ddecart

Getting the new trans in the car as many of you know. I'm in the process of trying to locate the trans mount to give me the proper driveline angles.

I've pretty much determined that it's impossible and that the old trans was way off as well.

Here's what I have:
Trans Yoke:
Height= 23" (car is off the ground)
Angle = ~1 degree down

Diff Yoke:
Height = 26.25"
Angle = ~3 degrees down

Now the rear doesn't look too bad, angled down toward the front. But the trans is point DOWN when it should be pointing UP toward the rear end (remember that the car is off the ground and the rear is higher than the front, so it needs to go up to get to the rear diff) I can get the trans up to where it's about level, which is still too low.

So when I put a driveshaft in here, the rear angle is pretty small and the front is pretty big.

Now, according to my measurements, the Muncie trans was pretty much in the same situation. It wasn't pointing toward the rear diff, either.

To get it even close, the ENGINE would have to go down quite a bit or the trans up quite a bit.

Has anyone run into a similar situation?

norvalwilhelm

Now the rear doesn't look too bad, angled down toward the front. But the trans is point DOWN when it should be pointing UP toward the rear end

NO WAY. The transmission always points DOWN. Try to get it as high as possible but you will never get it to point up. You are very good at 1 degree down.

Now for the rearend . IT MUST POINT UP. You want equal and OPPOSITE angles to cancel each other. If both point in the same direction they ADD up. The rearend it to point up euqal to the transmission pointing down.

You can easily shim the front of the pinion up.

ddecart

1 degree down is more like 5 degrees down when the car is on the ground. My car is sitting with the rear pretty high in the air.

I need to un-shim the pinion to move it up. All that's in there between the diff front mount and the frame is that rubber bushing. That bushing needs to get REAL thin to move things up. I'll try tonight to see how far up it needs to go.

And as I move the pinion up, I'm making the driveshaft angle more steep since I'm moving the pinion higher than it already is (which is higher than the trans yoke).

What I would want to do, I think, is move the differential carrier down and re-orient it to the proper angle.


[Modified by ddecart, 11:19 AM 5/17/2004]

norvalwilhelm

You really need the car sitting level on the garage floor to measure angles if you just have one end really high and the other end low, this is not a fair way to measure anything.
With my car sitting as level as I could get it I installed my transmission with it pushed as high in the tunnel as possible. I basincally pushed it against the floor, welded the new mount to the crossmember then let the settling pull it down from the floor. You don't need alot of clearnace but you certainly need to push the transmission as high up as possible.
I did need a little trimming around the hole so it wouldn't touch at this spot.
YOU WANT THE TRANSMISSION AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE

Clearance for the shifter is easy and only involves light trimming.

After I installed the tranmission I was in the 1 degree range honestly and used this value on the pinion. But remember opposite. Transmission down, reend UP.

I did this a few years ago and don't remember having alot of trouble getting the rearend pinion, not the whole rearend up. I just reduced the front shims until I got 1 degree up.

Another thing I did was make a tool that I put on the pinion yoke and it pointed straight ahead to the transmission input shaft. I rotated the rearend slight to align with the transmission. I did this by slotting 3 of the 4 holes in the crossmember.

I use to have a vibration from 62-70 and it came back at 90 mph. The shifter would vibrate unless you held it tightly.
I can know run easily at 130 mph without the slightest hint of vibration

GET THE TRANSMISSION AND REAREND UP.

ddecart

It's ok as long as you're measuring heights AND angles. You need the low one to be pointing toward, but not above the high one, and the high one should be pointing down toward, but not below, the low one.

Being on the ground is critical if you're dealing with a solid axle that isn't mounted to the frame.

ddecart

Did you have to hack away at the console plate, or did you move the lever over and use the factory hole & boot?

norvalwilhelm

Did you have to hack away at the console plate, or did you move the lever over and use the factory hole & boot?

I never wanted the factory console plate. I didn't want the heater control, the ash tray or the heavy casting so I made a new aluminum plate, installed a few gages on it and center the shifter.

For a boot on the tunnel floor I took a piece of heavy rubber , cut out the center hole for over the shifter and with the aid of a picture frame frame made from alumimum I bolted it to the floor to seal any leaks from underneath.

For a shifter boot I took black naughahide??? and sowed my own. Looks profession but I am not a bad at sowing.

ddecart

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing at this point. At least as a temporary fix, it would be simple to cut a sheet of aluminum to the right size, put the holes in for the HVAC controls (guess I'm not as die-hard as you :p: ) and be good to go.

I might just go this route for the time being to get this thing on the road and worry about a more glorified solution later.

Twin_Turbo

LOL norval you seamstress you :lol:

ddecart

I think we need pics of Norval in action and of the finished product.

I could have a custom boot made pretty easily, and pretty cheaply. :yesnod:

norvalwilhelm

think we need pics of Norval in action and of the finished product.

You guys could never guess what my speciallty is??? Besides horses and cars I have an even more love. :lol: :lol:

Twin_Turbo

.. quilting ?

Scooter70

Dave,
This is what Jeff (70LS1) did for his T56 shifter so that it went through the stock console.


I'm going to do something similar, but mine will be a bolt-on aluminum block instead of his welded on piece. My goal of the whole LS1/T56 swap was to make it so that you couldn't tell that anything was different without lifting the hood.

Here's my shifter as it looks right now. I'm going to drive it around like this when I get the car fired up and worry about the cosmetics later (like next winter...) :lol:

Fevre

Seems someone else had the shifter come out the right side where the shift plate is and then had a shift plate made with the 5 speed pattern to cover the stock shifter hole.

ddecart

I was thinking about that, but I really don't think I have the vertical space to do it. I might have to cut & weld the shift lever, but that'll happen after the Cruise In

Scooter70

Yup. He had to cut the top off of the stock T56 shifter to clear the console. Nothing's ever easy...

ddecart

It'll be easier when I don't have a 1-week time constraint in front of me :yesnod: