T5 cable drive speedometer conversion

A

alloy

Junior Member
Hello everyone, just joined today. I'm here seeking knowledge.

I do a T56 cable speedometer drive modification and this last weekend I was at a swap meet in Monroe, WA put on by the early Ford V8 club with my booth and was asked several times if I could convert a T5 with a VSS to cable drive.

I've done some research on this and it looks like it can be done, but I need to know what people are looking for and what you would like to see offered.

So far it looks like the S10 tail housing swap is what most want, but I need to hear from the people doing these swaps. Seems the factory cable drive tail housings are getting hard to come by.

Again I'm not here trying to sell anything, I just want to know what direction to invest my time and money into.

I will really appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks
Dan
 
You might do well to check on the HAMB and read all that is posted on the BW-T5. There is a lot of information available about it, converting various engines to use one, and dealing with a variety of problems. One of them is in dealing with the conversion of tail shafts, and that includes a switch from electrical to mechanical speedometer gears. I don't know if this is what you're referring to, or not.
 
I have a T-5 in my '32 behind a flathead. It is a T-5 from an S-10 and I think most will agree this is the most popular one due to the location of the shifter. As you say the cable drive tail-housing is the preferred one. If the original style Ford speedo cable could be hooked directly to the non-cable drive unit would be popular.

I am sure that if others have different thoughts on this they will chime in.
 
What do you estimate for the price of doing a conversion? I'd say I may be interested, but the price has to be right.
 
There is someone who actually does this conversion over on the HAMB - pricey but cheaper and easier than trying to find a mechanical tailshaft T5 ....
 
I sell rebuilt S-10 trans and it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide a manual speedo. A reasonably priced conversion from electric to manual might sell?
 

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I've looked around and didn't see the guy on the HAMB that did the conversions. If you know where a post about his conversions is I'd like to see it.

I'm not sure about the price yet. As I said I'm not here to sell anything, but since you asked I do the T56's for $325 and include speedo gears.

I've looked into the Ford gears and they seem to have reversed teeth on the drive gear. But I've not seen that yet and that's why I'm here to get your feedback and learn.

I've read that Bruce at Modern Driveline has solved the speedo gear problem, but when he came to my booth he asked everything about my conversion but wouldn't say a word about his. I felt like I was being grilled for information.

I've already picked up a Camaro T5 and I'm going to pick n pull this weekend hoping to grab a couple of S10 tail housings to work on. They are 50% off this weekend :-)

I really appreciate the great responses from all of you. Please keep the questions and ideas coming. I learn from everything you say.
 
OK, looks like a nice unit, but they neglected to add the price. Most advertizers Know this?? Expensive??
 
click on the "order page" tab at the website and it gives prices. Looks like ~ $340 to $365.
 
Ive known about the Cable-X for years. Some like it, most I've found don't . I've done close to 300 cable drive mods on T56's for those who don't like it.
 
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I would be interested. I have a 8ba with a world class T5 with a s10 tail shaft. It's in a 49 ford F1. I used the s10 tail shaft instead of the ford because I wanted the shifter to be in the stock location. My trans has the electronic speedo hook up. I would like to use a cable or ???? Let me know.

Thanks

Dave
 
Dave,

I've just started this project so give me some time. I picked up a couple of housings to modify this weekend and I'm working things out now. I have to build a fixture to hold the housings for machining and just get all the dimensions figured out. I will post here when I've got it sorted out.
 
Yes I had to work out the placement of the sleeve for the driven gear on the T56 cable drive mods I started doing in 2008. The data from those conversions will be the same since the same drive/driven gears will be used.

I do have a web site for my T56 mods so you can see what I do, but I hesitate posting it here as I'm not a paid advertiser. I don't want to be banned, and I need your help and feedback if I'm going to make this project work.

BillM:

Did you stop by my booth at the Monroe swap meet last weekend? I see your in Everett.
 
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Its more work than a T56 is. Had to build a new fixture to hold it and buy some more tooling. But I think it turned out well.
 
My honest .02 is if the price is reasonable I think you definitely would have a market. The electro drive S10 T5's are still very plentiful while the mechanical drives are starting to get scarce. Now that you have it completed and know what it is going to take do you have a rough idea on price yet? Also is this a simple bolt in conversion for the electro tail or will it require tailshaft removal?

Thanks

Dennis
 
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