NV3500 5-speed swap

[Wageslave]

I will try to narrow this list down as best I can. A lot of these parts cross to other years, but this should cut it down to a bare minimum of vehicles to make ordering parts a lot easier. Also note that my engine is a 1 piece rear main seal block. If you have a 2 piece rear main seal block, your flywheel will be different.

2002 S10 - M50 NV3500 5-speed transmission
1998 Chevrolet 1500 - Flywheel (1 piece rear main seal) or
1983 Chevrolet Camaro - Flywheel (2 piece rear main seal)
1998 Chevrolet 1500 - Clutch Set
1998 Chevrolet 1500 - Concentric Slave Cylinder/Throwout Bearing
2002 S10 - Hydraulic Hose (what I used - plastic formed hose on master cylinder end)
2002 Camaro - Hydraulic Hose (what I would recommend using - full length stainless braided hose)
2002 Camaro - Clutch Master Cylinder
Dorman #143557 - Manual Flywheel Bolts
Mr. Gasket #910 - Pressure Plate Bolts
Duralast #2295 - Transmission Mount (2 cross member mount holes)
Duralast #275 - Reverse Sensor Pigtail
Duralast #254 - Speed Sensor Pigtail
SickSpeed Monte - Clutch Pedal Assembly (http://sickspeedmonte.com/Pedal.htm)
G Force - Crossmember and Frame Extentions (TH200-4R Kit)

Optional

Dakota Digital Electronic Cable Drive Speedometer Control Unit - ECD-100-1 (use to drive factory mechanical speedometer with electronic VSS transmission)

 

[Wageslave]

Some thoughts after driving for a while:

It was definitely worth the effort of putting in. There was not a bunch of additional noise transmitted into the cabin through the shifter like I was expecting. Driving down the interstate no longer requires turning the radio up louder to hear it.

The fuel economy seems like it is decently improved but it is too early to tell since there has been timing changes and a lot of idling done on this tank. That being said, my fuel economy went from 15.5 to 17.5.

It is a truck transmission so it does shift like a truck. It will go click-click between gears instead of one fast motion. I can still shift pretty quickly if I put a slight bit of pressure on the shifter before i hit the clutch. For instance, if I want to shift from 3rd to 4th quickly, I will apply a slight rearward pull (towards neutral) right as I am hitting the clutch. This causes the shifter to pop out of gear as soon as the clutch is pressed down. This gets me into 4th gear much faster than if I just pushed in the clutch in and then shifted. It does take the synchros a little bit of time to catch up if you have it revved up over 4000-4500 RPM.

As my engine as no shortage of torque, I find myself seldom going over 2000 RPM to get up to speed. With this gear ratio (2.73), 5th gear is actually lower than expected. 55mph is about 1380 RPM and 60 mph is about 1500 RPM. This actually works out about right for me, but a deeper overdrive would have required a regear.

My driveshaft will need balanced as I have a vibration once I go over about 67 mph. I am currently rocking a beach towel as my shifter boot until I can find an S10 shifter boot and lower floor pan seal in a junkyard. I could make a universal part work, but an S10 boot would give a somewhat factory appearance. I will have to get my parking brake mechanism working now that I don't have a park gear to rely on anymore.

All in all a success.

 

[Wageslave]

Finishing touches:

I have been running and driving for a little while now, but have been rocking a beach towel to keep all of the dust and heat out of the cabin. I managed to score an S-10 non-console shifter boot and a foam shifter tower insulator.


I had to drop the transmission and cross member to give enough clearance to fit the foam around the shifter tower. From the topside, I used a couple screwdrivers to pry the edges of the foam through the hole in the floor pan. I had to cut the hole out to about 6 inches by 6 inches to give a reasonable amount of clearance to get the foam through. It is TIGHT! I actually had to jack the transmission up to get it to pop through. I could have widened the hole a little bit to help it go in easier, but I wanted the seal to be as good as I could make it.



Once everything was reinstalled I test fit the shifter boot. It has a piece of sheet metal sandwiched between the layers of rubber so it will fit to the shape of your tunnel with a little bending. There is a piece of metal trim that goes around the outside of the boot that gives the screws something to push against that I still need to find. It will work without it, but I am going for somewhat of a factory looking install.

 

[84dragcutlass]

This is pretty nice! Ive never given any thought to the S-10 transmission but may have to look into them further after seeing this thread

 

[TURNA]

Looks like an Olds T-50 factory install.

 

[Wageslave]

Looks like an Olds T-50 factory install.

I wish I had that shorter shifter on mine, my shift lever sticks up just over the top of the heater controls.

 

[TURNA]

drill cut re thread!!!!!!

If you look close at that pic the stock one is just about there with the heater control

 

[Wageslave]

I probably will, but not a huge priority right now. I may put it in the big press at work and bend it back to a more rearward position in the short term. I still need to get my driveshaft balanced before I invest elsewhere.

 

[pontiacgp]

As my engine as no shortage of torque, I find myself seldom going over 2000 RPM to get up to speed. With this gear ratio (2.73), 5th gear is actually lower than expected. 55mph is about 1380 RPM and 60 mph is about 1500 RPM. This actually works out about right for me, but a deeper overdrive would have required a regear.

I have the same 5th gear ratio you have and if you ever want to increase your wheel diameter and keep the same rpm/ mph I have 245 50 17 tires with a 3.08 rear end and my rpm at 60 mph is also 1500.

 

[Wageslave]

I have been occasionally looking for a cheapish set of IROC rims to change my factory rims out with, but the S10 guys pretty much got all of them already.

On a different note, I just filled up with gas and that tank was good for 18MPG.