hey guys my dad has a 41 Chevy pickup. he wants to get rid of the back rear with the torque tube and install a newer rear end from like a 55 Chevy. He also wants to install into the truck a overdrive 5 speed tranny. (from like a s10 truck or something) behind a 235 6 cylinder. he has the 235 in the truck with stock bell housing and rear end in the truck right now. any help would be appreciated in tracking down what s10 truck tranny we need weather its out of a 4 or 6 cylinder or any years. please give us your info if you guys know anything about these trannys or any overdrive tranny we may be able to find out in the junkyards. any help is appreciated thanks for taking your time to read any reply.
I put a 95 s10 trans behind my 235. Got an adapter plate from Snarl. Works great. Used a 1984 Monte Carlo rear end, and put matching gears in it. Should be a lot better on the highway. Still trying to finish up the brakes and some odds and ends.
I have a 37 p/u with a 235 and done that swap and its easy,contact Buffalo enterprises (dont have phone number at hand) for a adapter or modified bellhousing and you can use a 4 or 6 cylinder trans. I think the 2.5 and 2.8 motors used the same trans and the 4.3 got one with different ratios,I am using a trans that came behind a 2.8 in my 37 and it has a little steeper first gear which works well with my too tall 2.79 gears. Used to know the part number for the clutch disc but forgot (V6 Astro?) but get in touch with Buffalo enterprises and talk with them as they will tell you everything you need to know on the swap.
I'm using a 5 speed from a 97 4.3 S-10 in my Model A. It has the normal GM 1 1/8 10 spline input, SBC style bellhousing pattern, concentric slave cylinder. I'm also using the clutch master cylinder and hose that match that tranny. I had to take apart the shifter tower, heat and bend the lever, and make a stick from round tubing and flatflat 1/4" steel. You would need an adapter to match up to the 235. Low gear ratio in this transmission is fairly low. I think it would be good for a truck, but I wouldn't try to overwork it.
Depending on the bellhousing thats being used a adapter will be needed,47 and up truck and 55 and up car have the modern bolt pattern but the 46 on back truck and 54 and back cars have a much different bolt pattern. Ooops read the previous post wrong,I thought it said a adapter was not needed.
'87 and older S10 T-5's had a mechanical cable speedo drive; '88 and newer has the electronic speedo, you're probably going to want the older version that is set up for a speedo cable. I'd consider the rear end from the same S10 you get the trans from, should be pretty close to right width for your truck.
The best option for you is to use a truck bellhousing from a 1948-59 vintage truck. This will give you the "typical" Chevy wide bolt pattern and 4 11/16" center hole. Then find a T5 from a 1983-89 vintage S10 with the cable driven speedo. Some years used both cable driven and electric, so put your eyes on it before you buy. These years of S10 T5 usually used a 4.03 or 3.76 first gear, so a rearend gear of 3.42 or 3.55 is going to probably work out the best for overall driving, especially with a stock 235. This assumes a rear tire diameter of around 27". Do you want 5 or 6 lugs? if you want to stay with 6, try a '70's vintage full size blazer. Your options are better if you go with 5 lugs, but then your looking at 2 different spare tires or changing the frontend over to 5 lugs also. '55-64 Chevy cars, '83-up 4x4 S10's, '68-74 Nova and a few others are what most people use, assuming a "normal" sized rim. Keep in mind that the S10 T5 has a longer input shaft and bearing retainer than the stock 3spd, so you will either need to drop about $150 on a special spacer, or do the following: trim about 3/8" off the tip of the input shaft. trim 1" off the bearing retainer. run a 1/2" drill bit through the 4 mounting holes. You will need to replace the clutch disc with a 14 spline one. They are available in 9 1/8", 9 5/8", 10 1/2" or 11".
There are a couple of threads on the forum. Start with the link in my signature line and go from there...you'll have plenty of questions. Snarl has pre-emptively answered most of them!
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