T-5 in my '78, with Hydraulic Clutch

[lilpoindexter]

I put a T-5 in my 1978 250 straight six stepside. While I thought the three on the tree was "cool", it really sucked to drive. I've read it described as climbing a ladder with 1/2 the rungs missing. 3.73 rear gears meant 2600 rpm at 60mph

I bought an '89 camaro parts car, and used the gearbox from that. The OG trans had been blown up at some time, and had been replaced by a non world class box from an '83. I put an S-10 tail shaft on it. I mixed and matched speedo drive and driven gears from the S10 and Camaro, so that my speedo is pretty accurate. I shimmed the gear in place, I tried using epoxy, but it just cracks. I just used a hunk of brass shim to give a tight fit, and used the original drive gear pin, and it worked. I put a new rear bronze tail shaft bushing from autozone in the S10 tail shaft, but it didn't fit my driveshaft...I got another bushing from NAPA...it fit out of the box, but once in place, it was too small to fit the driveshaft too, so i bought a brake hone, and hogged it out slightly.

I had to massage the floor of low hump cab very slight to get the trans to fit...the key word is VERY SLIGHTLY...I used a 12" long piece of 2 x 6, and a hydraulic jack, when I saw how easy it was to "mold" the floor, i got carried away like a dumb-ass, and jacked my floor up...which I then had to take time to "fix"

The T-5 part was fairly easy...The hydraulic clutch was a bit of a challenge.
I used an '87 truck bellhousing, an '87 truck slave cylinder, an '87 truck clutch line, and an '88 truck master cylinder. I probably should have just had a custom hose made up, as the '87 line didnt quite fit right, and i had to bend it up to fit. If I had to do it over again, I would have just used the mechanical clutch, and replaced worn components as needed. I had to bleed and bleed and bleed the clutch, because it wasn't fully disengaging, but it finally worked...it works fine, but due to the rigged-up nature, and the space i had to put the master in, I don't get the long stroke like the old mechanical clutch...

60 mph on the freeway is 1900rpm, and the engine feels a little dead, so I'm probably going to have to raise my cruise speed to 70 mph...the biggest difference is on the street...before the steep ratio differences meant every time i shifted gears, the nose of the truck bounced up and down like a gasser...1st was too low for slow driving, and 2nd was too high. 2nd in the T5 is the purrrr-fect gear for slow speed driving. I was hoping the 1st gear in the T-5 would make the truck feel like a tiger off the line, but nope...it still feels like a heavy truck with a 250.

I read Brad's article on the T5 swap on this site over and over a million times as a reference, and I also refered to another member (TR-65) hydraulic clutch install as a reference. Jalopy Journal (The H.A.M.B) also has a million helpful articles on T-5's...just don't tell them it's for a car newer than '65, or they clam up on the information.

I still have to hook up the reverse lights, get a shifter stick to fit, and patch the hole in floor, but overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Since I had to get a new driveshaft, I took the opportunity to re-drill my flip kit brackets so the wheel is more centered in hole....If I had just kept the mechanical clutch, this would have been an easy 2-3 weekend project...

[lilpoindexter]

Mo' pics

[lilpoindexter]

mo pics

[burger]

Why did you decide to install a hydraulic clutch? How much was your driveshaft shortened?

[lilpoindexter]

Originally Posted by burger

Why did you decide to install a hydraulic clutch? How much was your driveshaft shortened?

I thought the hyd clutch would be better, but I was wrong. The new driveshaft was shorter by 4", but every truck will be different