Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

Good to know as I never have driven anything with a T5. I just found this guy on YT. His vid(s) are so much better much than the one I watched with Eric the Car Guy & Paul from GearBoxVideo. Any fool should be able to rebuild a T5 after watching his vid. Lol! I think I’m only going to replace the idler gear, input shaft (need shorter version), seals. and an upgraded countershaft retainer plate as the orig is mangled pretty good.





Shorter input (9.25”) shaft that will match the 23 tooth count I have, but it might be too short as I think I only needed it to be about 0.25” shorter. My shaft is 10” long.

 

Upgraded countershaft bearing retainer plate.

 

Looking good.

 

Although my t5 was from a chev s10 I did have to trim a 1/4" off the nose of my input shaft to fit it to my chev 283 using the truck bell. I also had to slightly extend the splines as well to prevent the clutch disk from binding.

Phil

 

Will need to go back through this thread I posted last year. I want to mock-up the whole affair with the engine and trans, but I am waiting on the pilot bearing for the flywheel, and need to sort out the rope seal installation so I can finally install the oil pan.

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

 

Cool build. Looking forward to see how it goes!

 

Pilot bearing arrived. Had to think for a few seconds on which way it should be installed as one side isn’t sealed. Also picked up some magnets and hardware for the dipstick base. Will use JB Weld to secure magnet to drain plug. Thinking of just using some slotted SS screws and nylon nuts to secure dipstick base to pan. Been dragging my ass to finish sanding the touch up areas I used JB Weld, but will do it now. Cleaned up the excess silicone around the cleanout plate. This pan was/is a project in itself considering the condition it started in.

 

This also arrived. They mentioned it in one of flathead build books so thought I would try it. Worth getting just because of the pic. Lol!

 

Hoping this is the last of the “touch-ups” to the pan. Seems one step forward and two steps back. Going to pull the plug on a new 11”clutch disc, T5 input shaft bearing retainer (cast iron), shorter input shaft, and heavy-duty countershaft bearing retainer.

 

By some miracle I was able to drill out the snapped M6 cover bolt without destroying the original threads too much. Broke 3 drill bits in the process. Retapped threads are a little loose, but should be good enough for a cover bolt.

 

Oil pan is finally finished. Will install it today hopefully.

 

Forgot I had purchased a flywheel cover and started finishing off the orig. Was going to blast the one I purchased and use it instead, but then just noticed this nice crack. Have no gas left on my MIG machine, so will use the orig. Just need to remove the busted bolt and finish coat.

 

Using Dupli-Color Cast Coat Iron. Got to do the MDL Hog’s Head Adapter.

 

Drilled out busted bolt. Caught the threads a bit, but came out easy. Decided to tackle the crack on the flywheel cover and broken spot weld securing the end of the reinforcement plate on the orig. Also hammered out some of the dings on the orig. Always more monkey work than expected. Luckily, there was a bit more gas left in my cylinder even though it’s not reading any pressure. Regulator pressure was dropping though.

Orig flywheel cover.




Extra flywheel cover.

 

Got the flywheel inspection cover welds sanded, bead blasted, and primed.

 

MDL adapter bead blasted and first coat. Also decided to touch up the T5 tail housing as there were a couple of drip marks. Same with the Hog’s Head adapter as somehow it got some black spray marks on it. The person I purchased it from did a very nice job of blasting and painting it. It also has the Dupli-Colour Cast Coat Iron. Can’t remember if it was a coincidence or if I chose that colour to match. Now onto installing the pan.

 

Finally installed the pan. It was a royal pain in the a$$. Ended up trimming the rope seal that was already installed in the timing cover. Used one OLFA 1” blade as a stand-off guide. Still ended up trimming it crooked with more material sticking up near the crank/pulley surface. Used the Gasgacinch gasket sealer, but ended up adding a few dabs of silicone gasket sealant around the seal and areas where the cork gasket wasn’t adhering too well (especially around the round recesses on the block at the pan surface. Installed the flywheel before installing the rear cork gasket going over the rear main seal. That was a mistake, so had to remove the flywheel to get access. Still, it was a bit$h installing it as it was a bit too wide. Also had to trim off about 1/8” as it was too long. Didn’t apply any sealant on the surface that mates with the pan. Hope that is good. When torquing the flywheel bolts, I noticed one had a smaller head (5/8” vs 11/16”), and another bolt wouldn’t set when torqued to 85 ft-lbs. Didn’t understand why. When I removed the flywheel, I noticed that bolt was slightly longer with less of a shoulder. It sure if this is supposed to be this way,. They are all new from 3rd Gen. Will call Mike on Monday.

 

T5 with MDL adapter and Hog’s Head adapter. Will mock-up to block later today hopefully. Want to install starter next.

 

Flywheel cover installed.

 

T5 and adapters bolted to block. Couldn’t get one of the bolts for the Hog’s Head Adapter to line up with the female nut in the flywheel cover.

 

Engine and transmission. back in chassis.

 

I want to get the engine running next. Was supposed to do that last year when I built the test stand. Not much left to do to the engine other than install the starter, intake, distributor, and generator. Starter and generator have been rebuilt as well as the distributor and carb, so in theory there should be no issues with them. I will need to finish off the exhaust collectors though before running the engine. Also starting to think of how to mechanically make the clutch, brakes, and fuel linkages all work. Also need to figure out the steering. Now that it is a one-seater speedster, I can’t use the Model A column/shaft. I’ll need one of those offset gear driven units. Not sure what they’re called or where I can get one. Will need to research all this stuff.

 

Will pick up some gas for the welder today. Got one more tube to weld onto one collector, and still need to fab up the other collector. Also need to weld all the tubes to the exh manifold plate. Purchased some Lucas Hot Rod & Classic 10W30 oil for the cam break-in period. Supposed to be a high Zinc content oil. I know there has been a lot of controversy here over the years on the topic of zinc in oil. However, after watching a bunch of vids lately from Nick’s Garage, he is a staunch believer in high zinc content for the cam break-in on flat tappet/lifter cam combos. He even said he uses a zinc additive on top of using a high zinc content oil. He’s definitely old school, but all he does is build engines and mostly for a lot of high-end cars/clients. Should visit his shop one day as it is only a couple of hrs from my place.
Also, my engine has been sitting around now for a couple of years since it left the machine shop, so just another reason to take any and all precautions to avoid some screw up.

 

Ordered some internals etc for the T5 last week from Hanlon Motorsports, and just ordered the shaft bearings from RockAuto. They seem have the best prices fir bearings compared to what I’ve seen from most vendors. Just need order some seals.
Was wondering if I can adapt the Model A steering to a cowl design. Thoughts?

 

Starter installed. Cleaned up the threads on the thru bolts and female nuts on the pan but was still a bit of a bugger to get the bolt started next to the pan. Applied some grease to the thru bolts as they were a bit pitted in some areas and blue threadlocker on the threads of the thru bolts.

 

Just had to see what it would look like. Lol!

 

Think I may have found a radiator for the speedster. Dimensionally, it should fit. Came out of a Dodge Dakota pickup. Found it within 5 mins of entering the yard. Lol!