Projects Just A Big Model (T)

As usual I'm absolutely helpless when left to my own devices.

It started innocent enough, a little bondo to clean up the front edges of the roof, and the seams on the back corners of the roof.





and I started knocking down the bondo, and it looked pretty good.



NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE

WHO BONDOED THE QUARTER PANEL?



Oh wait, that was me.

I figured with the bondo out and working on the roof, it wouldn't take that much more to clean up the weld seam on the sides of the body...



and I mean, we can pull the turtledeck off to make it easier to get to... right?



and I mean, while we have it off....



we can dig out some parts and build a roll pan... Right?



When I say these pieces were junk, they were JUNK.

The center panel is the one that was in the turtledeck on the car when I got it, and the rear corners were part of a deck that was so bad all I could save was the rear corners... and that's with a BUNCH of work.



After a ton of cutting and grinding, I got it sorta squared up and tacked together.



its hard to take a photo of the inside of the trunk, but i've over doubled the space, now @32fenderless wont complain about not having his makeup bag.



You can see the rear corners are turning out pretty decent, they aren't super smooth, but they are way less ugly.



and now that I've got it mounted up, I'm ready to pull it back off and weld it solid.



Oh I also found a neat little old license plate frame, and stuck it on there.

we'll see what tomorrow brings.



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Looking good!

 

Cool!
Gotta love the thrash to get ready for a road trip!

 

Tape a cardboard front closeout panel in and see how much that acts like a scoop.
Aw, you probably already whipped up a metal one...

 

Lookin good man. I remember you talking about wanting to build that lower trunk bit while we were roadtripping to PA last year.

 

gotta have a spot for his lawn chair

 

haha what you cant see in the picture of the inside of the trunk, I did already make a front. (pictures below)

Man I love the current wheels/tires, I may have to buck up and buy some new whitewalls for it one day.

 

I decided that I wanted to go meet up with some buddies at the rumble drags on Saturday, so I went hard at it on Friday night

Got the trunk roll pan welded up... and since I'm gonna rebuild it again once I get parts I'm currently waiting on but won't have until after my trip, I didn't even bother grinding the welds on the paper thin metal.



SEND IT.



purple on the outside, black on the underside.



The ribbed piece is an old package tray I had that I narrowed up and welded in.



It over doubles my trunk space, and its so nice.

After some time hanging out in the beautiful 69degree evening air,



and letting the paint dry for a bit, I had dad help load it back onto the car.



the next morning, I had to sort some stuff out, and I threw a heavy coat of black on the inside of the top, which of course made the outside of the semi-translucent fiberglass look awful, so I threw a light coat of white on top to bring it together.

I double checked some bolts and took off.



At about an hour, its the longest I've ridden in the car with the top, and it is so nice to be out of the wind, but oof it is really loud, I may need to put another baffle in the pipes.

but boy does it look cool.



And it was a good day, I got to see my buddy Nate from Florida, and he snapped this pic.



But the big thing was, I didn't make any runs this year.

as I pulled into the event my trans was making very unhappy noises.

From what I can tell, the 2nd gear syncros aren't too happy about life.

I drove it home and drained the fluid today, and it had some shiny brass metallic in it.

so we mulled over some options and I threw some Valvoline synchromesh in the trans, we'll see if it quiets down and I'll try to take it easy on the 1-2 shift.

I also re-installed the tall shifter, it will make entry/exit with top worse, but I'm more familiar with shifting that.

I also am finally checking boxes off the list and working on the passenger seat.



once that's done, I'm gonna nut/bolt check the car, do an oil change, and then we are in short strokes to get on the road.


oh and im gonna keep driving it and see what happens with the trans.


If anything happens you'll find it here!



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Starting to get some Take-out T vibes

 

Roll pan looks SICK. Good job on that.

 

man if I can get somewhere between your old T and Russ' unit, i'll be stoked.

It looks a little sickly right now, but it should only get better. The space is a game changer.

 

It really is coming together.

 

So you can carry a second pair of underwear now?

 

3 pairs.

 

allllllrighty...

So I did some more driving in in the T



when I came out, it looked like this thru the tinted window..



thought it looked kinda cool and vintage.

I finished the seat for the passenger side, all that's left is some paint.



had to do some testing in the seat. . .



I also did some work on the baffles, took out the single short baffle, and made a set of "double" baffles. I went from a 4" long baffle, and made it closer to 7"



It makes.... pretty much no difference..

But in driving it around, the trans started making more noise, and so I was forced to dig into the stash and pull out the $25 spare.



we opened it up and it looked minty inside.

so now I just had to figure out how to get the trans out.

I was worried that I would have to remove the motor and everything on the front of the car, but I started looking at it and realized if I cut out the driveshaft cover, I could probably get it to come up and out.

and after I sliced it, and plasma cut an inch off the end of the trans mount, It did come out.



I know what your thinking, how did he hold the motor up?



