[harley3296]

Just got the universal bellhousing in from UPS today ,the bottom two bolts holes are in the position I thought they will be in. I took the transmission and put it against the bell housing and the bottom two holes line up perfectly. I haven't got the bearing retainer in yet but I'm sure it's going to fit perfectly. The top holes don't line up, but that's alright I'm going to center punch the holes and then drill it with the bolts in the bottom bolted to the bell housing so it will be exact four Sure Fit. Then bearing retainer should be in this afternoon if not Saturday, but it's going to rain anyway on Saturday so I can't do anything with it regardless. This is what I should have done in the first place but I didn't know coming I'm glad I used the ford transmission because it's a lot beefier then the Camaro style, besides the Camaro style has the same bolt pattern as the Ford anyway after 1992, what are the chances of getting a really good v- 8 t5 transmission... About impossible, there are so many Mustang 5.0. There it's ridiculous, I must have seen 15 or 20 of them on eBay very cheaply and you know they're all world class transmissions, so if I blow this one up, I will have plenty others to choose from and they will all just bolt right in

[HWYSTR455]

Wait to drill the top ones until you have the retainer, install the retainer, mount to the bell, THEN center punch and drill the top holes.

That will make sure you have to top ones centered. Remember, the retainer is what it centers on.

.

[harley3296]

Attached the bellhousing to the transmission with the new bearing retainer and the Dearborn pre drilled holes from the factory line up perfectly on the bottom just like I investigated and thought, I am now bolting it down to pre drill the other holes on the top which don't match up but that's okay, the bottom to bolt holes are in the mission and they will be screw down so I can drill the top holes

[harley3296]

[harley3296]

Just got done putting the transmission into the bell housing and it fit perfectly, installed the bell housing onto the engine then took the transmission and put it into the housing, it was a very tight fit. I tried wiggling the transmission to go in but it was about a quarter of an inch from going in, so I put all 4 bolts on and tighten them up evenly around the transmission case and all the sudden I heard a click and it popped right on in. I tighten all the bolts up to the transmission and tighten to torque specs. Got in the car after tightening all the header bolts up, and started the engine ....... the engine and transmission ran perfectly, no vibration whatsoever, no noise, just as smooth as it could be up to 3000 rpm and that was enough, if it made vibration at 3000 it would sure make it a 4000 so I'm very happy with that. It's been raining all day and the car is wet, the ground is wet, the tools, everything is wet. I just took a shower and relaxing until tomorrow. I'm done for today. Tomorrow I'm going to measure the drive shaft and hook up the shifter and modifying the transmission mount, have a full day tomorrow

[TedRamAirII]

You may be lucky. Usually bad things happen when you pull the trans in using the bolts. The trans should seat by itself, no need to "pull" it in. Usually input shaft and pilot bushing issues, then input bearing and trans case mounting ear issues. ; )

[Scarebird]

What did the upper bolts mount to? Usually the holes in an OEM setup have reinforced bosses and ribbing.

[harley3296]

No webbing on top, but there was plenty "meat" on the inside of the casting, look at the pictures. I torqued them down and they held. Im not really concerned about them, the other holes were in the bosses drill by the factory. Next is shorting the driveshaft, what do you think about doing the driveshaft myself, I think I should take it to the shop, I'm not hurry in this job anymore

[JSPONT]

It needs to be balanced, so unless you have a driveshaft balancer take it to a shop or you can get a vibration.

[tom s]

FYI,I had a bad vibration when driving my lemans,I found out a small washer welded to it for balance had come off,took it to the driveline shop and had it rebalanced.WORLDS of diff.Tom

[Batman]

Harley I wouldn't have done things the way you did but more power to you. Get 'er done!
However, there is no way you will get lucky with shortening a drive shaft and have a successful (balanced) outcome. Leave this to the professionals with the proper equipment.

[harley3296]

Yes, I'm going to have the drive shaft professionally cut and balanced, it's been raining all day and haven't really done anything to the transmission swap still trying to adjust the throwout linkage. It's giving me a hard time but Tuesday is supposed to stop raining and then I can continue with this project. Any information on measuring it would be helpful. How do you measure the distance you need on the driveshaft with differential movement when the car is on uneven roads

[Scarebird]

Call the driveline shop - they will tell you how they want it done.

I used Shaftmasters in Texas; $350 for a 3.5" aluminum piece with yoke and bearings.

[harley3296]

If using a ford t5 transmission you're going to have to use an adapter for the output for the speedometer from Ford to GM. The GM standard speedometer gear set will not work in a Ford you must buy the adapter, its 12 bucks, I'm pretty sure everybody here can afford that. Buy it on eBay

[harley3296]

Just measured the drive shaft today, from the rear differential center yoke to the front ford output shafg is 53 inches accounting for 1 inch of the output shaft play. Going to the driveshaft company tomorrow moringm couldn't take more than 2 days to complete. Ill get everyone kmow how much it costs. Had a bit of trouble with the clutch rod and Z bar, the cut I made was perfect,however when I pliced it together, the metal I used just bent from the pressure and instantly deformed it. The Z bar hit the steering colom ,so I manufactured another extension and bolted it on. I went to home Depot and bought bar stock 1/8 inch thick, took a hammer and bent it i to shape, I could have welded it,but if I need to remove the headers, there would be a problem. Now i just have to unbolt the Z bar extention and pull it out, wal lah

[harley3296]

[Scarebird]

1/8"? as in 11 gauge?

[harley3296]

It appeared to be 1/8 inch...larger than 1/16 ,smaller than 1/2 inch. It's the same size as the rest of the Z bar. When I used a piece of flat bar to spice the Z bar together, it instantly bent, plus this time I looked in an engineering manual and it said to use bolts with shoulders on it because at the point where the bolt goes into the hole, the threads of the botl is where the point of contact is and that's where the most wear will be , a shoulder possesses no sharp point of contact therefore no wear

[harley3296]

I dropped off the drive shaft this morning and I picked it back up 2 hours later, cost $80. tonight I'm going to install it and hopefully the measurement will be right on the money. I'll keep everybody posted and see how this thing finishes off. I've got to go to dinner tonight so its going to be a short night, anniversary and I'm a veteran so I'll be going to Applebees and I'm getting my dinner for free and my wife dinner I'll pay for it so it's half off, perfect for me being cheap

[GOAT WHORE]

Nice, happy veterans day!