I just purchased a wc t5 from one of the board members here. I am wanting to put this trans in my truck. I have heard that the t5 from the v8 camaros (like the one I bought) has a built in tilt of like 18 degrees or somthig like that. Is the tilt built into the trans or the bellhousing? What bellhousing could I get to make the surface that the shifter bolts up to be completly level. I dont have a bellhousing at all right now so I cant confirm anything by looking at one.

 

The bellhousing has the tilt built into it. Two different ones were available, depending on the type of clutch actuation used - one for mechanical, and one for hydraulic. The mechanical one was used in 83 only; the hydraulic from 84-92.
The tilt (or cant) was designed more to fit the transmission into the car due to clearance issues with the clutch fork, than being due to the transmission itself. The rear mount on the F-body T5 is also tilted the same amount to keep it level.
Below is a bellhousing from an 83...

 

And here is an 84-up. Note the difference in the position of the clutch fork pivot stud, and the bracket to which the slave cylinder is bolted.

 

OOps Petes beat me to it...

84 up F body bell housing has tilt built into it. The shifter for a f-body has the compensation for the tilt. The actual trans does not care if it is straight up or tilted. Just have to compensate for crossmember tilt. (Homemade bracket)

Bellhousing - Depends if you have hydraulic Clutch or Manual Linkage. Aftermarket Manuf. Like Lakewood Make one.

 

a mustang shifter will NOT work on this trans, the tail housings are have 2 totally diffrent mounting patterns for the shifter. I want a pro 5.0 shifter for the trans and I tried to see if my friends (pro 5.0 for a mustang t5) would fit on my trans and It wont, not even close, the bolt pattern is way diffrent.

This is my situation........... I have a first gen s10 with a GMPP ramjet350 engine installed into it, it currently has a 700r4 behind it that is NO fun to drive. I bought this trans to put some fun back into driving the truck. The shifter mounts way back on the tail shaft of the trans, which is good because I have buckets and I want the shifter close to me anyways so I can use a short throw shifter like the pro 5.0, BUT space inside the truck is very limited, If the trans is mounted at an angle, when I am pulling it back into 2nd the shifter is going to hit the side of the seat and cause me to possibly miss it or whatever. (the same for reverse) If the mounting surface where the shifter bolts up is level everythging will be kosher. I have recieved varied opinions on this matter..... If the tilt is only built into the bellhousing I will just use another bellhousing that dosent have it. (like one from a s10) I need to broken down as clearly as possible as not to confuse a someone who is totally new at this manual trans thing.


also the factory shifter came with the trans and it does NOT seem to have any sort of compensation built into it for the angle.

 

Using a 'tilted' bellhousing, the shifter mounting suface is very nearly level - close enough to say it is. The factory shifter isn't the greatest piece, but the upper part of the shaft could easily be cut and rewelded at a different, more convenient angle.
A heads-up BTW, the mechanical 83 bellhousing is a very hard-to-find piece as it was a one-year only deal, and most are priced accordingly.

 

yeah the factory shifter is a pile.