Thanks for the information! Question: I'm Building an old school 31 coupe and I have a Chevy 350 going in it. I was wondering what is a good factory 5 speed transmission that would work with my 350?
A World Class (V8) T5 will work fine on a mild 350. Think Camaro/Firebird, just don't use that bellhousing. Pay no mind to those that say otherwise. Many have no experience with any of them other than that which were questionable ones that were pulled from a wrecking yard, or are otherwise unaware that the Borg Warner torque ratings are for continuous application, not peak shock loading. If you are running slicks, and expect to be in the mid-10's in the quarter mile, there are ways to beef them up.
Listen to Gimpy. I've done several with the stock shifter which is tight to the seat and several with the S10 tail shaft which puts the shifter midway between the seat and dash. For an A or deuce with under the floor pedals I use a Chevy 10.5 inch bell housing with provisions for the pivot ball on the right side. I cut out the embossed area on the right side for the clutch arm and weld the cut out piece in the left hole, drill and tap the right hole for the pivot ball and use the stock Chevy clutch arm and boot with a Willwood pull mc. May sound complicated but it's a simple deal that clears up the left side for the pedals and exhaust. Wish I could post a picture, when done it looks like a factory installation. Done quite a few with not a problem.
If needed, the S10 mechanical speedometer tail housing is reproduced. There are inexpensive kits on eBay that will put the speedometer gear where it need to be for that. The only other thing needed for the swap is a shifter rail, and those can be had used, cheap, on eBay, too. As far as I know, you can take an electronic speedometer World Class T5, and put a S10 mechanical speedometer tail housing on it, and use the gear relocator to put the gear where it needs to be. That bellhousing, if I remember correctly, has a part number that ends in 403 (and I think there is more than one part number). They can be had for not much coin. They are only $180 OEM new. I even have an "extra" one! The trick that makes these work is that they have a mirrored unfinished spot for a clutch fork pivot on the right side, and an unfinished clutch fork hole, as shown below. It is pretty easy to open those up to move the clutch fork to the other side, It is a "global" part number, so it even has the z-bar pivot boss on the right side!
Hey Gimpy , That link list the part as used,,,,not brand new . The pic shows new,,,,but the description states used . Tommy
Thanks for the usual outstanding info from Krylon and from Gimpys, really good stuff. Another advantage of swapping to an S10 tail housing is that the rear mount is returned to the conventional GM 2 bolt horizontal pad that we know and love. The WC V8 Camaro and Firebird T5's were used from 1988 to 1992 , I believe. Not easy to find but if you keep after it they do turn up. In my area they are about double the cost of a Mustang V8 version. There is also a really scarce bell housing that was used in some (mid 70's I think) YJ jeeps with the iron duke 4 banger. Find one of those bells and you can bolt the Mustang V8 T5 to your SBC.
Correction: I had to look it up. "The 151 (2.5L) inline 4 engine was used in '80-'83 CJs including the CJ-8, CJ-7, and CJ-5. " "The neat part about the engine is it has the same bell housing bolt pattern as a Chevy small block. The bell housing makes a great low buck Ford/Jeep to Chevy adapter since it is basically Ford on the transmission side and Chevy on the engine side"
I've got an AX 15 out of a 96 Dodge Dakota with a 318 with a Novak adapter. I sold the 318 bellhousing on Ebay for enough to cut the cost of the adapter down a lot. The Jeep guys get in bidding wars for those. That's going behind the 292 in my 48 and the plan is to run a modified stick off an old SM420 that came to me full of sand and water.
"A World Class (V8) T5 will work fine on a mild 350. . . . If you are running slicks, and expect to be in the mid-10's in the quarter mile . . ." (They musta shortened it since my days.)
Or, if you have some Wheaties under the hood, order a Tremec TKX from Summit or Jegs. Hurts to spend 3K, but it’s nice to have the piece of mind that you won’t blow it up. -Abone.
Other things to think about is what gearset and ratios are in the transmission. There are a lot of T5's with a wide-ratio gear set that makes 1st gear so low that many don't even use it. Lots of guys don't mind this, but I like to have the close-ratio gearset with the 2.95 first and then I also swap out the OD gearset to a .82 road-race version. Of course, I also run a quick change, so I can change the rear to match what I'm doing at the time.
