Jump to content

John-T-53

Members
  • Posts

    1,583
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    17

Everything posted by John-T-53

  1. Hank: This one's for you...north of S.L.O in lovely Gonzales, CA, during the event you mentioned. I tried to keep it under 50 after this incident with the rod bearings.
  2. Here's the latest installment of progress photos... 1. The bellhousing is back from the fab shop with new holes drilled and tapped. You can see the remains of the old holes which were filled with a nickel alloy rod, welded to the cast iron. The shop reported: "It was a bitch". 2. I wanted to make sure it bolted together before reinstalling the bellhousing, so here's the assembly. 3. The other side. The welded holes threaded easily. Socket head cap screws work great in tight clearences. 4. The new 10.5" mustang clutch on the left, the stock 11" mopar clutch on the right. 5. Checking the clearance between the clutch springs and the flywheel bolts. The straitedge is where the tips of the bolts would be, 2/10" from the springs. The friction mat'l is about 1/10" thick down to the rivet heads, so should be good.
  3. I'm not sure I'll have my transmission project complete enough to drive the truck over there this Saturday....Would anyone be offended if I showed up in a....Chevrolet? It's my only other vehicle!!!
  4. You could make one from a vinyl table cloth (with flower pattern) that would work well. I have seen similar covers on motorhomes at campgrounds. It's usually the camp host RV that's the most decked out with covers on the wheels too.
  5. Looks very good! Where did you find the punch set?
  6. Wow that's just across the bay from me. I've always wanted a panel....but need more parking spaces first!
  7. Nope, it was installed as you show it here Don...with the raised center hub area facing the trans. I received the new clutch disc in the mail yesterday, and I picked up the T5 and bell housing from the shop. They did a great job pluggin' and drilling new holes. I'm heading out to the garage to put it all together now...
  8. I have read somewhere that arc welding on the axle housing with the diff installed is not adviseable, since there's a chance the gears or bearings could be damaged, no matter where you put the ground lead. Is this true?
  9. The 70s - 80s buick guages, column, and pedals are also an interesting add on to the truck. I'm not a fan of the 'spaghetti' exiting the column below the dash either...
  10. I think the lined side is supposed to be the bottom, but looks good this way. I have the same in my truck, bumps up. It curled at the edges big time but gradually flattened out. It might help to set it in the sun for a while, or use a heat gun...gently.
  11. Good info. I guess that explains why I pay a weight fee to the DMV in addition to the registration fee (both have gone up too). Anyways, I think that plate looks cool on the side of the bed.
  12. Here's some more pics. These are of the mockup of the T5 in the truck before I took everything to the shop for machining/fabrication. 1. This is the top view looking down 2. Side view. 3. This shows how it looks inside the bellhousing. The trans is not flush with the rear of the bellhousing because the input shaft is too long. Another issue here is the location of the splines. With the long shaft the clutch disc won't be able to slide back far enough to disengage. I've already got a shorter shaft in hand and will install it this weekend....hopefully that'll work. Has anybody encountered this problem before? 4. I yanked the bellhousing and here it is with the trans on the workbench. 5. Here's the view from the rear. The poor engine has been robbed of its hind quarters and is being held up temporarily with some blocks of wood. More pics to come again soon!
  13. Wow...That's a great historical gem! What's with the "6,000# gross" on the side of the bed? According to Bunn, 1/2 tons were 4,900 GVW max. Add a half ton to that and you're just shy of 6,000.
  14. These keep the defroster air blowing upward and out the gap instead of sideways inside the garnish trim. They were made of foam or sponge rubber. I replaced mine with some expanded foam that came out of a television box. You could use anything that's spongy, just cut it a tad bigger so it squishes down when you reinstall the trim.
