Hey- I have a 86 Sport Coupe with a 2.8 litre with a non world class t-5. I am getting ready to swap over to a 406 small block chevy. I got a bellhousing from one of my buddies and i was wondering what kind of clutch i would need to use( spline, 10 or 11 inch?), i know i need a 400 flywheel being that it is externally balanced. But im not sure about the clutch.... Help me out guys

 

i dont know i think we will be putting in a new tranny every weekend lol

 

NWC T-5's are typically 10 spline input shafts.
I think the 400 flywheel is set up for an 11" clutch and pressure plate. You are so going to break that T-5 ....

 

ditto that, that t-5 is going to blow all over the place the first time you put it into gear, your going to need to get a new tranny

 

can it be done........YES

should it be done..........DEFINETLY NOT

 

hehe, wish I could be there to see it **** its parts on the pavement

 

well there is only one way to find out, im going to try it despite what all of you are saying. As long as it will last me a month or two ill be happy, im going to start saving for a 6 speed. Thanks for you thoughts guys.

 

not to sound like an idiotic hypocrit, but i am doing it too, until i can afford a 6 speed

i already have all the parts i just need to put them all in on sunday

think about this though, this swap will cost you anywhere from $800 to $1000

why not just save a little longer for the T56?

thats what i wish i had done.................

 

And you would know about that how ?

 

Yeah im with you on this one, i think the t 5 will hold up fine as long as i dont go out beating the hell out of it everyday and powershifting it and ****, cause once its in gear and i hammer on it, it should be allright. I think people just are going by what they Hear and not by experience. I have heard quite a few guys on here now say they have been using non world class t-5's with their built up motors with no problems, i have also heard a few that have blown them but that is all due to beating them i'd say. I will let everyone know how my holds up cause i am going to use it, dont care what everyone is saying about it blowing up.

 

I have a 400 with a non world class as you can see in my signature. It's been fine for the last year or so. Of course I dont dump the clutch at 5 grand and powershift it either. You can still win races w/out doing those two things. And if you dont... who gives a crap ? At least you get to drive your car home and race again another day

 

Exactly what i was thinking, its just like anything else on a car it will last awhile if you dont beat the hell out of it. I love your car blankened, its bad A$$ :hail: what are you running for quarter mile times with that?

 

my dad has one in his 84 camaro with a 383 and it held up so far but its starting to wine pretty good so i dont think it will last that mush longer and he dont beat his

 

My friend, also on this board, was running low 12's with a WC T-5. He then proceeded to shear seven or eight teeth off of third gear. Here's the thing, he was "just driving along" when third gear gave up. The probem isn't ultimate tensile strength, the problem is the fatigue life of the gears combined with the flexing of the case causing failure. The Non-WC T-5 will last, but it will last for a shorter period of time than the WC T-5. Popular opinion is popular for a reason.

 

Blackend i really need your help!! Your running pretty much exactly the same setup as i am... I just called summit and found out my nwc T-5 is a 14 spline by 1 1/8 shaft... and i need a 400 externally balanced flywheel which takes a 11 or 12 inch clutch, and the biggest cluth summit carries for the 14 spline 1 1/8 tranny is like a 9 7/8 which would not fit the 400 flywheel.. I am going crazy here trying to figure out what to do.. please someone help me out

 

GO TO YOUR NEAREST SPEED SHOP

1985 CHEVY ASTRO VAN CLUTCH DISC:

14 spline 11 INCH


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THATS YOUR ANSWER

I ASKED SUMMIT THAT SAME QUESTION

THEIR TECHS ARE TOO FU(KING LAZY TO SEARCH FOR YOU




GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

oh yeah

the size is 14 spline 1 inch

not 1and1/8

 

i just checked the centerforce website

the V6 T5 is indeed 14 spline 1 inch


see that?

summit even gave you wrong info

 

top guy i would guess that would be my old v6 tranny u using

 

YUP

best deal i ever got for $150

 

camarokev, are you using a factory t-5 bell housing, with the large 14inch flywheel to accomodate the 11 inch clutch?, i have been told that it will NOT work due to clearance issues.i would like to know if this is possible as i am gathering parts for my swap and i have a 14 flywheel, if i can i want to use it

 

i think you can get a scatershield

 

If you need a 10 3/4 inch flywheel then you HAVE to get one from a 83-85 Camaro V8. I got one for 80 bucks already resurfaced and had it balanced for my 400.

