Sounds like the bellhousing is off.

 

I talked to tickperformance and they said that is the only stock replacement bellhousing available. They also said that the 5 degrees off is no big deal and they have seen it before. According to them unless using solid mounts just bolt it up and call it a day. I am thinking about modifying a leaf spring pinion angle shim just to have it mount flush with the crossmember and move on... It doesn't look like it will affect the shifter location much but I am going to test that out before I call it ok...

At least I am not the only one to ever have this issue!

 

I agree that it wouldn't hurt much.. but knowing it is, is most likely hurting more.. Other than having the shifter angled to one side... but just bend the shifter handle??

That is a good Idea.. just a rear leaf spring shim or something to make up the different.. or cut the tab off and re weld it back on. ??

But I would still think that the bell housing is off on its clocking of holes. Keep us posted.. Good luck.

BC

 

I had a similar issue that resulted from a custom trans mount, only my angle of difference was front to back, not side to side. My fix was to take a 3/8x2x2" piece of aluminum scrap and mill it on my bench grinder until it filled the gap correctly.

 

The old Camaro T-5 trannies were 15° off vertical, all the other T-5's were 5° off. The Camaro boxes had a special crossmember/mount, but (IIRC) the others just absorbed the difference. In other words, it's not a big deal...

 

That was by GM design I guess. The four mounting holes was offset as was the Bell housing.. Last time I recall being under my 84 Z28, the shifter and mount pad was adjusted for that 15° and was level.

BC

 

you could shim the trans mount with a washer on the passenger side between the mount and tailshaft. Or make a tapered spacer that goes all the way across to keep full contact. I wouldn't worry to much about it.

 

Thanks, after talking to tick I came to the same conclusion... I was fretting over nothing. Just over excited about perfection, lol. I am going to try to modify an angled pinion leaf wedge to work as a spacer so it sits flush all the way across. If that doesn't work I'll go the washer route, but I'm pretty confident the wedge will be real easy to fit.

Thanks again for all the help, really love this site!

Adam

 

Reporting back. Took 4.5 degree pinion shim designed for lifted F150s and put it between the crossmember and trans mount. One hole lined right up and there was a slot for the second bolt. Fit perfectly and just needed a slight amount of trimming to look right at home...

So now I can finish up setting the pinion angle on the rear 9" and weld in the upper brackets for the ridetech suspension.

Thanks again for all the help

 

good to hear your moving forward now.. post up what you did... )

BC