Driveline angle.

6Stang7

New Member
Jun 1, 2003
1,470
0
0
Livermore, CA
I have the T-5 in the stang now with the crossmember I made; however, I want to check to make sure that the driveline angle is correct. How do I do this? I remember reading that to maintain the original driveline angle, you had to cut the tranny tunnel becuase the T-5 sits 1" lower then the stock tranny, but that you could fix this by changing the pinion angle. Anyone got anything on checking to make sure that it's right?

-Shaun
 
I never touched my drive line when I installed my t-5. I just shortened the shaft. I dont think you have any reason to be worried. You can vary from the factory drive line angle and be fine. I have never had a problem with mine or heard of anyone for that matter that has had drive line problems do to the t-5 swap. I think your fine and wouldnt really worry about it unless the angles are extreme, but I dont see that being the case.
 
The correct engine/gearbox angle is 4 degrees, tha same angle that will make the carby pad on the engine dead level. I made up a simple plumb-bob to check the engine angle when i fabbed up the gearbox mounts for my '65 (built to accomodate a Tremec, Toploader or C4 whichever I decide to go with). The angle can usually be trimmed with shims under the gearbox isolator mount.

To make the plumb-bob is pretty simple. Mine is a flat and square piece of 4mm steel. I've hung a weighted piece of cotton from a screw in the middle top of the steel. No matter what angle you move the steel to, the string will hang vertical. Grab a protractor, use the pivot point of the string as your base, and mark each degree on the steel. When you put the plumb-bob on the carb pad or on the output face of the gearbox you can read the angle from the marks on the steel where the weighted string is hanging.

Or you could buy one probably, but this one is cheap, relatively simple to make and accurate enough for this purpose.

The input and output angles of the driveshaft should be the same and should be more than 2 degrees (i think that's the figure) to promote needle bearing rotation within the uni joints.

:cheers
 
I have magnetic protractor that I can set on the carb pad that will tell me what angle it is at. So far I have heard a bunch of different angle messurements. 0-3, 2-3, and now 3-5. Should I just shoot for 2-3, since that is in the middle of them all?

-Shaun
 
6Stang7 said:
I have the T-5 in the stang now with the crossmember I made; however, I want to check to make sure that the driveline angle is correct. How do I do this? I remember reading that to maintain the original driveline angle, you had to cut the tranny tunnel becuase the T-5 sits 1" lower then the stock tranny, but that you could fix this by changing the pinion angle. Anyone got anything on checking to make sure that it's right?

-Shaun

When I T5'ed my '65, the T5 tailshaft (slip yoke) was positioned identically to the OEM Toploader. At this point, the top of the T5's shifter base plate aligned with the hole in the transmission tunnel. The rubber boot above the shifter base plate fit into the transmission tunnel hole and was about flush with the transmission tunnel when viewed inside the passenger compartment. I did not have to adapt the hole in any way. It still uses the OEM shift bezel, boot and look-alike shifter. Any difference between the factory height owing to the shape of the tranny is accounted for in the crossmember. The one I have (California Pony Cars) has a transmission mount height 2" below the C/L of the body saddle bracket mounting holes.