 

Thanks 91tealRS i got my clutch and flywheel last night, chevy astro van 14 spline 11 inch just like you said, ill let you know how it works, and yes i am using a stock t-5 v-8 bellhousing.

 

glad i could help

 

camarokev, what flywheel are you going to be using that astrovan clutch on?, also are you using the entire clutch set or just the disk?

 

the astro van clutch is going on a 400 flywheel (externally balanced) that takes a 11 or 12 inch clutch.. the astro van clutch is 11 inches and i am going to use the whole assembly for now prob end up switching it out later when the tranny decides to break on me.

 

so it is the larger 14inch flywheel then?

i thought those wouldn't fit the stock bell housing??

 

yes it is a 14 inch flywheel... I have yet to find out if it will fit in the bellhousing... i just picked up a v-8 t-5 bellhousing that i am going to try to use ill let you know if it works out or not

 

It won't

 

yeah i'll find out here pretty quick... what kind of bellhousing are you using 91tealRS??

 

stock


thats because i am using a SMALLER CLUTCH AND FLYWHEEL THAN THE ONE YOU JUST WASTED YOUR MONEY ON

sorry bro, but your idea aint gonna work

 

sorry for getting bent out of shape

it seems like you've misunderstood what i was saying for a while.........

 

ahh its all good.. No biggy... i can still use the clutch i got and i already have a 350 flywheel just will have to go get it balanced... i just tried putting the 400 flywheel into the bellhousing and it hits all the way around so that one will def not work which sucks but no big deal

 

you can put the 11inch clutch on the 12 3/4 inch flywheel?

somebody please tell me yes, autozone says my firebird, and the astrovan use the same flywheel

 

try to get a Lakewood bellhousing.....it MITE fit

 

No, the large clutch will not fit on the small flywheel.

I don't know anything about the Astro van work-around, I always just use the right parts... the right trans, the right flywheel, the right clutch, the right bell housing, it fits and works without any doubts or hidden gotchas. You get the strongest possible parts, the least amount of worrying about whether it's going to scatter itself all over the pavement this time or survive one more time.

The right way to do this is to get a V8 trans; use a v8 clutch; get a 83-85 305 flywheel, and have it "unbalanced" to the 400 spec; use a V8 bell housing from a F car; and have the block drilled for the V8 F car starter. Use new flywheel and clutch bolts; especially clutch bolts, they're special ones somewhat like starter ones are, garden variety bolts (even regular grade 8 ones) are wrong and will not work right. Do it once, put it together, drive it hundreds of thousands of miles with no problems or failures.

You do of course realize the the clutch and flywheel are less than 6" from your right foot, don't you? And that the 50 pounds of shrapnel that comes out of one of those exploding will cut right through the aluminum bell housing and sheet metal floor without even slowing down? Ever met anybody riding around in a wheelchair because his clutch came apart? I have. You'd be doing alot less rigging in that part of your car if you met such a person too.

 

Yeah that wouldnt be cool... but some of us dont have the money to go out and buy a brand new richmond tranny or a t-56 so you have to do what you have to do to make what you have work and thats just what im donig i dont think there is very much rigging involved at all.. sure the astro van clutch isnt gonna hold as good as anything else but it will work.

 

Listen to RB, he's been driving his 400sbc 3rd gen since before most of the people on this board were fetuses. He is sharing almost 20yrs of R&D with us for $0.00

 

Allright this is what i have...
14 inch 400 Flywheel~brand new which can not be used
Stock v-8 t-5 bellhousing~400 flywheel dosent fit inside
11 inch Clutch-14 spline for the v-6 T-5
I also have a 350 flywheel laying around in my garage which would need to be balanced and resurfaced.. do you think this would work out for me? If so how much would it cost to get it balanced?