  15. 1 - This shows the Langdon bronze bushing pressed into the stock mopar bearing sleeve 2 - The throw out bearing assembly with the Chevy bearing retainer on the T5. You can also see the centering ring installed on the retainer flange. 3 - Disassembly of the clutch. I had originally though I got a bad t/o bearing because of intermittent sounds like something was loose everytime I disengaged the clutch. Turns out the clutch disc springs were hitting the damn flywheel bolts. Not sure why - same bolts as before and stock clutch disk. The flywheel was only surfaced about .050". 4 - The back of the flywheel showing the ends of the bolts "smoothed over". I had to get the dremel up in here to so a little cleanup before removing the nuts. 5 - The back of the bellhousing has some extra holes in it for what probably are for a 4-speed. This is a 3-speed truck so this was unexpected. Unfortunately, 2 of the 4 spd holes are partially where the T5 mount holes go. I took the bellhousing into the fabrication shop where they're trying to figure how to plug them before drilling and tapping new holes. They said it's tough to weld on cast iron because it gets very hard, making it difficult to machine. Last I heard they ordered a special alloy rod that would work.
  16. Using the original 11" mopar clutch with a 10.5" 10 spline mustang disc. The pressure plate is relatively new/rebuilt and the flywheel was resurfaced about 6k miles ago. I think I can just scuff lightly it with my sander ... what do you all think? Yes you need the chevy front retainer for the stovebolt kit. Retainers are interchangeable between T5's.
  17. Yes...let us know. I'm eager to see the outcome. Thanks,
  18. This is the Chevy retainer as I received it from the builder. Looking at your pictures it looks like there were different lengths available. The retainer has to be similar length to the original transmission retainer, when used with the original clutch, so it can release fully. The retainer I have pictured below is about 1/8" shorter than the original when measured from the front of the case. I think it'll be fine but I'll do a mock up to make sure. I'll use the Dodge t/o bearing, with the stock bearing sleeve/holder..this is the good thing about Langdon's kit. The only thing to change is the clutch disc. I was able to find a 10.5" mustang disc on ebay for $49. My local NAPA told me suppliers are no longer selling discs separate. Now you have to buy the whole clutch kit!
  19. Here's the official thread on the T5 installation in my half ton. After a year of planning and getting parts, I'm taking the plunge. Since my truck is my daily driver, and I'm required to use it more for work these days, the time for an upgrade is overdue. I've been getting a strong case of the 3rd gear blues with the ol' three speed, not to mention a few 'birds' on the freeway (altho that was more often in LA...sorry, Hank). This forum is where I got the idea, way back in my first post a couple years ago when I asked about switching rear end gear ratios. Thanks to all for your help and tons of great advice. I hope to finish in time to make the Clements get-together. Here's the tranny...built by a gentleman in Texas named Earl Johnson, with a recommendation from another member on the car side who also had one built. It's a Camaro box with S10 tail housing. The Camaro/Firebird box shares the same bolt pattern as the S10 which can be mounted directly to the truck bell housing. The gears are Ford Mustang 3:35 gear set with 0.72 OD, which should work perfect with the 4:10 rear. Also pictured here is Tom Langdon's adapter kit with ring, throw out collar bushing, and a ford pilot bushing. His kit requires the chevy front retainer, which I had to order extra.
  20. I second that. I've used everything and PTFE thread tape works the best, especially on head bolts. I even used it on the spark plugs in combo with the ever-dry cups and it holds up well.
  21. Interesting to note the stainless bolts are cheaper than the regular steel. For those of you who've done your beds, do these original bolts usually come off intact? I have to fix up my bed someday soon, and I have all the original bolts in place still. They've never been touched.
  22. Does Alcoa or any of the newer aftermarket wheel mfr's make anything that would fit trucks of our era? I had a buddy who had a neighbor on his ranch with a '57 International 1-ton flat bed. He ran aluminum Alcoa's and they looked sharp. I'm not sure if he had modern hubs and suspention though, or original.
  23. Yes, I like some of their paints, especially the "underhood black". The color and sheen is perfect. Just expensive and you have to pay/wait for shipping, as said. I'm going to look into the POR-15 silver. I have to pull the head again and replace the intake guides due to premature wear - and want to give it a fresh coat.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Terms of Use