Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train more questions i6 and t5

OK Folks, here we go again! I got a bell housing off ebay a short while ago, guy said it was from an '88 V8. I put it on the 230 i6 this weekend, and ---------- oh, oh! The transmission mount holes and all are tilted off on an angle toward the driver's leg! Well, says I, I will just bend the shifter so it rises up straight. So, tried mounting the t5 on the housing. The input shaft goes into the rear of the crankshaft ok, but not far enough. Lacking about an inch from mating with the bell housing. Now What? Drats. What is the bell housing I bought? Why is it made at an angle? Is it shorter than regular? Or is my input shaft too long? Darn, what a diffugalty! Now I am back to square one. Needing the correct bell housing, still needing a 153 tooth flywheel, and I guess a 10" clutch from an Astro Van? Will that make it all come together? Thanks all for your help. Perley

You need to check the length of an old chev. 3 speed standard, the pilot bearing end of the input shaft is shorter. Most people cut it the same length as the original 3 speed. I think the bell housing is from a Camaro as the transmission was canted on an angle.

The T5 is from an S10 and the input shaft and bearing retainer will both need to be trimmed 9/16". It's all pretty well documented in other posts and in the Tech articles on the home page. The bellhousing sounds like the Camaro style that canted the transmission. You're not the first person on this site that has torn hair out trying to make this set-up work.

Here is some info from a 6/28/07 post
Found 3 ways to adapt the S10 t5 to the sixes now, after a visit to a shop in Denver that gave me these measurements, trim .56" (9/16) from the input shaft and 1.31" (1 5/16) from the bearing retainer and trim .25 (1/4) of the transmission side of the clutch hub (Vega) to stop any binding problems. The second method is to make a 9/16" adaptor plate between the trans and bellhousing, instead of trimming input shaft, and the third way is to get the Advance Adaptors kit to mount a V8 in a S10 which will give you a hydraulic clutch, bellhousing and clutch (part #712547) but will require you to change flywheels to use a 10.5" clutch. (in the $500-$600 range)

The S10 T5 is only 1/2" longer than a "normal" manual tranny. You really only need to take about 3/8-1/2" off the tip of the input shaft. Shorten the collar to the same dimensions as the old 3spd or whatever it is your replacing. Bolt holes in the tranny will need a 1/2" drill bit run through them also.

The tilted bellhousing is from a Camaro. Unless you're building an '83-up Camaro, don't bother with this one.

What bellhousing to use depends on what size flywheel you are going to use, and what fork angle you want to use. You also need to be aware of the center hole diameter.

For the small flyweel, the most common is a 403 bellhousing. This would have the 4 11/16" center hole and a horizontal clutch fork. There are other choices as well. I can get into those if necessary.

The 153 tooth flywheels use a 10 1/2" clutch. I have not found an application for a 10 1/2" 14 spline clutch disc, but you can get them custom made for about the same price as one over the counter. Look at our "tech tips" section on the left sidebar for more info.