I know quite a few people have done this and I am about to put the engine and transmission in. One question, since the transmission crossmember has to be custom made how do I know when the tranny is lined up correctly with the chassis ? Any other DON'T FORGETS on this project are appreciated. Thanx Peter
What type of clutch linkage are you installing? If using an equalizer bar that goes between the engine block and frame rail obviously the mounting studs have to be in alignment. Cable or hydraulic setups aren't as critical. The rear of the trans should be centered side to side in the tunnel. Measure the pinion angle of the rear end and adjust the rear of the trans up or down to be from 0 degrees (parallel) to -3 degrees (down) as compared to the rear end.
Another Question I dropped the engine and transmission in, but now it looks like the engine tilts back too far and I can't lift the tranny any higher because it is hitting the transmission tunnel. The tranny is a 86 T5 Non World Class. :confused: Peter
Is it the shifter tower that's hitting? My '70 was originally a column shift, so it has a small tunnel, no shifter hump or console. I had to cut a pretty good sized hole in my tunnel for the shifter tower. The tower actually sticks up above the tunnel. I covered it with a big Hurst Super Boot. It looks good though and Hurst sticks bolt right to the T5's shift lever.
I agree. When I put in my T-5, I ended up cutting a pretty large hole because I later swapped the shifter to a hurst which required a larger hole to get at the 4 bolts that hold the shifter to the tranny. Instead of using a large boot to cover the hole, I used some heat shield insulation to cover the hole, then just cut a small hole in the carpet. That way I kept the nice small boot that came with the shifter and the whole thing looks almost like stock. Anyway, the engine set fine, and the tranny had about 1/4 inch of space before hitting the hump.
On mine the trans mount bolts ended up right at the rear edge of the crossmember. You could weld an angle iron extension to the rear of the crossmember, which I plan to do in the near future. The way I have it now I simply used some longer bolts to mount the crossmember behind the car's "horns". Put some cut off pieces of pipe between the crossmember's mounting ears to keep them from collapsing when you tighten the bolts.
Thanks for all the replies. I don't think I can cut a hole big enough to lift the tranny enough to level out the engine. The whole top of the tranny is hitting the tunnel, so I just leave the engine tilted back a little, this means though that I have to go with an electric cooling fan cause the fan will hit the shroud if its tilted any suggestions on which fan to use. Another thing, I have heard that the driveshaft has to be shortened for this swap, I must have beed lucky cause mine fit perfect. Peter
My drive shaft fit fine as well By the way, Peter, I sent you a reply to your private box about the hedders. Still have them, they're yours if you want. Jason
