[gtospieg]

George...That's exactly what I was thinking. Maybe some day I'll get around to doing something with my OHC6 and that T50.

[camerjeff]

I actually mounted a T-5 behind my old stroker with 4.11 gears. It was a vast improvement both off the line, and cruising on the highway.

Plus it has a "normal shift pattern compared to a T-50.

[gtospieg]

I never used the T50...what isn't normal about it. (It came out of an 80 Olds Cutlass with a small V8...267?)

[camerjeff]

Reverse is over 1st gear, so the 1-2 shift is a up and over shift, common in road racing transmissions when you do alot of 2-3 shifting making that gear change a straight forward and back movement like a normal 1-2 shift.

I just never got the hang of it as I always owned other cars with what I consider a "normal" shift pattern at the same time. Plus the T-50 is a frail trans even compared to a WC T-5. I never had issues with T-5 behind my stoker OHC-6 in my 69 Firebird that weighed 3400 lbs with 4.11 rear gears. I broke several T-50's behind 231 Buick V-6's in under 2500 lb Astre's & Sunbirds with 3.55 & 3.73 rear gears.

[george kujanski]

That's the pattern..... back in the day I talked to an engineer at Borg-Warner and IIRC he said the T-50 was good for 275 ft-lbs. That was quite a while ago.

Call me crazy but I'm thinking of using it my GTO, not driving crazy with it tho, just to keep the RPM down.

What version of T-5 would be a good choice under mild driving conditions?

George

[gtospieg]

Got it...thanks Jeff

[camerjeff]

George I used a T-5 meant for a 88 Firebird V8. On my 69 Firebird I was able to keep the stock shifter location, and I only had to open up the floorboard hole 1/2" all to the rear.

But they type depends on what you put it in. The only downside of using a F-Body T-5 is the way they mount to the bellhousing. They are tilted 17 degrees towards the driver and the stock shifter is angled to make up for that. It bolted up to a stock OHC-6 Bellhousing. But with the trans mounted straight up the rear mount was at the 17 degree angle and required an adptor plate to mount it to the X-Member, I fabed the adaptor so I didn't have to move the cross member.

There are other options such as S-10 pickup & Mustang versions. Also be aware that the later 1993-2002 T-5's use the Ford Mustang mounting pattern, so will need an adaptor plate to mount to a OHC-6 or BOP bellhousing.

It been over 20 years sense I did the modification, and I used a NOS trans I was able to purchase at a give away price from BW when they sold off the design to the aftermarket .

[george kujanski]

Jeff: that.s a Chevy bellhousing pattern in an '88, no? Use an adaptor plate?

george

[camerjeff]

George I didn't use the Bellhousing from the 88 Firebird, just the Transmission, and it bolted up to the Stock OHC-6 bellhousing just fine. The 93-2002 T-5's for a Firebird were just used behind the V-6 engines (the V8's used a T-56 Six speed) So I was told it was cheaper to use the Ford Bold pattern transmission, as they had to design a new bellhousing for the 3800 V6 anyway, as it was the only manual transmission option with the 3800 and RWD.
I found this out when trying to bolt up a newer T-5 to the bellhousing from the old Buick 215 V8 I put in my Astre.