My 1939 Ford Standard Coupe - The Restoration
This is the Borg-Warner T-5 five speed transmission I bought used from a 1989 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck. The car only had 71,000 miles on it. The truck owner had converted from a V6 engine to a V8 and needed the slightly different T-5 trans to make it work. I got a nice deal on this one. It has the 14 spline input shaft that I wanted. This particular T-5 trans is not the "World Class" version, but, with my mildly warmed up flathead, I won't need the heavy duty features of the World Class. The only negative side of this is that the '89 and newer T-5's had electronic speedometer senders. Unless someone makes an electronic reader that adapts to the usual gear/cable drive, I will have to make do without a speedometer or change out the tailshaft assembly to a 1988 or older T-5.
With the Offenhauser trans adapter I bought, I won't need the bell housing from this transmission.
The adapter kit I purchased from Speedway included the input shaft (front bearing housing) spacer adapter for the throw-out (clutch release) bearing. This allows the original Ford throw-out bearing to slide on the input shaft smoothly.
You can see the adapter already pressed onto the bearing housing in this picture. Unfortunately, the adapter wasn't machined correctly....or the bearing housing was slightly large in its outside diameter. Regardless, it required a trip to the local machine shop to have the retainer turned down about one thousandth inch so that the sleeve adapter could be pressed on properly. We set it even with the front opening of the bearing retainer.
It is available in two forms....the early throw-out bearing style as shown here, and a version that uses the side-fork clutch release setup. I opted for the early style since I wanted to use my original Ford brake & clutch pedal assembly.
Two modifications are required. You have to "notch" the side where the starter bendix housing is on the engine. I used a simple power jig saw with fresh blades. Cutting through nearly 1" thick of hard tough aluminum took me nearly 40 minutes to remove the material needed for clearance.
The second modification is to add a small bracket inside the adapter to mount the release bearing return spring. I fashioned a small L shaped bracket from a piece of 1/8" x 1" wide steel. I drilled and tapped the aluminum adapter to attach it with two screws. Be sure to use some LockTite or similar material to keep the screws from wandering back out.
This, of course, is the same adapter, viewed from the back side. It shows the bolt pattern and the cut I had to make to accommodate the starter.
The Offy adapter bolted right up to the engine with standard U.S. thread bolts. The adapter had the metric threaded holes at the back side where the transmission bolts up.
From here I will need to establish the location of the rear mount. I will also be using a steel frame piece that was purchased from Speedway.