Back end of a T-5

[TomT/Williamsburg]

In doing some research, it says that the 234 replaces the 232 which
Has tge following gears in it …..

3.70 3.97 2.34 1.48 1.00 0.72
R. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 4th. 5th

Now that may mean the case but if 5th is that ratio, you will need 3:78 or lower rear gear ..

[cas3]

I've always said " they can put a man on the moon, but they can't mark a drill bit so anyone can read it "

[Als48]

GB, Great thinking on the indexing method for your adapter plate. I can see the value of that, by centering the transmission with respect to the engine.

Al H

[GB SISSON]

I thank you all for the encouragement I'm finding here. I have learned a lot in this process so far and will continue to do so as I bring this adventure to a conclusion. The accidental fit between these two bearing retainers is not just of great importance, it is in fact EVERYTHING. Unfortunately there are two common sizes of bearing retainer with the T5, and likely more. For now I will call the two I know about Ford and GM. Six weeks ago I mocked up a plate for adapting an NP 435 granny llow four speed from a ford truck onto our hogshead.. When it came to increasing the NP's bearing retainer 'snout' to accept our TOB assembly I picked up the retainer from the hogs head and tried to slide it over the snout. Wouldn't go over. I looked inside of the flange end and see a machined spiral for oil control. This spiral area was machined to be a tighter fit on the transmission shaft, in other words the short spiral area has a smaller I.D, than the reamainder of the piece. I then turned the Flathead bearing retainer around and introduced the other end onto the NP's snout, It was really tight but I see it looks promising. I then cleaned out the hardened grease and low and behold, with light twisting and tapping the two mated perfectly with the flanges at opposite ends. I then used a die grinder to shave out the spiral as I didn't have a boring bar for my lathe. This allowed me to twist the FH bearing retainer over the NP's until it's flange bottomed out on the heads of the four 5/16 cap screws holding it to the transmission. Now these two machined flanges were about 1/2" apart. At this point both flanges are indexed to each other by Borg Warner and their machinery. I knew I was onto something.If a person were using a T5 with the later 'Ford pattern' this would be 'all she wrote'.... Unfortunatly mine is a GM snout and slightly smaller. Now that machined spiral comes into play. It is just a bit loose, but nicely machined so a sleeve is in order. I put one wrap of electrical tape and the spiral wouldn't go. Blue masking tape yes. This is not a wear area, so a sleeve won't be subject to stress or wear. I see SKF makes a speedi sleeve that will tap on but they don't give the O.D so hopefully that should work. Honing the spiral should be easy if needed. My lathe came with a huge assortment of adjustable reamers and I have a sunnen hone that I inherited from a friend, but I bet it's gonna be close right from SKF.
This could be my longest post ever, but I will close with this final thought. That nicely round 'machined' center hole I made with my router using the t5's greasy bellhousing as a template, which btw was an excellent fit, was counter productive to this project. The unhindered mating of the two flanges is the only important thing here. The 1" aluminum spacer is just that... A spacer. All of the drilled holes involved on both sides are for clamping purposes only. Case in point, the NP's four bolts to it's BH were 3/8" bolts in 1/2" holes. Most of the FH holes have 1/16" clearance. My super tight 'counterbore' that fits the t5's flange OD so well fights me when drilling and threading my clamping bolt holes. It would have been better to just jigsaw the hole on the outside of my scribed line so it wouldn't impart side stress that can interfere with the excellent mating of the two critical parts. Another way to put that would be to say the 1" spacer plate needs room to move around a bit so that it's many drilled, and or tapped holes do not not interfere with the good alignment afforder by the two flanges. Once bolted up snug on the bench I can see drilling and inserting some dowel pins or a couple of threaded indexing bolts to insure against any shifting of plate under extreme conditions. Last week I googled 'making a plate for a T-5 to a flathead V8' and found that in a thread here at fordbarn on that subject, the late, great J Seerey had discovered the same thing ten years earlier, and was a strong advocate of this type of plate, so I won't call this my idea. You still awake?

[jeepguy1948]

I believe that if you go to the H.A.M.B. Site and check parts for sale you will find at least one adapter plate for sale, maybe more that one.

[jeepguy1948]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

If you go to the Early V8 parts for sale here the The Barn you will find that Krylon 32 (Gary @ Cornhusker) in Nebraska sells exactly what you need. He’s a great guy to deal with. I have bought quite a lot from him with 100% satisfaction. Quality parts all the way. Kit is $650 and I would assume well worth it but if you are trying to do it yourself without buying a kit then obviously it’s not for you. I would be $1 that Gary is reading this LoL.

