Anyone want to hazard a guess wether or not this can be made to work? It dawned on me the other night I know a guy with a good Stude V8 stored in his pole barn, lubed up good with the heads off. When I saw it it just needed to go back together, even the paint on the block looked nice. Given gas prices are getting out of hand (probably be over $3/gal by June), I thought a T5 might let me get decent gas milage in whatever I put the motor in (having designs on building a 30-31 A pickup). I know BW made Studebaker automatics, but not sure who made their manual trans, and that could mean nothing as far as the bolt pattern or the input shaft length, but who knows. I'd have to find some Stude V8 manual bells and see what fits up - I figure it's easier to find an 83-88 T5 that's in good shape than try to find a '60's Stude 3-speed OD in anything close to useable shape. With any luck, the small V8 shouldn't tax the trans any more than a 4.3 V6 would, either. Anyways, thought I'd toss it out there - if no one here knows, then no one knows at all - (laughs)
i used a t-10 from a studey hawk behind a 283 in my 61 chev hardtop, back in the day. if i rememder correctly we had to take the mainshaft out and turn down the pilot bearing dia. everything else bolted up. hope this helps riverrat
Since the early '60s Hawks used Chevy T-10 four speeds, this should be no more difficult than using a T-5 behind a small block, as long as you can scare up one of the Chevy transmission pattern bell housings.
Just, FYI, as all the answers already seem to be here, BW made all the early Stude trannies as well. The T-85 3-speed was a relative to (perhaps the basis for) the T-10 4-speed. In fact, I've heard realy good things about the T-85 OD that was offered in the Studebaker.
I had an idea maybe Stude and Chevy shared the same trans for a while there, I know by the end they had Chevy motors in them anyways. Sounds like just a matter of the right year bellhousing and maybe a Stude trans to have a pattern for any input shaft alterations. Thanks guys - I could see running a stock T-85 OD, it's just a matter of finding a good one - not easy to do when all the Stude parts cars I can think of, not a single one has run maybe in my entire lifetime (30 years or so). A T-5 I aught to be able to find one that was on the road last month, at a u-pull-it .... Looks like a 4.3 is around 155 BHP, a Stude 259/2bbl is around 180 with a lower compression ratio (9.3:1 vs 8.3:1). 4-bbl stock carb bumps it to 196. My truck book shows the ratings in brake horsepower up through the '90's anyhow. Shouldn't be pushing the T5 too hard in a light little truck, I wouldn't think. Dumb question I can probably look up the answer for: Would an 80's Mustang T5 be any better? I can't remember if the Ford one has the same bolt pattern as the Chevy version, I just remember that after a certain year they have a cast-in bell.
i have a 3 speed overdrive in a 50 studebaker, even though it only has a 6 cylinder i get around 28 miles per gallon at 65 mph......everyday driver in the summer months
go for a camaro/firebird one, use s10 tailshaft, as detailed on inliners.org, tech tips. pre88 and it shouldn't be a problem. 89 and newer speedo housings won't align. mustangs may have the same guts, but the cases don't match. Astro vans w/4.3s had larger clutches, safe bet the gears are a little tougher. seems the weakness is in the case itself.
I just read that '60's Ford toploaders will bolt on where a Stude 3-speed was, wondered if the Mustang version shared that pattern - apparently a '61-2 Hawk 4-speed bell isn't the easiest thing to scare up. I know the 89-up S10 runs an electronic speedo, so don't want that - been through a lot of the basics to put one behind a 235. I figure worst case you'd have to make an adapter to run one behind the more easily found bell - and like the one for Chevy 235, it could correct for input shaft length at the same time. More digging - Looks like the input shaft might actually be shorter on the T5. But another option is a later Stude truck V8 bell, which has a wider surface and could be redrilled for the T5. Not easy to find, but I do know where there is a Stude school bus that I think has a V8 in it, and there's two or three pickups up there too. Still more digging - looks like the Ford version bolts to the truck bell with no mods except to the bearing retainer mounting base. Bell has to be dialed in if it didn't come on the motor from original, but that shouldn't be the end of the world. Was suggested to use a 90-91 Mustang unit as they were beefier, but no mention is made of an electronic speedo drive on these.
The Jalopy Journal
