Oh great list,
I'm deciding on drive line issues right now. I know how many of you feel
about your wide ratio trans. I'm going to build a stroker and have to decide
VERY soon whether to use a 5 or 6 bolt 289 block (have both). I'm still
toying with the idea of a T-5, but the adapter plate needed in front of it
comes for both 5 or 6 bolt bellhousing, so that wouldn't matter. If parts
availability or cost are prohibitive, then a quandary. If I decided to go
with wide gears, would it be more hassle and money (a big consideration the
further I go) to :
1) use the 5-bolt block, which would allow straight bolt up with existing
bell housing and narrow ear trans, and drop the wide gears into the Tiger box
(I'll store the close gears of course), or
2) use the 6-bolt block and bellhousing and deal with the input shaft collar
and myriad other changes plus swapping the Tiger tail housing, etc. onto it if
I use a wide ear case??
I might (or might not) have a dual pattern 6-bolt bellhousing in the
garage, which would mean I could use either case option if I used the 6-bolt
block. But using the 5-bolt alleviates finding a bigger flywheel, etc. If I
went with the 5-bolt, is there any way to interface with a wide ear case,
giving me both tranny case options that way? I've got stock 2.88's in the
pumpkin right now and a 3.07 on the shelf if I need it, though that would only
really impact the T-5 gear choice.
OR, should I just use the 3.07's (or get 3.31's), build the 5-bolt and use
the existing close ratio? This would pick up the reduction in low end gearing
but give higher RPM's (agghhh) at highway speeds.
And lastly, is there any advantage to the bigger flywheel (clutch
issues?), etc. that would make the 6-bolt + wide ear conversion worth the
trouble? Thanks! Figure this should not only make for an endless thread, but
use up my available good will for the year.
Chris Hill
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