Space City 1982 GP Build

[Texas82GP]

Had I known this was a 4-speed car I woulda read this much sooner lol. A suggestion on the interior....why not do it two tone? Like leave the stock carpet and headliner and carpet and do the seats black? Would look good and save a whole LOT of work 🙂

It's a thought. The headliner and visors are new. The carpet has to go though. It's tired and I'm pretty sure it is why the interior smells like old car.

Also I may still have the stock upper door panels from my 86 cutlass laying around

Thanks, I appreciate it. I won't be getting on the interior anytime soon and am not sure what I'm going to do on door panels yet so I'll pass but thanks again for the offer.

 

[L67ss]

Well carpet would be easy enough to change with the seats out. And should you decide you wanted the upper door panels just pay shipping. I won't be installing an interior on my olds.....least not this one

 

[kalidromos13]

Texas82GP, what are your plans for the transmission? Are you gonna keep the 4 speed or swap in an auto? I real like the progress in this as i keep revisiting this thread, nothing too flashy. Nice and simple and practical.

 

[Texas82GP]

Texas82GP, what are your plans for the transmission? Are you gonna keep the 4 speed or swap in an auto? I real like the progress in this as i keep revisiting this thread, nothing too flashy. Nice and simple and practical.

On the transmission, I decided I couldn't live without overdrive but I didn't want an automatic. I have one of those in my daily driver. In my opinion a hot rod should be a stick, even if it isn't the hottest thing on the street. The TKO and T56 Magnum were too expensive and I wanted to stay with mechanical clutch linkage because I want this car to be somewhat 'old school' and be the car I would have killed for when I got my licence in 91. I have a two-piece rear main block and don't particularly like the oddball clutch engagement/release of the LT1 T56 so I settled on a World Class T5 out of a 91 Iroc Z28. I was lucky enough to find the 83 Camaro bellhousing which works with the G-Body mechanical clutch linkage.

For the clutch, I have a Centerforce Dual Friction clutch kit. I also bought the pedal to equilizer and equalizer to fork linkage rods that have the spherical rod ends. I have new ball studs for each end of the equalizer. I still need the equalizer itself. Man has a ton of wear on it and some serious redneck engineering. I'll get one from OPG. I will likely rebush the brake and clutch pedals while I'm at it. Hopefully all of that will give me a smooth clutch that will hold up well. All of the linkage in my car was pulled from a 79 Regal and was worn out. I bought a Pro 5.0 shifter for a Third Gen Camaro. I like it since it has internal stops, which will protect the T5. The T5 lacks internal stops.

The T5 is almost as badly thought of as the Saginaw but I think it will be fine for me. I don't run slicks, I don't rev the engine to 6000 RPM and then dump the clutch and I don't power shift so I don't expect I will tear it up. The car currently has a 3.08 Posi in an 8.5 out back. I might go up to 3.23 or 3.42 after the car is running, but I think it will be a fun combination.

Thank you to all for the interest in my project.

Sincerely,

--Jared

 

[pontiacgp]

I have had the T5 WC behind my roller vortec 355 for 4 years. The transmissions I used were all used so I have had 2 that came up with problems. The T5 WC is easy enough to rebuild but I found a guy who builds them for drag cars and the cost of him doing it is about $300 more than I can do it for so I'll get one rebuilt by him this winter. It's great that you have a good shifter with stops cause the sloppy GM shifter caused one of my transmissions to have problems. I now have the Hurst shifter with stops. I have the 3.08 rear in my 8.2 and it's great with the T5 WC. I can burn off the tires in 1st and chirp into second with 245 50 17 tires. I can cruise all day in 2nd with the 3.08 in the city so it saves me from shifting every 20 feet. On the highway 4th is great to play and the 5th you'll be at around 1900-2000 revs at 75 mph if you have the .68 5th gear.

I don't know if you have got this far but you'll have to modify the floor brace. With the T5 WC you have to cut 3" off the driveshaft and the yoke will hit the brace.

