Quote:
Originally Posted by Scot_Douglas
Ordered the wrong clutch.
Apparently, the "S10 V8 Conversion Clutch kit" from Rockauto.com gets shipped used and possibly the wrong part. Oh well, live & learn! Tubing is here, so I'll be able to run my exhaust. WooHoo! |
Just for those curious on the clutch trouble I had:
Most, if not all of the T-5 swap info I've read suggests swapping a S-10 tailshaft housing on to a Camaro T-5 to get the benefits of WC strength and shifter location. I just went with a "plain" S-10 trans and figured I'd go with the "S-10 V8 conversion" clutch kit I've seen for sale.
This is what I found, once I had my hands on the parts:
The biggest S-10 clutch I could find was just over 10" - and it would work well - IF I had a 153T flywheel or a 168T with dual patterns drilled in it. I do not - my 168T only has holes drilled for the 11"+ clutches.
Since the S-10 T5 has a 1" dia 14 spline input shaft, the Camaro clutches of the correct size (for a 168T FW) are not compatible.
Through research, I found that a clutch from an 86 M-van (Astro) was the correct diameter and spline count to couple the early T5 to a 168T bellhousing. Everything worked well until I tried to put the trans on the bellhousing - it would go in nearly all the way before binding up on something. The last 1/4" nearly peed in my happy water.
So, out came the trans, I measured everything again and saw that nothing was unreasonable. I marked up several areas that I thought might be binding up with paint pen and installed the trans again. The "witness marks" left in the paint showed me the pilot busing was fine and nothing was bottoming out there. There were interesting marks on the splines though - looked like the disc was going up too far on the input shaft. So, the whole bellhousing/clutch assembly comes apart again - for about the hundredth time in two days (or so it seemed!
).
I slid the clutch disc on the input shaft and could immediately see what my problem was - the clutch hub sat too far out (toward the trans) and rode too far up the input shaft - and was bottoming out on the input shaft splines.
My solution - we'll see how it holds up - was to countersink the spines on the hub 0.1" and shim the trans out 0.2" from the bellhousing (enough that the input snout still engages the bellhousing / locates the transmission). That gives me enough clearance to bolt up before there is any bind - and (hopefully) a small amount of extra space for the disc to float.
The NWC T5 is definitely the weak link in my drivetrain, but it shares the same exterior length and output shaft size/spline count as a T56, which I am keeping my eye open for an affordable one.
Hopefully, I'll have one waiting to go in next fall (if everything goes according to plan) when the body comes off for the final paint and dent removal, etc.