T5 swap for beginners

[agnes the dog]

Mods- If this should be in another forum, please feel free to move it.

Last Spring (2013), I swapped my old 3 speed column shift for a T5 floor shift out of a Camaro. I wrote this right after I did the project, but forgot to put the pics in and post it. I hope this helps someone considering a T5 swap.

My truck is a 59 3100 that had already had a 1984 SBC 305 swapped into it. It has the stock rear end and driveshaft.

It literally took me months to figure out if and how I wanted to do this. I bought the transmission in the fall of 2012 and thought about it, probably way too much, all winter. I also bought an S-10 T5 with the intention of swapping the tail housings. I actually swapped them out, but swapped them back because I switched to buckets that had integrated seat belts. This was my first major transmission swap of any kind and I was really nervous. Being done, I know now that I really had nothing to worry about. I found that there were lots of posts on lots of sites, but I was never able to find a “how-to” on the swap. Here’s my journey in pictures…..



Disclaimer – This is my first attempt and I made some mistakes. You probably will too. I’m not a mechanic , but have some decent tools. My methods may not be by the book, but they worked for me. These posts are meant for those who have never done something like this before, so please don’t be critical….

My first task was to get the truck up in the air. I had to make sure that it was high enough to get the transmissions out/in without interference with the body panels. I found that the axles were the best points for the jack stands…

I then removed the driveshaft. Piece of cake. Four bolts and a good tug and it was out. You can see that the driveshaft slides into the rear of the transmission.



The bolts were on the u-joints on the differential. Pulling on the driveshaft toward the rear of the truck will get it out of there. Don’t worry, it’s really not as heavy as it looks.

I used an old motorcycle jack and some ratchet straps as a transmission jack. It worked pretty well and was free. I supported the old transmission with blocks of wood and a ratchet strap and removed the four bolts that hold it to the bell housing. I wiggled the transmission back and forth while pulling toward the rear of the truck and the transmission came right out. I lowered it and moved it out of the way.



The next task was getting the bell housing out of the way since I needed to change my flywheel and clutch. My old flywheel had hard/slick spots and caused the truck to shake like an earthquake on fast starts. My bell housing is a beast. It’s cast iron and weighs about as much as the transmission. The previous owner also utilized it as the rear motor mounts, so it was a little more involved. I had to remove all the bolts and support the engine. The good part about the bell housing is that it has the same bolt pattern as the T5 I put in. Pretty convenient (and lucky) since I couldn’t use the bell housing from the Camaro. I wouldn’t have had any rear motor mounts.



My next chore was to remove the pressure plate. Six bolts and it was off. The clutch came right out too. Six more bolts and the flywheel was off. This is where my first challenge emerged. I bought the flywheel for the motor, a 1984 C10 305 V8. It called for an 11” flywheel. Apparently, the book was wrong. It wouldn’t work with my starter, so I had to find an alternative. Off to the parts store and found a Camaro flywheel (bonus- it was about 1/3 of the weight of the old one). Of course, they didn’t have it in stock, so it was time to have a beer or two.



End of day 1.