1967coupe said:
Do you mean adapter plate by "block plate"? If so, it is because the T5's shifter location is 1" closer to the engine than the old trannys. And the bolt pattern is slightly different than the T10, Top loader or 3 speed these things came with (don't know about the automatics). The plate addresses both issues and it very strong. When I pulled the T5 out of the wrecked '93 GT (in '93 -- the T5 was almost new), I also took the D/S so I got the slip yoke. I had a D/S made up with new Ujoints (the front joint is a spread dimension, meaning that in the T5 yoke joint opening is a different width than the T10 or whatever, a good D/S shop will have what you need in stock, so it is sort of adapted by the spreaded dimensions), and balanced for about $100.00 back then. Probably costs a little more now, but will be worth it. The stock D/S is 1" too long and when the rear moves up when you hit a bump (pushing the D/S into the trans), the rough part of the yoke will tear the seal up. The swap is smooth. One weekend I did a rear end chunk swap (2.80 open to 3.40 Tractionlock) and the next, I did a T10 to T5 swap. The only real problems were that the exhaust had to be modified and the D/S shortened. Oh, and I think I went to a speedometer place and got a 21 tooth and a 22 tooth speedo gear. I forget which one I used. But I think it was a 21. This was all after doing a 6cyl/auto swap to a 302/3 spd a couple years earlier. I used the same speedo cable.
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