I picked up a 3-speed transmission, bell housing, clutch, flywheel and open drivetrain from a 1955 Chevy truck.
I have a 1946 truck with the closed torque tube.
Is it possible to use this open driveshaft on my '46 and attach to the carrier, does anyone know? I've read that '55 will do that, but just got the stuff home last night and haven't had time to measure too much stuff.
I'm looking at adapting a T5 into my '46, as I saw this adapter plate that looks like it would work.
https://www.hotrodworks.com/product/1937-1947-chevrolet-pickup-t5-transmission-adapter/There's a couple places that have those. That is for a torque tube, by the looks of it.
Ideally what I would like to do is be able to replace the ring/pinion in my rear end, adapt the open drivetain to my pumpkin, and use an adapter to use a T5 with the best ratio. The Astro vans had a 0.68 5th gear, but the more common is the S10 which used either 0.72 or 0.73. All of these are pretty close and will get me approx. 30% reduction in RPMs according to my calculations. That's a big drop, like going from 3000 rpm to 2190 rpm using the 0.73 5th gear.
I'm going to try and look at the u-joint back at the pumpkin and try to understand if adapting the '55 is possible. The other end on the T5 will most likely need a spline->u-joint adapter, those are fairly common for about $60.
(pics, cause it happened)