So tell me the story about the new kid on the block, the AR5? Been helping my boss out with his vette and he asked me if I knew where he could get a 5 speed out of a Colorado or canyon truck. I asked why in the hell he'd want one of those, and he told me the story of how these guys are running them behind big horsepower and torque. After looking it up, the bellhousing and clutch kits to hang them on a sbc and LS are apparently becoming a big market. He said that in his road racing vette forums they are saying how they used to pick them up for $200, but now that the word is on the street, they're going over a grand. I found him one for $300 at my buddy's junkyard. I know it's off topic, but they are running this transmission behind turbo LS Colorado trucks. So they might be worth checking out?
As t5's are getting kind of scarce Even here in the junk yards of Southern California. I got to say I'm interested especially if it is a transmission that can take more power than say a t5 or a new venture 3500... Both those transmissions are great for stockhsh 283s but I would like to see something that could take a 550+ horsepower built small block. I am was totally oblivious to the AR-5 I didn't know it existed until just now Now I want to know too. I would like to know what kind of power is claimed they can take, What kind of aftermarket support do they really have I mean who cares they built up to a small block Chevy great but how about flatheads 235 inline sixes, Buick nailheads stuff like that.
https://sites.google.com/view/vortec4200wiki/manual-trans-overview/gm-ma5-aisin-ar5 A quick little article about the transmission
Supposed to be a badass little dude, but I've never owned one. He sent me a link the other day to a company that had all of the bellhousing and clutch kits for them. All I paid any attention to was the small block stuff. I don't have the link now but I think the complete kit for a sbc was $900.
I'm running an NV3500 from a mid-90s S10 4.3 behind the 350 in my model A. It's got an integrated bell housing, and no provision for a mechanical speedo so it may not be what everyone is looking for, but I've had no issues with it.
Hydraulic instead of mechanical, with no clutch fork protruding from the bellhousing might be a positive for some, and rated to 300 ft/lbs. Just make sure you don't get the C-series (full size pickup) version with the steeper first gear.
I am not sure if your comment was directed at me or not. I found a t5 at a local LKQ Pick-A-Part here in Southern California about a year ago in a 1987 Chevrolet Astro van... I think it was on this site no more than a day or two before I had read the astrovan's had a t5 in them But they were really rare... My buddy and I were going to pull a new venture 3500 out of an S10 at that junkyard and he happened to look through the window and see a stick shift. Long story short I grabbed it I grabbed the shifter out of a four-cylinder S10 I don't remember the year now because on the Astro van it had a weird divorced shifter thing. I bought a performance clutch from RockAuto for the Astro van and I think I used the starter and flywheel from a 1969 Chevy Impala I don't remember now I got it wrote down somewhere. I have no idea if the t5 is good or not but I would imagine in a 31 Model A pickup with a mildly built 283 it will be just fine That being said if I break it I don't want to deal with it again so I will want to upgrade, Colorado's are pretty common in Pick-A-Part right now as they are getting to the end of their useful life and if they take 500 plus horsepower they are the perfect hot rod transmission. Well that depends if they fit underneath the floor or not.
I was going to use a Stewart Warner satellite Speedo as they look traditional.when I was going to run a NV3500. The plus side is with a satellite Speedo as you no longer got to worry about it being accurate or not or which speedo gear to make it accurate. I thought the S10 trans was a pretty slick setup and having abused a few s10s in my younger years The transmission will take a fair amount of abuse. I thought it was perfect for a small block setup since it bolted right up. How do you like the S10 trans? Do you have any complaints?
No idea if the NV3500 is a great Hot Rod transmission. They are pretty stout .... I love mine in my OT chebby truck with 350/5spd. The bell housing is integrated into the transmission. My neighbor has a 1965 chebby truck with same 350/NV3500 ... fun trucks to drive. Might be a bit big for a model A .... Finally got this one stabbed last night after replacing the clutch .... now the fun begins trying to bleed the slave cylinder.
I have no complaints. I drive the car regularly and have had no issues at all. I wouldn't hesitate to use a NV3500 in future builds.
I agree except for the 4.1 low rear I have one behind a 270 hemi using your torque flite adapter running a stock hemi flywheel with a 143 tooth ring gear did cut the ring gear step to make the starter gear to line up.
I've looked into the AX15 - looks like a really good trans and at a more reasonable cost than a new Tremec TKX. The only beef I have with it is that first gear is pretty much designed for a Jeep . . . 3.83. I like a closer-ratio transmission - but that is just me.
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