BUICK The Final Objective (Mission Accomplished, 7/23)

[Alerch]

I did the TKO in my car with a BBO, it wasn’t cheap nor fun... but being able to row the gears in autocross is so much better than the automatic trans.. I also have 3.73 gears on a tight track I just leave it in 2nd the whole time and let it eat.. 6th gear would never be used in my car at 75ish mph I spin 2300-2500 rpm in 5th on the highway.. any question with the swap feel free to pm me..

 

[307 Regal]

How'd you end up with bump steer?

Between lowering the car and the Blazer spindles I think. When I did my alignment, I found my toe angle and then "shifted" the adjustment. By shifted I mean made one side longer and one side shorter while maintaining the same toe angle. I did that to make the steering wheel straight. Unfortunately, when I did that it gave me bad bump steer. I would hit a couple potholes and the car would just shift to the right without any steering wheel change.

I "shifted" things back the other way and now the bump steer is gone, but I'm stuck with my steering wheel clocked at about 2 o'clock. Right now I'm looking into changing the center link to a different model. (I like that better than the bump steer kit that UMI sells.) I would really like to have my steering wheel straight. For what it's worth, it has always been slightly clocked to the right. And I think the Jeep steering shaft made it just slightly worse, even though I've checked multiple times that it was on the correct spline.

 

[307 Regal]

I did the TKO in my car with a BBO, it wasn’t cheap nor fun... but being able to row the gears in autocross is so much better than the automatic trans.. I also have 3.73 gears on a tight track I just leave it in 2nd the whole time and let it eat.. 6th gear would never be used in my car at 75ish mph I spin 2300-2500 rpm in 5th on the highway.. any question with the swap feel free to pm me..

Gonna do that right now.

 

[fleming442]

I was wondering more about the ball joints. I have Belltech Blazer drop spindles, and it's right on the edge of bumpsteer issues. I think tall LBJs would put me over the edge.

 

[307 Regal]

I was wondering more about the ball joints. I have Belltech Blazer drop spindles, and it's right on the edge of bumpsteer issues. I think tall LBJs would put me over the edge.

I used .5" taller lowers, so you have a point there.

I wonder if it would be worth my while to remove the front springs, button things back up, and just observe how everything moves during compression.

 

[fleming442]

My point is that if you have stock height ball joints, you're good. Taller lowers put you in bump steer correction mode...

 

[307 Regal]

My point is that if you have stock height ball joints, you're good. Taller lowers put you in bump steer correction mode...

Alright. I'll have to look into that. It'll be a shame if I have to get rid of them. I like the bit of lowering and the upper A arm angle they provide.

 

[307 Regal]

So ummm, I kinda cheated and cut my turn signal cancel cam. I soldered on a wire, gave it and my horn wire a spade connection, and just rotated the wheel one or two splines to the left. Sorry / not sorry; my wheel is now straight. lol

Also, I bought a '94 V6 Camaro T5 ("World Class") for 100 bucks. The internals look good. Seems to have had a clutch and/or pilot bearing failure which boogered up the snout of the input shaft a bit. The previous owner said the slave cylinder mount broke when he went in for a clutch change. (He threw in the broken V6 bell for free.) This model of trans is not what I want, but it's all I need. Gear ratios and Ford bolt pattern be damned! After 19 years of dreaming, the swap has finally begun. I'll be hitting people up for information. Mostly for good rebuild parts and literature.

I'm gonna find out the hard way whether or not the "non-centered pilot bearing hole" talk is true on automatic BOP engines. I have my doubts. Heck, my crank might even be correct.

The auto trans gets dropped as soon as I find a good T5WC rebuild kit and put it in.

Current total costs:
T5 core: $100
2nd gen F-body BOP bell: $40
pilot bushing: $5
Hot Rod Works GM Ford pattern to Muncie pattern adapter: $198.17 shipped and taxed.
Various pedals bought from the forum over a decade ago: Cannot remember
Buick 350 flywheel: $190 shipped from ebay seller. (Should have just bought a new one for the cost after machining.)
Flywheel machining, inspection, and balance costs: TBD

Still need:
Crossmember solution
T5 trans mount solution (Gotta figure out how to tackle that 15-18 degree tilt.)
Hydraulic clutch throwout bearing
Shifter solution (The F-body shifter is angled to the right due to the T5 tilt which will no longer exist in my application.)
Driveshaft solution
Reverse light & speedometer adaptiation
T5 rebuild kit. Might not even need it, honestly. Hopefully the input shaft can be smoothed back out too.

 

[307 Regal]

Slowly moving along in the afternoons. Got the flywheel back from the machine shop tonight. Freshly resurfaced. Yesterday afternoon I received my Hot Rod Works adapter plate and started installing it on my Firebird bellhousing which has been sitting around for years now. I cleaned the mating surfaces and made them smooth again, as well as cleaned the threads. Unfortunately, I had to clean up the adapter too! It's a great looking billet aluminum piece with included hardware and thorough color-printed instructions. But there were a couple burs in the threads that needed to be chased out, and one of the two 3/8 studs had to be run through a die due to bent threads binding in the aluminum. No big deal if you have the tools. Looks great. I need to clean up the transmission's face and mounting holes now so I can finish test fitting. Thus far no modifications have been needed to the input or bearing retainer after all. The instructions had stated these modifications, but I believe these are for non-GM units. (My unit is from a '94 Camaro.)

I'm going to try to give this trans the best chance of survival possible, so I'll be centering the bellhousing on the engine block when the time comes. As some may know, that involves a dial indicator connected to the crank. You run the gauge along the circular opening in the bell by turning the crankshaft, and check for differences. You split that difference using offset dowel pins on the engine block, and your trans should then be centered better.
So considering that process, I'm guessing I should do all of that with the adapter attached. You can't see it in my picture, but the engine side of that adapter actually has a circular flange that inserts into the big bore on the bell. So instead of the dial indicator riding on the bell, it'll ride on that circular flange of the adapter.

 

[GuysMonteSS]

You hit the nail on the head about correctly indexing the bellhousing/transmission.
When I first bought my Monte,it was always known as being hard on clutches and the Doug Nash 4+1 5 speed.
I found this out after loosing an almost new Centerforce clutch.
Then I found out about how to index the bellhousing.Let me tell you this made a huge difference in longevity of clutches and parts !!
The same LuK clutch has been in use for app 15 years now and still looks good.
Guy