ClassicCar

Seems like this thread keeps coming back up. If you don't like the idea of Hudson's perfectly serviceable "oil bath" clutch, why bother with a standard tranny at all? Get an adapter plate and stick a GM 700R4 in it. :dry:

I'm reposting an earlier post rregarding this -

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.

I'll report further progress later.

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).

Update:

It turns out that the starter supplied with the kit interferes with the bell housing and I had to make an 1/8" spacer for the starter to clear the bell. Also, the adapter plate is too wide and I had to trim both sides to make room for the steering link and the exhaust. The big issue is with coming up with a way to operate the clutch. Forget a manual linkage. I tried everything and nothing worked. I was advised to use a MCleod hydraulic bearing which goes around the bearing cap tube on the trans. I used their 14005-20 kit ($450) and a spacer ($50). It's in the car but I've had problems with it. Still working on it. My advice, don't do this unless you have a lot of patience and are willing fork over a lot of money.

russmaas wrote:

Not too impress with Bob Bendtsen's adapter parts...what do you think?

This come in from them to me last month for the panamerican race car

That's no good... certainly not the workmanship I've seen from him in the past. What was his response when asked about it?

Yeah is wasn't good...he was pretty nasty

Marconi wrote:

The other car I know of that used a wet clutch was Rolls Royce! Something ain't right with your car. I've seen many Hudson trans input shafts with a twist in them from 'overactive driving'!

My uncle told me the input shaft snaped on his 51 Hornet w/Twin-H back about 1956. I suggested he might have been in a drag race? A smile came on his face.

One of the many things I've learned about Hudson clutches from Dr. Doug is the importance of mocking up your rebuilt clutch parts on the workbench before installing them into your car. With the new gasket, clutch plate and pressure plate centered & bolted onto your flywheel, the depth of the three pressure plate fingers will tell you if your engagement is within spec. Different disc, gasket and plate combos will change this. Doug sells gaskets of different thicknesses to dial this in properly. If you happened to get a thicker gasket with a thinner clutch plate or have different pressure plate finger geometry, it would explain the slippage you experienced.

I've got close to 40,000 miles on my Dr. Doug clutch, and it still performs flawlessly. Like Hudson308 pointed out, you can't just replace part of the system. All the pieces have to work together. He resurfaced my flywheel, and rebuilt the clutch and pressure plate, and sold me a new throwout bearing. I can't imagine a smoother operating clutch. I simply have to change fluid every 5000 miles, which is no more than a 15 minute operation.

To answer your question why no body else used a wet clutch (Ford, Chevy, etc.), it's because you can't make as much profit as you can from a run of the mill dry clutch.

Here is an update for my '54 Hornet T5 transmission install. I finally got it set up correctly and for the first time since 9/08 (and proabaly a long time before that, it moved under its own power. Here's the set up. The hydaulic bearing is obviously out of view (in bell housing). I was able to use the factory clutch pedal.


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Not on the road yet, moving around in the garage, no hydraulic brakes yet, need to install PB booster. The shifter is a Hurst designed for the S10 T5.