The "Whatever" Project

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

The new to me T5 is a nwc, 2.95 low gear V-8 transmission. Out of an 87 Camaro. Looks to be in decent condition, but I'll check it out when I open it up to swap tailhousings. So now I guess I'm committed to a T5. The T10 is now headed to a shelf for the time being. It really is a sickness

[Captain]

It's NOT a Serious Metal Illness.........
I was "Tested By The Government".......
After a hour and a half session,
The Doctor Said;
"You are a Binge Drinking Compulsive Collector"
You are An Excellent Candidate for the Position!!!

And with these Faults, you should be "OK"
In the General Public when you get back........



I was Volunteering for a Fire Fighter Position at Air Bases in Iraq.....

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

It's NOT a Serious Metal Illness.........
I was "Tested By The Government".......
After a hour and a half session,
The Doctor Said;
"You are a Binge Drinking Compulsive Collector"
You are An Excellent Candidate for the Position!!!

And with these Faults, you should be "OK"
In the General Public when you get back........



I was Volunteering for a Fire Fighter Position at Air Bases in Iraq.....

Just like Sheldon Cooper, my mom had me tested. But I failed

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

A day of clarity! (refers to above 2 posts)!

Actually a couple of days. 1st, finally put the cluged compressor components on a cart.
A Harbor Fright furniture dolly and some leftover plywood shelving. Not a big industrial system, just an inexpensive, Quiet, compressor system. You can actually carry on a conversation with it running, without raising your voice. It's not going to paint a car, but I don't do that myself anyway. Just ask Dan about my painting proficiency. So that's one extraneous project finally finished!

Got the body back on to the frame.
Now I'm fettling a few fine details for fit. To whit, the floor panels currently rest atop the body in back.
Just a little trim on the body, and both sides will drop down to the support structure. Easy fix, just getting used to cutting the body, and it still seems like a big deal. But I'm much better now...

And finally this weekend, the firewall assembly stiffener got started.
See that aluminum spacer bar in the left picture? It's the same thickness as the bellhousing flange. When finished, it will bolt the top of the two firewall plates together rigidly, making it extremely stiff, and removing any stress from the body's firewall. I'll cut a slot in the fiberglass for the spacer to fit in, and drill 3 matching bolt holes in the outer firewall plate. That's tomorrow's task. Pictures when finished.

And here's the new to me V-8 T5 transmission.
Still needs to be cleaned up and tailhousings swapped, but that's not a big deal. I'll snap a few pictures of the insides while they're opened up. And I still don't have a shifter! A Hurst Blackjack shifter w/o a lever is well over what i have in all 4 transmissions that have collected in the garage. Hey I'm a good scrounge...

[DanStokes]

A day of clarity! (refers to above 2 posts)!

A Hurst Blackjack shifter w/o a lever is well over what i have in all 4 transmissions that have collected in the garage. Hey I'm a good scrounge...

At our Pick n Pull you can pull up the inventory on line and when a make, model, and year that you want pop up you can run out and see if it has what you need. So you could watch for a Camaro of appropriate year (will the S10 shifter fit? Maybe even from a 'Stang?) and run out and grab it. I do that from time to time. Sadly, our yard doesn't know if any given donor is a stick or automatic or even how many doors it has and they won't go look but our PnP is close enough to just go. They didn't have any LF fenders for the HHR after the last crash out of the 5 or so they had so I had to chance a run down to Myrtle Beach and got lucky - it was almost pulled when I arrived as someone had harvested the bumper cover.

Bottom line - you never know but it's worth a look.

[Russell]

I might have an extra stock mustang shifter. Is the mustang shifter the same pattern as the S-10?

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Thanks for the responses. In their infinite wisdom, Borg Warner made different shifter housing bolt patterns between GM and Ford T5 transmissions. I've seen threads and YouTube pieces on people modifying Ford shifters to fit GM T5s. It just requires cutting one end of the shifter base off and drilling 2 new holes.

It seems that every T5 I've seen in these parts are lacking the shifter. It must be easier to remove the transmission from the vehicle with the shifter taken off. And it's money, i.e. time is not free, to put it back on. Unfortunately around here there's no automotive recycling yards that allows you to pull your own parts. Liability I'm sure.

So I'm going to break the piggy bank open and get the Hurst Blackjack shifter. That way I can make a shifter handle that bolts on, just in case I end up wanting a different location of the knob.

I know, stop your whining about it then....

Next I have to get both a clutch disc that will fit the spline and a driveshaft yoke with whatever spline it is, and with a matching u-joint to the quick change rear. And then to make a driveshaft! It's going to be short, like 12, 14 inches long. I might make it like one we made back in the modifieds days. 2 slip yokes and a short section of dom tubing with the right id to fit the od of the yokes. Sounds hokey, but it works. And with it being that short, balancing statically will be sufficient.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Pictures first
The first 2 pictures show the rear bumper in 2 positions. High or low, give me your opinions.

2nd 2 pictures, just to get an idea of if the steering wheel that I made years ago can actually fit in. If it's 4 inches higher, requiring that the column be lengthened by that much, clears my legs, and I can operate the pedals. So lengthen it I will.

[DanStokes]

Higher for sure. In the lower position it looks like a piece of lawn equipment.

Good that you'll finally use that wheel! It NEEDS to be on Whatever.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Higher for sure. In the lower position it looks like a piece of lawn equipment.

Good that you'll finally use that wheel! It NEEDS to be on Whatever.

I'm leaning that way. Had a suggestion for taillights. Stock model A lights. Hadn't thought about those. If I go that way, I'll make 2 more u-bends, slice and dice them, and make round ends for them to nestle in. All that can be integrated into the mounts so it will look clean and simple.

Anymore votes, up or down?

[74NovaMan]

I like it lower.

[cstmwgn]

I think it needs to be slanted about 15* so it looks like a late model dirt car coming out of the corner

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

I think it needs to be slanted about 15* so it looks like a late model dirt car coming out of the corner

Well there is a touch of track roadster in the Whatever project. But they had so little grip compared to the dirt cars of today, that they cornered basically flat thru the corners. It'll probably end up crooked just because...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

HELP MR WIZARD! I'm trying to find anything that shows how to install a door in a fiberglass t body. You know, a video or someone who has posted step by step of the process. I've spent way too long today searching and not going to the garage and working on the Whatever project, to no avail. So please lambast me for being a troglodytic luddite or vice versa, and help me out. I'm ready for the abuse...

[DanStokes]

I thought Speedway offered those with a door option which means you could copy theirs. But I have a high probability of wrongness on this one.