transmission swap

[tjl2244]

Has anyone swapped a Tremec (or other) 5- or 6-speed transmission into a '63 Avanti? Does anyone sell a conversion kit? I know Myer's has a conversion kit for a Chevy automatic tranny; I was wondering about a manual conversion. Right now there's a 3-speed automatic in there.

Thanks for your input. I have a '63 that needs complete renovation. In a way this is good because it's a blank slate and i can make it what I want. Although I haven't decided anything, the thought is to keep it looking like a '63 while using technology to improve handling and performance.

[regnalbob]

Has anyone swapped a Tremec (or other) 5- or 6-speed transmission into a '63 Avanti? Does anyone sell a conversion kit? I know Myer's has a conversion kit for a Chevy automatic tranny; I was wondering about a manual conversion. Right now there's a 3-speed automatic in there.

Thanks for your input. I have a '63 that needs complete renovation. In a way this is good because it's a blank slate and i can make it what I want. Although I haven't decided anything, the thought is to keep it looking like a '63 while using technology to improve handling and performance.

This is from the Studebaker Drivers Club forum. There is a little more involved changing from auto to standard, because you need to add the clutch pedal and necessary linkage, change the crankshaft bolts and a different bell housing. Join the SDC forum and you will get lots of good advice.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/top...?TOPIC_ID=13734

Bob

[tjl2244]

This is from the Studebaker Drivers Club forum. There is a little more involved changing from auto to standard, because you need to add the clutch pedal and necessary linkage, change the crankshaft bolts and a different bell housing. Join the SDC forum and you will get lots of good advice.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/top...?TOPIC_ID=13734

Bob

Good thought. Thanks, Bob. I just joined SDC yesterday and hadn't checked out their forum yet.

Tom

[SBCA96]

This is from the Studebaker Drivers Club forum.

Boy that looks familar. I was supposed to do an article for Avanti magazine shortly

after doing that swap, but my wife was sick then we were forced into the center

divider by an SUV and totalled her "baby", a mint 95 Camaro. I have spent about

the whole last half of 2008 building her another car using most of that car. I have

not got back to the Avanti .. only driving it twice in 2008 (once to storage and back

home again). You might also do a search for my 2003 Cobra brakes.

If you find a thread of mine with dead pictures let me know so I can edit it with the

new picture location.

Tom

[irishman]

Has anyone swapped a Tremec (or other) 5- or 6-speed transmission into a '63 Avanti? Does anyone sell a conversion kit? I know Myer's has a conversion kit for a Chevy automatic tranny; I was wondering about a manual conversion. Right now there's a 3-speed automatic in there.

Thanks for your input. I have a '63 that needs complete renovation. In a way this is good because it's a blank slate and i can make it what I want. Although I haven't decided anything, the thought is to keep it looking like a '63 while using technology to improve handling and performance.

Myer's has the adapter to install a manual transmisison, also. They put a five speed into my 64 R2.

Hope this helps.

[tjl2244]

Myer's has the adapter to install a manual transmisison, also. They put a five speed into my 64 R2.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to you and the other guys who made suggestions. I went with Dan Giblin's kit, and now I have to track down a nice World Class t-5 from a Mustang. There is also the small matter of bell housing, clutch linkage, smaller brake pedal, etc., etc... At the moment everything's off the frame except the front suspension (trying to figure out how to compress the springs with no engine in the front end) so I've got plenty to do before I need to turn to the tranny.

[RoyG]

I just found this post doing a search for transmission information.  Like tjl2244 I'm working on a "blank slate" project that I want to convert from automatic to 5 speed.  I'm having an R-3 engine build now and have been told that a standard T-5 transmission won't stand up.  Looking at other transmission in the line that are rated for more than 300 foot-pounds of torque, they all seem to have a very high first gear ratio, which would put a lot of load on the clutch off the line.  Does anyone know of a five speed transmission that can take the load and has a lower first gear ratio?

[Avanti83]

T-56 six speed should get you 450 lb/ft but to go higher just go to Tremec.

https://www.tremec.com/

[RoyG]

I spent some time with a few good people over the last couple days and have some answers as well as some more questions:  First for the answers: Dave Thibeault is having my engine built and has all the parts needed to convert the Studebaker engine to the Ford T5 transmission (Stude bellhousing, flywheel, clutch, and ford adapter).  The problem is the T5 is only rated for a max of 300 lbs/ft of torque and the R3 engine will be more powerfull than that.  Therefore the T5 won't stand up!  I spoke with Mike Forte (Fortes Parts Connection who is a Tremec dealer and high performance pro shop locally) and he suggested the Tremec TKO series which can handle either 500 or 600 lbs/ft....They both seems pretty close to the T5 in overall size but the TKO is wider (bigger case).  The new Magnum-F 6 speed replaces the no longer available T56, but is considerably bigger than the T5 and might not fit in the available space.  Has anyone put one of the higher capacity Tremec transmissions in their Avanti?

[PackardV8]

"Stand up" depends entirely on how often you lay down the rubber.  Even a strong R3 does not make 300 lbs/ft of torque low down on the RPM.  An adult-street-driven R3/World-ClassT5 combination would last forever.  A season of drag strip use with side-stepping the clutch above 3,000 and flat-shifting might kill it.

jack vines

[RoyG]

Jack, when you say "World Class T5" which transmission is that exactly?

[RoyG]

Update: After speaking to a lot of people, and getting continuously more confused this is what I've done:  I got a used Studbaker '62 bell housing from Dave Thibeault.  It is set up for a GM bolt pattern.  I then went to the local expert (and dealer) of Tremec transmissions (Mike Forte- Parts Connection) who had a bunch of the new Tremec TKX transmissions on order (both Ford and GM based).  These are five speeds that are rated for 600 foot pounds of torque.  OK, that might be over kill, but I only want to put one transmission in the car!  The GM based tranny bolted up to the bellhousing, but the pilot shaft is about an inch too short.  Neither one fit the guide hole in the bellhousing.  We decided that the best option was to go with the ford based model and drill additional holes to mate to the bell housing.  Mike had a jig from this from back in the day when Tremec only made transmissions for Fords.... he drilled the holes for me using that jig.

Mike also has aluminum spacer rings that can be used to help with the nose flange line up to the bellhousing.  Of course the rings weren't the right size.  I'm having a local machine shop turn the outside of the spacer ring down to fit the bellhousing.  Then I'm having the nose flange of the transmission turned down to mate with the inside diameter of the spacer ring.  I'll also have a couple set screw holes drilled and tapped so I can make sure the spacer ring stays on the transmission when I slide it all together.

 

Dave will get the right clutch and throw-out bearing to ride on the pilot shaft.  The standard Avanti clutch linkage will work.  Right now the new TKX transmissions are only available with rear mounted shifters, but mid mounts will be available soon.

That's all I know for now.