Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train T-5

Howdy, i'm in the process of putting another t-5 in my impala. (first one was v6 camaro, blew up looking for v8 camaro) the question i have is how new of one can i get and still use a cable type speedometer. my first one was an '82 and it was cable type. thanks for any help
Matt

Matt, I believe the electronic speedo adapters came out in '88 but I am not positive on that. Maybe check the tech articles on the T-5 and see if it tells you there. Good Luck

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Ontario Inliners

1940 Chev Sedan
1954 Chev Custom
1965 Chev Pick-up

I put an old mech drive in a '90 so don't sweat it

Matt--What size engine do you have and what other mods have you done to it? I'm trying to figure out the same thing for the speedo. I really don't want to have to dish out around $300 for a conversion for the speedo. From what I've read 1984 is guarenteed to be mechanical, but I haven't found anything later than that yet. When I find out exactley what the last year was, I'll let you know.

1985 and 1985 have the best overdrive ratios. For the Camaro/Firebird for 1985-86 it was an overdrive of 0.63 There was also a 0.61 overdrive for the 1986 Camaro/Firebird, but it had a first gear of 3.35 That first gear isn't bad compared to some of the S-10's. GM started using using the World Class T-5 as early as 1988, so maybe the World Class and the electronic speedo came out together. Anyway, hope this helps. John

I'll elaborate. The electronic drive bolted in the hole. I took it out and found an old 3 speed with a mechanical drive and bolted it in. Used the same retainer clip. It even had the same gear. The electronic drive is not integral like the 6 speeds, at least as far as '90. And I would hazard a guess that all the stick shift speedo drives interchange.

Phil--What tranny did you pull the mech. drive out of. Was it an old GM 3 speed (like the '60s trucks used)? Did you have to search for a specific donor tranny so that the teeth would mesh right? Please, more info. This may help ease my search a great bit since I have 2 old Chevy 3 speeds. Thatnks for the info. John.

The junkyard had a bunch of trannies in a stack. I just pulled the speedo drive out of the first one i came to, and it fit when I got home. So I would think all GM stick shift drives would work.

Phil--Thanks for the info. Sounds like it's time for me to do some more research. That would really help narrow down the search for a T-5 with the ratios I want. Thanks. John.

Matt: These are two sites that helped me with selecting a T-5. If you are lucky enough to find a donar car/truck with the motor still in it (for the engine code) this site will give you the gear ratios for that engine: http://www.thirdgenresource.com/transmissions_information/

Or, if you are lucky enought to find a T-5 with the code tag go to this site and it will tell you what vehicle it came out of: http://www.thirdgenresource.com/transmissions_information/

One more thought. Remeber that because you find a T-5 in a V8 Camoaro/Firebird/S-10 doesn't necessaarily meant the trans is the one that came in the car from the factory.

It may be a replacement from another vehicle. So...check the tag or make sure its original

PS I'm not surprised Phils mechanical speedo fit the T-5. The 39 Chevy speedo cable and coupler just screw right into the T-5!

[This message has been edited by 51 El Plymino (edited 11-16-2003).]

hey, thanks for the replys. i found a five speed out of a 91 camaro 305. it had an electric speedometer. but like phil said it just pulls out and i put the regular cable drive gear in out of the old 5 speed. i figured out why my origonal 5 speed blew up, one of the spider gears in the differential broke and jammed the ring gear, locking the driveline and killing the tranny. do you think these little sixes put out enough power to blow a rear end or do you think it's more of a matter of age? i have a 230 .040 milled off the head holley 390, clifford intakes, cast headers, 270 duration cam. so now i need a new rear end, nothing in there is salvageable

Hi Matt,
I found out in my youth (a long time ago) that spider gears are really easy to break. Especially if you are backing out of a drive way and drop it in low or if you experience wheel hop while "burning out".
Jim

Here's an update. I got an email back from Roy at 3rd Gen Resource. He said that the firebirds got the elec speedo in '86 and the Camaros got them in '90. Just thought I'd relay the info. I haven't gone to a junkyard to try and verify this, but they deal with 3rd Gen. Camaros all day so I thought I'd take his word. Hope this hgelps someone. John.

The speedo adapter will work from any 3 spd, 4 spd or auto except the larger fitting used on the TH400 and later trans. G.M only made one small fitting. Not a bad idea to change the o-ring seal on it when you install it. As for the gears, they come with teeth ranging from a low of 15 up to a high of 22 (to count the exisiting teeth on your gear, turn it sideways with the long stem facing the ground and then count around in a circle). From past experience I have found out that a 1 tooth change will change the speedo by about 5 MPH. These gears are still available from the dealer (eg. part # 3987917 is 17 teeth: part # 3987919 is 19 teeth) Hope this helps.

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Ontario Inliners

1940 Chev Sedan
1954 Chev Custom
1965 Chev Pick-up