to swap or not to swap T5 Question

[tankwilson]

Hey guys. I have a 49 plymouth with a rear end out of a late 60's mustang. It is super high geared now and i have learned to live with it but was wondering if i could swap out the trans for a T5 and get a lower 1st gear and a taller 5th gear?

Any ideas or would i just be wasting my time?

Thanks

matt

[OldDad67]

Most of the T5's I've seen have a pretty low 1st gear so I wouldn't think launching would be a problem, but you need a lower rear end gear such as a 3:70, 3:90 or 4:11 to take advantage of the overdrive. There's a ton of S10's at the u-pull it yards that have good ratio's. Also many Ford's and Mopar stuff pretty cheap. Just need to watch the width of the axle. I'm putting a 56 Chev rear axle under my P15 because it's the same width and since I already have it I won't be spending any extra cash. Plus I like Bendix brakes and it also gives me an E-brake because I'm going with the T5 tranny too. I'm going to use dual pattern chrome wheels so my bolt patten front and rear won't be a problem either. But you can have the axles redrilled to the Mopar pattern if that's your preference.

[Don Coatney]

  tankwilson said:

Hey guys. I have a 49 plymouth with a rear end out of a late 60's mustang. It is super high geared now and i have learned to live with it but was wondering if i could swap out the trans for a T5 and get a lower 1st gear and a taller 5th gear?

Any ideas or would i just be wasting my time?

Thanks

matt

Have you done the math to see what your RPM's will be at any given speed?

[Plymouthy Adams]

IF you decide to go that route and it is a good approach..ensure you get the wide ratio transmission over that of the close ratio ..in the wide range the 1st and 2nd gear are much lower and will give you the grunt you want and the other gears will be close to that of the cruiser close ratio..

[Plymouthy Adams]

as an after note, most wide range aratio trannies are installed in say the larger series truck..1500 etc over that say of a S10

[BeBop138]

I have gone thru this at length--the S-10 will work OK but get one that came out of a V-6 the first gear is usually a 3:76---the four bangers were 4:03. I had tried all of these before settling on a Camaro tranny---2:95 first gear and much better gear spacing all the way thru. You have to use a S-10 tailshaft, so you end up making a hybrid---then after changing the rear end ratio to have it all work well----I ended up using a 4:11 rear--best all around set up I came up with after a lot of trial and error. I do have the 265 engine and you may have to adjust for a smaller cubed engine---I still think this is the combo to use----I love it.......Good Luck.......Lee