ClassicCar

I have a T5 also, but guess I waited too long to get the stuff from Wilcap- I understand he's not making them anymore. I would certainly be interested in what you experienced.

When I talked to the Wilcap guy (Pat?) a couple years ago, he said he hadn't done a T5 adapter yet, and wasn't sure about how the pilot bearing situation was going to work out. He thought that some cranks weren't drilled for a pilot bearing. I since found out that manual tranny equipped Hudsons from 48-50 were not drilled, but automatic-equipped models were. Starting in 1951, they drilled all of them, as it was easier that trying to keep track of which went where.

I'd still like to go forward with the project, if I can figure out how. . .

Well here it goes- Wilkap had not been advertising the manual trans adapter but when I called them (about a 1.5 year ago) they said that they could make one up, and they did even though it took several months. Concerning the GM T5 for the S10/Blazer 2.8 V6 versus the 4 speed T10, the bell housing is the same for T5s that are not integral with the bell housing (separable). The problem with the T5 is the input shaft length. More on this later. Wilkap made up the flywheel and clutch. The clutch is a specially built 10.5" with the T5 S10/Blazer spine dimensions (1", 14 spline). They also supplied the reduction gear starter. I found an aluminum 4 speed Chevy bell housing for the 10.5" clutch. The pressure plate and cover is a light-weight aftermarket diaphram style.


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I'll report further progress later.
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My engine is a '56 and the crankshaft flange in the '56 is drilled for both standard and automatic. It turns out that the Hudson Bronze pilot bearing is axactly the right size for the input shaft on the T5. Wilkap sends a pilot bearing as well, but I didn't need it. The flywheel bolted to the flange perfectly. The sarter engages the flywheel just right. Next was installing the bell housing. The Wilkap adapter fit perfectly on the block and the bell housing the same. The adapter comes with an eccentric in the top right corner because of interference with a bell housing bolt. Make sure it is correctly aligned before mounting the bell. I had to grind some material off the bottom inside of the bell because the flywheel teeth were chaffing the high spots (see pic below).


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Then the biggest problem occurred. The input shaft of the T5 is too long for the set up. The throw-out bearing housing on the trans. had to be shortened 3/4" and I had a 1/2" aluminum spacer fabricated because I ran out of input shaft spline before the trans. mounted to the bell. The 1/2" spacer affectively "shortened" the trans. input shaft. After modifications, the transmission mated with the bell housing, the input shaft nub is through the pilot bearing, and the throw-out bearing moves easily on the housing.


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