1963 chevy 3 on tree to 5-speed

i figured i would post in the camaro forum as well as this tranny is coming out of a thirdgen. i just bought a 1963 belair 4-door but dont cry i still have the iroc lol.

i have a 350 motor from an early 70's chevy to go in it and i have located a t-5 5-speed from a 89 camaro. now i dont have much expirience in the motor trans department yet lol, but im pretty sure the bellhousing will bolt up to the motor just fine. what im worried about is the pedals and clutch assembly. the belair has a 3-speed on the column the pedals are mechanical im sure. can i use those? or should i get a hydrolic clutch assembly out of a thirdgen camaro and will i be able to use them in the belair? thanks in advance for your help i appreciate it.

Gotta watch T5's... If you're mating it up to anything with some balls to it, you're gonna be replacing it sooner than you think.

I also know there are issues with hydraulic / mechanical clutches and transmissions. There's a company called D&D that customizes hyraulic clutch transmissions to fit mechanical clutches, etc. They're not cheap, but they're rated for gobs of HP, and are supposed to direct bolt in to existing bellhousings / applications in most cases.

D&D Website: www.ddperformance.com
Article: http://chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0305_t56/

I would imagine that if you could pull a motor & trans out of a 3gen or 4gen and drop the whole deal into your Bel-Air you'd be in better shape, but I'm not familiar with what would fit / modifications necessary to squeeze the trans in place.

HERE'S MY TAKE....

Richmond has a Street 5 speed that's 5th gear is 1:1, and it supposedly bolts up to a bunch of standard bellhousings also. You're supposed to use a rear of something like 2.73 or so. That gives you a DECENT top end (120mph or so) so that you can cruise, but the 1-4 gears are STEEP and equates to running 4.11's or 4.56's etc whatever you choose. If you get into WOT in 5th, you don't have to worry about destroying your trans.

Hope that helps.

Gotta watch T5's... If you're mating it up to anything with some balls to it, you're gonna be replacing it sooner than you think.

I also know there are issues with hydraulic / mechanical clutches and transmissions. There's a company called D&D that customizes hyraulic clutch transmissions to fit mechanical clutches, etc. They're not cheap, but they're rated for gobs of HP, and are supposed to direct bolt in to existing bellhousings / applications in most cases.

D&D Website: www.ddperformance.com
Article: http://chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0305_t56/

I would imagine that if you could pull a motor & trans out of a 3gen or 4gen and drop the whole deal into your Bel-Air you'd be in better shape, but I'm not familiar with what would fit / modifications necessary to squeeze the trans in place.

HERE'S MY TAKE....

Richmond has a Street 5 speed that's 5th gear is 1:1, and it supposedly bolts up to a bunch of standard bellhousings also. You're supposed to use a rear of something like 2.73 or so. That gives you a DECENT top end (120mph or so) so that you can cruise, but the 1-4 gears are STEEP and equates to running 4.11's or 4.56's etc whatever you choose. If you get into WOT in 5th, you don't have to worry about destroying your trans.

Hope that helps.


thanks man but i cant afford an aftermarket trans. im not going to be putting too much power to this maybe 320 max to the wheels. i can get the trans very cheap and i was hopeing that it would all work but idk about the mechanical and hydrolic clutches on these things. i dont know if you can use either or or what. thanks for the info though. btw your camaro looks very nice.

the stock f-body t5 can only handle about 300ftlbs of torque.

well this car is definitely going to be more show than go. i can even keep the straight 6 but i want to put a 5-speed in b/c i want a standard on the floor. can i get a v6 5-speed out of a camaro that will bolt up to a straight six? i kindof doubt it. but im not worried about the tranny not being very strong i dont care about that i know this i have known this for a long time but i still want to put a five speed in it. i know i can get one that will bolt up to my 350 but my question is can i use the pedal assymbly thats already in the 63? my reason for posting this was to see if i needed anything extra other than the trans, clutch and pressure plate to do the swap if so what all will i need?

Thanks.

What you need... AS FAR AS I KNOW... the pedal assembly, trans and bellhousing, and new clutch/pressure plate, etc. should be it. So long as you can find a bellhousing that will mate up to the engine. And the input shaft on the trans will fit... I know the number of splines is an issue, not sure about the length. There are Tech articles on www.chevyhiperformance.com (http://www.chevyhiperformance.com), and I think there's some that deal with the conversion of auto to manual, not sure. But you should be able to dredge up some stuff on the net.

Oh and btw... I am currently embroiled in a trans mess myself right now, and my maro has been up on stands for about 2 months now. I've got a Muncie M21 (converted to an M22) hooked up to a hot 454 and have no real problems except that I'm running 4.11's and can't do much above 55 @3500 rpms for daily driving.

If the rear end in your 63 is low enough (2.73 or so) why not just put a 4 speed in it? They're cheaper, lighter, easier to work on, and cheaper to fix. I would think you'd have an easier time finding bellhousings for M22's, Super T10's, etc that would mate up to your 6. I'm pretty sure you will have to buy a NEW bellhousing to get the T5 hooked up.

You can pick up a Muncie for less than $500, rebuild kit is around $240 (should it need it - NOT including new gears). And they are SIMPLE to rebuild, that is if you read the damned diagrams right.