The Bellhousing of choice for the Buick 215 is the GM 3 or 4 speed. It is an aluminum bellhousing that was available on a few different vehicles in the early 60's. Some models of this bellhousing may have to be modified to fit the T5 transmission. Mine was already modified for the T5 when I bought it. I paid $120 and bought the bellhousing from a list member. Several of the V8 vendors will sell you a bellhousing. Don't be suprised if you have to pay substantially more than what I did, these seem to be becoming a fairly rare item, and prices are going up accordingly. As a side note, the studs on my bellhousing where bigger than the corresponding holes on the T5, so they had to be drilled out slightly to fit.
The
BW (Borg-Warner) T5 transmission was used in a wide range of GM products
in the 80's as well as the some Ford Products (the Mustang) comes immediately
to mind. I ended up getting a good buy on a T5. It was from a 86 Camaro V6.
I know this isn't the idea lratio with 5th gear being only .63. I ended up
paying only $100 for it, and shipping was another $50. So for that price,
I'll live with it for now. This was found on the web at one of the classified
sites. The T5 is the most popular trans in the US for conversions, and is
fairly readily available from various donor cars. Search the BBS archive,
and you will find a list of suitable donor cars, as well as what cars have
what ratios. It is also important to note that the tailshaft on the Camaro
trans are tilted about 20 degrees. You will notice this by looking at the
stock Camaro rear trans mount. I fabricated a bracket that uses the stock
GM mount with the stock MG crossmember. The general concesus is that the
.73 5th gear is better than the .63 gear ratio. As I have never driven
either of these I won't comment on the truth of that.If I was paying full
used price I would have chosen the .73 ratio.
One important difference in the Camaro transmission is
that the tailhousing mount is tilted approximately 20 degrees. This
makes mounting the transmission to the standard B crossmember more difficult.
There are vendors who will machine the rear of the tail member so it
is flat again. This is probably the best way to go. Being the low budget
person I am, (not to mention I'm having fun with my new welder), I made a
bracket to weld to the rear crossmember to accept the stock Camaro transmission
mount. The first step was to cut off the existing B trasmission mounts
leaving just the crossmember without any bracketry. A cutting wheel
on a grinder works very well. It took several attempts to get the bracket
in the right position on the crossmember. Originally, I was determined
to center the mounting hole in the middle of the crossmember. Later,
I realized that the mounting bolt on the Camaro pad is actually offset from
the center line of the transmission. The adapter is just made from
a single piece of thick sheet metal welded to the crossmember. The
actual rubber mount also has to be modified. If you look closely at
the rubber Camaro mount you will see "dog ears" by the mounting holes, cut
or grind these off. It is necessary to remove these so the mount will
set inside the crossmember. It is also necessary to drill a 1" hole
in the bottom of the crossmember so you can attach a nut onto the rubber
mount. Utilizing non-AC mounts and using the slotted holes
in the rubber mount for adjustment, I was able to utilize the existing frame
rail mounting points for the crossmember.
Shifter
I did not receive a shifter with my transmission. I
found a Hurst Competition Plus shifter over the internet for $50. It
was originally used on a Ford T5 but the only difference is the position
of the mounting holes. The GM T5 pattern was smaller, so it simply
required redrilling the holes. These typically go for much more so
I was very pleased with the purchase. It even came with the original
box and instructions. Any of the GM shifters will work, stay away from
the Camaro shifters as it will have the angle in the shifter. Best
bet is to find a used Chevy S10 shifter and cut the shifter to the correct
length and rethread to screw the knob back on.
Depending on the type of engine you buy, you may very well have to throw away your flywheel. It turns out the flywheel that came with my Olds block, was for an automatic transmission, also known as a flexplate. The difference can be seen in the following picture. The flexplate is on the left, this may be obvious for some of you, but I was initially confused when I purchased the engine. I ended up buying a used flywheel from a list member for $50.
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