Yupp, that's a ratchet strap.

so after I pulled the trans, I started checking out the trans next to each other.



and after getting the trans opened up we found, what we figured we would...

this is a good syncro,



and this is what a few of mine look like....



very less good.

So I buttoned it back up and put it aside, I went into cleaning mode on the "new trans"



and after a few hours tonight of scrubbing and getting brake clean into the cuts on my hands, It started looking better.

I also cut the bottom mount off the tailshaft and started figuring out what else i had to do to make it fit.



Oh and I also put a bunch of brand new synchromesh through the trans.

I poured it in, and it went right out the tail end of the trans, onto the floor. (hence the glove over the end)

but in fiddling around I also found the tag on the trans I took out, and it turns out I was wrong this whole time!

Its a .82 overdrive, and the "new" one is a .72 overdrive!

this is awesome, cause it means it will be even better on the open road!



By the way, we leave in 14 days.

for the 2700 mile roadtrip.

Its never not a thrash.

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way cool!!! the double turtle back gives it a whole new look, and the top is spot on...a top will make or break a car, and the formula is so easy... even though the top is a hard top. the bow detail is spot on....the rear bow has to be higher than the windshield... or level and the head bow (center) has to be higher than the rear.... yours is perfect.... nice ride...

 

there's a thread that tells in detail how to proper fix all those hole and what caused them.....

 

I don't remember if you said, but is there any other type of header you had considered?

Spot on.

 

Thanks! I spent alot of time checking and rechecking that the top looked right to my eye. Glad to hear people agree.

I'm eventually thinking a set of east coast style manifolds and side pipes, but for this trip it will probably be just a set of turnouts for the current pipes.

 

WELL.

Mike came down again yesterday and helped button the swap up.

we spent most of the day getting the stuff sorted and back in the car.

pulled it outside in late afternoon,

stuck it into first gear,

rolled into the street, and BOOM.

popped out of first gear and smacked me right in the knee.

Shit.

so that started some frantic searching to see what causes that.



looks pretty much the same.



here you can see that I just screwed a backer to the center tunnel for the test ride.

I also haven't driven the car enough to charge the battery so it needed a boost.
(I think my GPS speedo memory must be draining the battery?)

ANYWAY

The general consensus seems to be the most likely culprit is worn shift fork inserts.

so I ordered a pair, but I'm gonna bust it apart on Monday and swap the top of the trans, along with shift forks, from the old trans, and see if it fixes the problem.

but the plus I keep looking forward to, is what I found looking into the numbers on the tags while I was swapping trans.

I always thought I had a .76 overdrive, but apparently I either looked at the wrong number, or just never looked...

but for the nerdy among you, here are the specs.

OLD Trans...4.03....2.37....1.49....1.00....0.86
......................1st......2nd.....3rd.....4th.....5th
NEW trans...3.78....2.18....1.42....1.00....0.72

so it should help even more with the fuel consumption on the trip.


Oh, and I'm gonna try and poke a new door in the shop tomorrow.


never a dull moment.


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That top looks great! Did you have to extend the splines on the new trans?

 

Thanks Mike! Yupp, had to do all the same things, and it went off without a hitch! . . . Well, that part did at least...

 

Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the mouse poop...

something like that.



I'm about sick of pulling apart T5 transmissions.

We were able to pull the tail housing off the transmission just enough to get the shift rail out, and the top cover just barely cleared the firewall.

so we snagged the newer top cover/ rail/ shift forks, on and took it back out for a drive.

And it was perfect! no popping out of first!

so later on that night I took dad for a ride, and we backed out of the driveway, shifted to first and .... BANG! right back out.




you ever almost run into a stop sign cause your trying to contain your rage at a car that you forget to hit the brakes and keep rolling while you're not looking where you're headed?



Yeah me neither.

So here's the situation.

We're going.

whether we can still shift into first gear when we get back or not.

so wish us luck, but let me tell you, its SO much more better on the highway.
80 used to be 3000 rpm, but now its 2500 rpm.

so now back to some other stuff, Roof? Headers?

did I mention I added a new door to the shop and rearranged all my junk? no? ok.


till next time.




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Lots of dudes out there driving around with '39 style transmissions and having to hold it in second gear, it's traditional.

 

It really is, start looking and you’ll notice more than one hook under a dash board.

it ain’t for the phone charger

 

Is the old T5 the s10 14 spline input shaft unit? And the new one the 26 spline World class Camaro/mustang/firebird unit?

I have an s10 one and I'm debating changing it out eventually for a camaro unit as first isnt great and 70mph is 2200 RPM in 5th for me.

Gordy

 

both are from s10's, the old one came from a 1989 s10, and the new one, with the higher gearing, came from a 1985 s10.

you can search yours on BritishV8.com and get the gearing figured out.

 

Sorry about that, but a 35 dollar trans can't always be counted on to operate perfectly.
Glad you were able to sneak the top out without major disassembly. Cramped quarters requires more attention paid to servicing.
Finished 'glassing in the floor on mine. Firewall and brakes next.