71 c10, upgrades/rebuild-my first truck

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by bigyellow

i know it's been a long time since i've posted anything but i've been very busy with school and work. gotta love wakin up at 7:30 and going to school, doing hw/studying, and going to work til 11 at night every single day. but it's all good i've saved all the money i need to do al the upgrades i want and then some so i'm not broke when it's all said and done.

not a whole lot of progress but i got the rear bar painted. i'm going to go get the clamps and end links next weekend after i get paid and put it on. then i'm going to call the driveline shop so i can have them cut the driveshaft. gotta buy u joints and a clutch and i'll be good to roll. I'll post pics of my t5 plate when i get a chance to pick it up from the machine shop

for you guys like me heres a pic to prove i've done SOMETHING when i had a little bit of time.

I wished I knew you were wanting a Camaro sway bar. I took mine off because it interferd with the new rear shock relocator I installed. You will need spacers for the install also.

[bigyellow]

sooo here are some of the pictures i promised of my t5 swap. sorry it took so long i've been busy at work and the holidays. but yes i did accomplish to break my bellhousing one night lol but thank god one of my friends is a good welder and managed to get it back together for me. i've gone about 200 miles and so far i love the swap.

I followed jocko's t5 swap thread and of course had to adjust accordingly. The biggest problem i had was getting the right parts. I have the odd sized 10" clutch and my flywheel is only drilled for the 10" clutch. I bought the 11" astro van clutch and it wouldn't bolt on then i tried the 9" s10 and no dice. What i ended up doing was using the stock pressure plate, throw out bearing and a 10" clutch disk from speedway motors. It actually measures 9 and 7/8 but the difference is so small that it isn't a problem. Also i assumed since i had the sm420 which is a 67 down style transmission they used the right bellhousing, and of course i was wrong so i had to buy an index ring from advance adapters because i didn't want the transmission to walk around in the bellhousing.

I trimmed the input collar down i beleive half an inch, that with the 1/2" spacer plate made the input collar match the sm 420 in length relative to the bellhousing.

I used the stock s10 shifter, although i had to bend the base so it would clear my seat. The overall throw off the shifter isn't bad 5th gear is a little bit far but it really isn't bad at all.

Prices:

Transmission-$150
Index ring- $30
Clutch disk- $90
Cut driveshaft- $60
Carrier bearing- $20
U joint- $8
Gear oil- $20
RTV- $5

So for about 400 dollars i have a much more driveable and practicle truck to drive. Overall I am very happy with the swap and anybody with a straight six that wants to keep it as a practical driver should definitely do it. pretty easy swap overall, I had my unique set of problems but thats what happens when you match modern technology with old technology.