to the front bearing retainer snout to fit the Ford throw-out bearing. Had to dig up this old thread.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/c59a-ford-flathead-ford-t5-1994.1267302/

 

Got the input shaft bearing pressed on. Wouldn’t go on all the way with my homemade adapter which I made earlier. Luckily, I found an aluminum sleeve in one of the drawer of spare T5 parts.

 

Installed the front bearing retainer with bearing race and input shaft to measure how far it was protruding from the front face of the main case. Hard to measure, but was around 7.1875”. I think in the other thread, it was mentioned the shorter shaft (which is what is installed now) should be protruding 7.12”.

 

Did some more head scratching/measuring and came up with the following:

1. Distance from rear of pilot bearing race to rear face of the MDL Adapter as 6.358”.
2. Pilot bearing is supposed to have a thickness of 0.472”.
3. Therefore, theoretical max length of the input shaft protruding from the front face of the main body would be 6.830” (6.358 + 0.472).

However, from my other thread I mentioned there was a larger diameter chamfer at the end of the crankshaft. This chamfer had a depth of about 0.333”. So, if you add that distance, to the above measurement you get 7.163”. I thought this was pretty close to the 7.12” distance that the input shaft protrudes from the front of the main case, so I decided to install the trans with the input shaft and see if the pilot portion of the input shaft could go in deep enough without causing any interference. Guess what, it went in all the way, so there really is no need to further shorten the input shaft. Glad I mocked it up. A little extra work, but worth it.

 

Now off to the machine shop to drop off the front bearing retainer so they can make the sleeve for a 1.750” ID Ford throw out bearing.

 

Showed up at the machine shop and they were no longer there. Thought WTH, and now where do I go. Googled their number and called them. Someone picked up and it turns out they just moved down the street. Dropped it off. No big deal for them. They even asked me if I wanted the sleeve made from cast iron to match that of the bearing retainer casting. Said, steel was good enough. No receipt, no quote, just scribbled my name and number on a scrap pc of paper. Lol!

 

Ordered the pilot bearing and hub assy along with the spring from Speedway. Was going to order the clutch disc as well, but they only sold it with the pressure plate which I don’t need as I’m going to try to use the original setup. Now need to find where I can purchase a 11” dia clutch to fit the the T5 Ford input shaft which is a 10-spline 1.0625” (1-1/16”) dia.

 

Was going to order the gears etc from Hanlon Motorsports where I had previously purchased stuff, but then checked out TheGearBox. Some stuff was almost half the price, with savings of about CAN$125, so will give them a call tomorrow.

 

Machine shop called. Part was ready, so went and got it. Holy hell! CAN$372!!!

 

Yep. Just in case you think I’m full of it…

 

No I believed you. I've been watching the machining u tube videos and have an appreciation of the set up times for custom work. I've been following along as my t5 needs a rebuild.

Phil

 

Didn’t mean you personally. Lol!

 

Dragged in the Model A rear axle from out under the deck. Going to mock it up on the frame. Been years since I touched it. Damn! Those tapers look like hell!

 

Also found the Astro Van T5 shifter adapter. Going to see if it can be adapted to move the shifter to the outside of the vehicle body just like back in the day. Will be a while before I get to that though. Lol!

 

Positioned the axle in approximate location. Needs to be about a 1/4” higher. Pretty close to the rear crossmember. Will have to check my layout drawing. This thing is starting to look huge!

 

The trans is reinstalled. Driveshaft will be pretty short. Less than 24”. Need to order the yoke for the output shaft. IIRC someone makes a yoke for the diff. Will need to dig this stuff again. I want to make the bracketry that will attach to the grand to mount the rear springs. It would be nice to have this thing become a rolling chassis within the next couple of months.

 

Just spent about a hour going through this thread, not sure how I missed it before. I am really impressed with your design and skills, Ziggster. Only change would some fake rocker arms exposed on the heads to make it look like a real JAP for the visual effect.

 

Decided to start working on the exhaust for a bit of a change. My pilot bearing assy and spring arrived in Ogdensburg, NY yesterday. Still need to order the other trans parts. My buddy is supposed to visit in a couple weeks and he also needs to get some stuff he had shipped to Ogdensburg.
Decided to use some JB Weld high-temp epoxy to smooth out the welds after grinding. Tired up filing up voids with welds and then having to grind them flush. Will be interesting to see how easy (or not) it is to work with after it hardens.

 

The JB Weld sands out nicely. Can’t believe I’m actually doing this. This is my OCD/ADHD kicking into high-gear. I’m an idiot. Wish I could weld better. I’m surprised at how little epoxy remains though. Just finishing off both collector pipes and the exh flanges will be at least a couple weeks of work for me. Ahhh…

 

Starting to get ready to cut the smaller collector tubes. Luckily I still had copies of the template in my build folder. I swear that can of 3M Super 77 adhesive is at least 10 yrs old and it works just as well as the day I purchased it. Crazy!