[GB SISSON]

Gary and I have discussed his kit by way of PM a couple of times. If I were to buy a kit, it would be from him without a doubt. But somehow, against all better judgement and practical reasoning I decided to make this thing myself. I have now drilled and tapped the four 1/2" bolts that hold the hogs head to the 1"plate. That was the last major operation involved and frankly I was a bit nervous about it. I made a stepped drill guide to center the 17/64" drill bit into the factory clearanced holes in the hogs head and drilled them with it's bearing retainer securly bolted in plate as a locater. After drilling the pilot I put my tap into the drill press and rotated the chuck with a steel rod by hand to start the tap straight and cut about 5 threads in. I DID keep my super snug recess intact for a tight fit on the T5's retainer as added insurance. So far, I am quite happy with how it has come out even though it makes little sense. Heck, some folks train for a year and spend a month to climb a mountain "Because it was there". How much more ridiculous is that?

[cadillac512]

"But somehow, against all better judgement and practical reasoning I decided to make this thing myself."


And that is exactly what we do. Sometimes it works too! Your process and execution sound just fine...it's going to work well and you get to feel the sense of accomplishment.

[GB SISSON]

20 years ago I was talking to an 'old guy' (he was 63 then) who moved to the island with 2 of his siblings from their farm in Michigan. All of them have good stories and Rex mentioned how his dad had built an adapter plate from stuff around the farm to install a mitsubushi diesel into his one year old '79 F250. Last week I ran into Rex at the ferry landing on our way home from picking up the T5 and asked him about the swap. He isn't like me, he's very quiet and unasuming, but he told me his dad drove that truck until it was wore out and that included their share of visits from Michigan to Orcas Island through the years. I always marveled at a farmer doing a job like that with what was at hand, and not just to be cool, but to save money on fuel.Rex was surprised that I remembered the story, but it was etched on there pretty good. Oh, my 8rt camshaft in cosmoline arrived today. Holy cow, it's a nice piece. Details will follow.

[cas3]

More off topic rambling from cas3 here...A big farmer near me went to Brazil in the 80's to look at buying farm land. They wanted to rent a four wheel drive rig as they knew they would be in rough country. What they got was a Ford 1/2 ton with a Ford diesel tractor motor made from the factory. What a wonderful thing it was, but we can't have one here.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by cas3

More off topic rambling from cas3 here...A big farmer near me went to Brazil in the 80's to look at buying farm land. They wanted to rent a four wheel drive rig as they knew they would be in rough country. What they got was a Ford 1/2 ton with a Ford diesel tractor motor made from the factory. What a wonderful thing it was, but we can't have one here.

Drool... (I'm trying to keep my word count to 25 words or less after that novel above)

[GB SISSON]

It is coming together. I check that the two bearing retainers are still concentric and no side loading has occured. Should have new transmission seals tomorrow.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

It is coming together. I check that the two bearing retainers are still concentric and no side loading has occured. Should have new transmission seals tomorrow.

[TomT/Williamsburg]

Looking good!

[flatford8]

You got yourself a work of art there mistah…….Mark

[GB SISSON]

Thank you Mahk.

[GB SISSON]

I know this thread is supposed to be about the slip joint at the back end, but I'm pretty much done with the adapter so I thought I'd post up what I have so far. I have an old style T-9 with the cast in bell alongside on the floor to get the length of the shaft components the same. I still need to shorten the pilot tip to mimic the T-9's.
I have some good advice for anybody considering a T-5 swap behind their flathead V8. Get in touch with Gary (krylon 32) at Cornhuskers and order up one of his kits I have a lot of confidence in my conversion now that I've worried my way through it, but sheesh, what a lotta work. But like Rex's dad I can say "Oh yeah... I just threw together a plate outa scrap I had around layin' around and stuck a 5 spd overdrive trans onto the ol' flatty". So much for 25 words or less.

[TomT/Williamsburg]

Gary is a great guy and I have ordered T-5 stuff from him over the years. Met him at Bonneville in ‘13 when I rolled with the Rolling Bones out there in my roadster (avatar). It was a fun time ….

[GB SISSON]

Thanks Tom, and yes I could tell it wasn't Gary's first rodeo with the T-5. I meant to post these recent pictures up on post #57, but now I see I forgot.

[Scotty's 52 F3]

Nice job. I like your "I can do this" style. Looking forward to the finished product.