 

[kalidromos13]

T5 sounds awesome, it'll be nice to have that overdrive, I daily a 5 speed Ford Ranger, but I have never driven a stick shift V8 before so I'm anxious to get my swap done. It looks like you have it all planned out and have a good vision of where you are taking this. The Parts Place has the bellcrank, I just bought all the parts to do my manual swap from them, just need clutch and flywheel. Also going to use the clutch linkage from speed direct, I can't wait to see more progress of your build!!! It motivates me I can't wait to get some time to work on the MC haha Thanks Jared,
David

 

[Texas82GP]

I have had the T5 WC behind my roller vortec 355 for 4 years. The transmissions I used were all used so I have had 2 that came up with problems. The T5 WC is easy enough to rebuild but I found a guy who builds them for drag cars and the cost of him doing it is about $300 more than I can do it for so I'll get one rebuilt by him this winter. It's great that you have a good shifter with stops cause the sloppy GM shifter caused one of my transmissions to have problems. I now have the Hurst shifter with stops. I have the 3.08 rear in my 8.2 and it's great with the T5 WC. I can burn off the tires in 1st and chirp into second with 245 50 17 tires. I can cruise all day in 2nd with the 3.08 in the city so it saves me from shifting every 20 feet. On the highway 4th is great to play and the 5th you'll be at around 1900-2000 revs at 75 mph if you have the .68 5th gear.

I don't know if you have got this far but you'll have to modify the floor brace. With the T5 WC you have to cut 3" off the driveshaft and the yoke will hit the brace.

That's great information Steve. Thank you. I wasn't aware of the need to modify the floor brace but I'm not worried. We have a little Mig welder and I'm the welder in the family. My driveshaft looked pretty rough so it went to the scrap yard. I will measure for it when the transmission is in place and order a new shaft from Denny's. That's what we did on my brother's car and I am very impressed with the quality.

 

[Texas82GP]

T5 sounds awesome, it'll be nice to have that overdrive, I daily a 5 speed Ford Ranger, but I have never driven a stick shift V8 before so I'm anxious to get my swap done. It looks like you have it all planned out and have a good vision of where you are taking this. The Parts Place has the bellcrank, I just bought all the parts to do my manual swap from them, just need clutch and flywheel. Also going to use the clutch linkage from speed direct, I can't wait to see more progress of your build!!! It motivates me I can't wait to get some time to work on the MC haha Thanks Jared,
David

David,

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for the lead on The Parts Place for the clutch equalizer. I've bought some stuff from them and been happy. I thought OPG had a monopoly on that part.

There's just something about a stick shift. My first truck was a stick. I love my dailey's automatic for the work commute, but you just aren't truely driving the car if it isn't a stick. Just my opinion.

 

[streetrod]

You know, reading this thread made me think it would be amazing with a 6 speed but for the money you cannot beat a T5. It's a very light transmission in comparison to even a TKO, and especially so vs a T56. They can be improved for very little money, and made near bulletproof for about the cost of a TKO. I've rebuilt one with the Bob Hanlon VHS (lol) for a Mustang but internally, its the same as the Camaro trans so the video applies to both. Very easy if you have a hydraulic press handy, and can be rebuilt in 2-3 hours your first go around if you're mechanically inclined and have proper tools.

 

[Texas82GP]

You know, reading this thread made me think it would be amazing with a 6 speed but for the money you cannot beat a T5. It's a very light transmission in comparison to even a TKO, and especially so vs a T56. They can be improved for very little money, and made near bulletproof for about the cost of a TKO. I've rebuilt one with the Bob Hanlon VHS (lol) for a Mustang but internally, its the same as the Camaro trans so the video applies to both. Very easy if you have a hydraulic press handy, and can be rebuilt in 2-3 hours your first go around if you're mechanically inclined and have proper tools.

I bought mine rebuilt from Astro Performance in Florida so I should be good to go. It's my understanding the stock WC T5 is rated for 280 ft. lbs. and Astro made some improvements while they were in there. My crate engine is advertised to have a peak torque of 400 ft. lbs. Initially, that sounds scary but the 280 ft. lbs. Is probably conservative considering plenty of T5's survived in warmed up Third Gen Camaros at the time. From what I understand, they break from antics/abuse.