T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby cosvega76 » Wed Mar 13, 2013 10:02 am

Here's an option for the speedo:

http://www.abbott-tach.com/cablex.htm

It's kinda pricy, but maybe not so compared to swapping the trans over to mechanical.


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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby hammerdown7 » Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:00 pm

Or you can buy a GPS Speedometer,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgHV3v7ZYDM

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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby 73astregt » Wed Mar 13, 2013 7:03 pm

this is what i had in mind for the electronic speedo, should be able to get it in a size to fit the gt dash. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... 5LvECehq3E .
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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby vegastre » Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:44 am

Sweet,
That is the kind of review I like. Speaking of like I would mention I really 'like' your GT stripes. It really makes the Astre. Down through the years I have seen some poor choices on such a critical visual.

Speedo: The electronic version I would very much prefer but it is indeed too pricy for my poor boy pocket book. I am left with the McGyver approach. Pulling up a search or two it looks like I can slip off the reluctor gear and slip on a plastic driven gear with shims and drilling a hole to hold the clip. It may require a different mechanical tail shaft housing but I have one of the largest transmission recyclers in the southwest here in Dallas. I can buy wholesale. Not a big deal.

Yoke: A three inch yoke? Wow, now that is a big deal. Thanks for the info. No really, I mean thanks.

Reverse Lights: Ya, mine has the two plug not the four wire deal. Pretty straight forward.

Again, I like your review of the 5speed. My trans will be behind the L-67 SC 3800 and in front of GM 8-1/2 with 3:42 gears.
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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby 73astregt » Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:48 pm

first off thanks for the compliment on the car, its appreciated! the car was actually painted sometime in the 90 s, ive been able to trace it back to when ledgendary motor cars in milton ont took it in on trade in 97 im not shure past that when it was painted for shure but it definitly caught my eye when i went to look at it the first time lol! i added the hood scoop and had it painted to match after i bought the car along with a couple other panels, it really needs to be redone as it is getting a lot of chips and scratches over time but it gets driven not trailered so it will. i may be off on the length of that yoke some but it is a fair bit shorter than a th350 yoke so proper engagement is critical to good performance, its been a while but i think there was only about 1.5 to two inches of engagement on the output shaft so as mentioned youll want to make shure your driveshaft is the proper length for your setup with the full weight of the car on the wheels. youll have to research for shure but you can probably use a tail end and output shaft from an earlier non world class trans to cure the speedo issue i picked my trans carefully to avoid that problem, get the world class and be able to bolt up to the monza bell chevy pattern.the gm v8 world class t5 with mechanical speedo was only made for a year or two and is a hard one to find. i had to overbore the four mounting holes in the trans case slightly to match the size of the monza bell mounting bolts and grind a notch in the top cover to be able to adjust the ball stud for the cable clutch fork butr it was all pretty simple really. my first car (74 nova ss) i changed over from standard to auto and back so many times it pretty much had a zipper on it depending on what trans i could find at the time for little or nothing as cash was really really tight then and i needed the car on the road plus at 19 then i really beat the crap out of it lol! you are gonna like the versatility this swap gives you for bottom end and highway cruising just dont put a sticky race tire on it and it will live for a long time! good luck!! p.s one reason i went with the hurst billit plus shifter was that the stock shifter will over shift and bugger the trans, having a shifter with positive stops(adjustable) makes the trans much happier.
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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby 73astregt » Fri Mar 15, 2013 10:19 am

here is some excellent reading on the t5 transmission it will anser a lot of questions for you and here you will see some of the points i mentioned in my posts.there is also info here on swapping tailshafts and speedo drives with things to watch out for while doing it. http://www.flatheadv8.org/ernie/ernie-t5.htm .
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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby vegastre » Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:17 pm

Much appreciated, Ya, I am going to need a mechanical speedo tailshaft form a 96-98 Camaro. I went with the 2000 wcT5 because of the better torque readings and gears and upgrades but hindsite being 20/20 a 98 would have been fine. Again, thanks for the input.
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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby vegastre » Thu May 16, 2013 12:35 am

UPDATE: May 2013

The T-5 is in the mock up stages. Trans mount is fabricated, simple flat plate design and adapted to the Hooker cross member. The 17 degree tilt is a good fit for the trans tunnel and the bell housing is a great fit. The shifter location is just fine and in a good location. I have purchased a short shifter with a close ratio pattern. Basic fabrication stuff and nothing too terribly exciting to look at but I will take some picks and upload them when I remember to take my camera. My cell phone takes embarasingly bad pics.

Going with the stock Firebird HTOB and clutch setup with a Wilwood clutch cylinder.

After some research I have decided to stay with the electronic speedo and adapt GM electronic tach and reluctor speedo to the GT dash gauges.
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75 Pontiac Astre SJ Safari Wagon
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Re: T-5 / 3800 Into an H-Body

Postby hammerdown7 » Thu May 16, 2013 7:09 am

73astregt wrote:first off thanks for the compliment on the car, its appreciated! the car was actually painted sometime in the 90 s, ive been able to trace it back to when ledgendary motor cars in milton ont took it in on trade in 97 im not shure past that when it was painted for shure but it definitly caught my eye when i went to look at it the first time lol! i added the hood scoop and had it painted to match after i bought the car along with a couple other panels, it really needs to be redone as it is getting a lot of chips and scratches over time but it gets driven not trailered so it will. i may be off on the length of that yoke some but it is a fair bit shorter than a th350 yoke so proper engagement is critical to good performance, its been a while but i think there was only about 1.5 to two inches of engagement on the output shaft so as mentioned youll want to make shure your driveshaft is the proper length for your setup with the full weight of the car on the wheels. youll have to research for shure but you can probably use a tail end and output shaft from an earlier non world class trans to cure the speedo issue i picked my trans carefully to avoid that problem, get the world class and be able to bolt up to the monza bell chevy pattern.the gm v8 world class t5 with mechanical speedo was only made for a year or two and is a hard one to find. i had to overbore the four mounting holes in the trans case slightly to match the size of the monza bell mounting bolts and grind a notch in the top cover to be able to adjust the ball stud for the cable clutch fork butr it was all pretty simple really. my first car (74 nova ss) i changed over from standard to auto and back so many times it pretty much had a zipper on it depending on what trans i could find at the time for little or nothing as cash was really really tight then and i needed the car on the road plus at 19 then i really beat the crap out of it lol! you are gonna like the versatility this swap gives you for bottom end and highway cruising just dont put a sticky race tire on it and it will live for a long time! good luck!! p.s one reason i went with the hurst billit plus shifter was that the stock shifter will over shift and bugger the trans, having a shifter with positive stops(adjustable) makes the trans much happier.


Thanks for your suggestions, I should have read them before starting. I'm putting a 90's Firebird WCT5 in my Cosworth autocrosser and found the mounting holes just a smidgen too small when trying to bolt it in. Do you have a picture of how much housing you had to remove for the clutch adjustment? I also have a very tight fit with the nose cone going into the bell, my measurement showed only a .001" clearance. Did you any trouble pulling the trans into the bell?

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