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Hey everyone. Bought a 90 Firebird as a donor for A 5 speed swap .I got the transmission out and went to pull the speed sensor and found a magnetic sensor and a reluctor wheel.
This was never the setup in a third gen right? They all used gear driven sensors
It's a 17 tooth reluctor wheel so I'm guessing the tail shaft housing might not be the original, is there a casting number I could look for to confirm? I want to replace the end seal on the tail shaft housing but don't want to order the wrong one.
4th gen extension housing is what you have. Extension housing seal shouldn't be unique.
if you can put together the third gen T5 extension housing and speedo gear VSS stuff, that will work.
you could also convert the signal to a lower RPM
This might actually work out good for me. I've been doing some reading and I'll actually need the 4th Gen stuff as I'm going LT1 and the newer pcm uses this signal.
This also explains why the speedo was maxing out going 5km/h
Looks like somebody took 4th gen guts (and extension housing) and put em in a 3rd gen case. That means it's most likely a 6-cyl transmission inside.
The red silicone isn't factory.
Might want to pop the cover off and have a look in there.
Yes it's W... Wo.... Worl..... [ppppppuuuuuuuuuuuukkkkkkkkkkkkke] yeah that... the trendy 80s "quality" "PIT team" "six sigma" "process improvement" buzzword, that Borg-Warner's marketing dept sophomore summer intern decided would be a great way to immortalize rev 2 of that product. (think 60s tie-dye, 70s harvest gold appliances and green **** carpet, 90s "big hair" rock bands, and so forth... in the same class of things) I can't bring myself to utter that revolting platitude, not even type it, without vomiting. I prefer to refer to it as 2nd design.
I'll pull the case apart and redo the sealing job as I don't like it being so sloppy. I'm guessing they might have had the top open when they changed the tail housing.
I had a chance to drive the car before I bought it and the transmission felt good, shifted nice, no weird noises.
They didn't "change the tail housing". (not least because, there's no part with that name; no such thing exists)
The 4th gen T-5 was ONLY used behind the 6-cyl. Its case ONLY had a Frod bolt pattern.
That case has a GM bolt pattern. Therefore it's NOT a 4th gen T-5 case.
However, 3rd gen 6-cyl T-5s came with a 14-spline clutch gear shaft, and yours is 26-spline. Therefore the clutch gear is NOT a 3rd gen T-5. It's EITHER a 4th gen 6-cyl clutch gear or a 3rd gen V8 one.
If I were the betting kind (I'm not... I'm a university statistics professor on occasion) I'd bet it's the 2nd choice.
A 6-cyl clutch gear will NOT work with a V8 countergear. They're a SET in that regard; you can't mix them.
The reluctor is installed onto the mainshaft. It's virtually certain then that the mainshaft came out of a 4th gen 6-cyl T-5. And furthermore, that whoever put that into that car, either (a) didn't have the original mainshaft to begin with; or (b) was too lazy to swap all that stuff over from the one to the other. Which I'm not completely sure is even possible.
I'm thinking I'll stick with #2 here.
Therefore, you have EITHER a 3rd gen V8 T-5 with a 4th gen mainshaft and extension housing (about as likely as a shark coming ashore to s*** in the beachhouse); OR, you have a 4th gen 6-cyl T-5 in a 3rd gen case, with its original extension housing.
Once again, I'm going with door #2.
IOW, no matter how you cut it, you have a MUTT on your hands there.
I wouldn't be as concerned about "sloppy" sealant, as I would about figuring out what you ACTUALLY have there before you eff up and fornicate yourself from the seat of your shorts.
Last edited by sofakingdom; Sep 12, 2018 at 06:03 PM.