 

camarokev, i ran across something you may be interested in for a clutch , in the catalog, about page 6 or 7, its a mcleod, disk 10.5 inch, for a 14 spline, they want $84 for the disk,

www.mcleodind.com


hopefully i'm not too late, i think this is what i am going to use

 

Sounds like you have a whole bunch of stuff that won't any of it work...

350s never came with a 12¾" flywheel, so if your flywheel actually came from a 350, it will not work. However, a 305 flywheel will bolt right to a 350, so it could be either. It's the diameter you need to think in terms of, not the engine of origin.

OK, one more time, here's the list. You need a flywheel for a 83-85 305 V8 Camaro, which needs to be "unbalanced"; the stock bell housing; a hole drilled in your block for the inner starter bolt; a V8 T5; and an entire 10.4" clutch asssembly incuding a disk for a 1-1/8" 26-spline clutch gear.

You can fiddle around with other stuff and it might work, but this is a guaranteed working failure-proof combination. It's a whole lot easier to do it once and get it right than to have to pull the motor back out and fix something that didn't happen like you thought it would.

I would definitely not recommend using the 6-cylinder transmission. There's not alot of point in putting a mountain motor in a car and immediately trashing the drive train, or being unable to use the engine's power. I know, I tore up a ridiculous number of V8 T5s with my 400, before I finally wised up and quit treating it like it was a 4-speed.

I have never seen a 11" disk go inside a 10.4" clutch, but I can't say that it won't go. I've always used the right combination of parts because I really enjoy being able to walk.

I pay anywhere from $30 to $50 to get a flywheel "unbalanced".

 

rb83l69,

i know how you think we are all fools for trying to make this stuff work, but thats beside the point,

i posted to this topic again in an effort to provide the possibility of using the correct size clutch disk

 

You're right, I really do, , I don't intend to be mean; there's a time and a place for creative use of paid-for parts, and this just isn't it. Sometimes there's just no substitute for doing something right. Like I said, I enjoy having feet too much, and I would like to see everybody else keep theirs too.

 

Yes i agree with both of you too i enjoy being able to walk however i do also enjoy driving fast loud cars so you can see where i am coming from. Also i do not plan on doing 5,000 plus rpms and dropping the clutch. Allright guys let me try to explain this one more time ive been trying to get an anwser forever now and am running out of time here.. Ive got my v-8 T-5 bellhousing, now you are saying to get a 305 flywheel however many inches that is and get it "unbalanced", then what size clutch would i need to go on the 305 flywheel? (it has to 14 spline by 1 inch for the v-6 T-5)

 

the factory f-body flywheel, is 12 3/4 inch, which would be from a 305, use a regular v8 pressure plate, factory size is 10.5 inch, (10.4 if you wanna get technical), as for the clutch disk, check my previous post about the mcleod website, i found a disk that is 14 spline 1in dia. input shaft, and 10.5in diameter, basically stock size for a v8,

please note i have not researched or used the disc i mentioned, i found it while trying to figure a solution to the clutch problem for those of us trying to use a v6 t5 with a v8,

btw the disc is $85 bucks for a series 200 model, they don't seem to have the price for a series 100,

www.mcleodind.com and go to the catalog you need acrobat reader, to view it

 

It's funny how RB keeps repeating this information for every guy that wants to do this.. over and over and over again! lol

I just did a search and was able to gather all the information to mate my 400 to my T5. Took his advice word for word, w/out trying to swap parts and it worked like a charm.

 

yeah he keeps repeating the info about v-8 t-5s we are talking non world class 14 spline v-6 T-5's not the 26 spline v-8 ones. If we had one of those we would not be having all this trouble

 

i just ordered one :hail:

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FU(KING MUCH

:rockon:

 

yeah that looks like the best plan so far..... i am just wondering what is the biggest clutch you can use on the smaller 12 3/4 inch flywheel? I was hoping to get away with using my 11 inch disk and just buying another pressure plate but if the stock pressure plate is only 10.4 that is definently not going to happen.