pcmhacking.net

Got the bits today.

I went to the engineer and got a suitable bar for the press.

but first I sorted out the bearing on the counter shaft. The press is one of the best tools I ever bought

Next I took the new bearing cup and removed the O ring. Cleaned every thing real good with thinners and applied a coat of hylomar on all surfaces including the O ring groove. Installed O ring and pushed it in by hand up to the step so the the O ring part was fully inside the bore.

Pressed in and left a couple of ton of pressure for 10 min or so to make sure any excess hylomar came out from under the lip of the bearing cut. An important step as if not done can lead to loss of preload on the counter shaft.

Cleaned off the excess with acetone
Dummy assembly of the input and forks/shift keys to get a feel to how it all works.
Gave the front retainer a wash in water and water based degreaser after I cleaned off left over silicone. wow!
I'm digging this! very exciting

So I got to work yesterday.
Installed reverse idler shaft and gear and then installed the counter. Once that was done I pressed on the bearing as that must be done while inside the case otherwise you can't get it in there.
Next was to set up the preload with a service and peelable shim.
You peel them with a razor blade, they are ultra thin and looks like its just a solid shim. Be careful they cut you super easy.

80% of the shim gone latter.....
checking preload along the way with my creative adapter. 1/4" drive did not fit in this hole like most people reckon so I have to doing it this way but worked a treat.
Getting very close with one peel away I had about 7 in-lb and the next one got me just over 2 with dry install and fraction over 2 in-lb one finally assembled. Range is 2-4 so its pretty good.
5th gear clearance is great on this setup, more than most people get with these plates. it really depends on individual gearboxes.
So that was that sorted!

Next was the reverse and 5th shift mechanisms.
After I prep'd the input shaft, 4th synco ring, bearings, washers and shims. Installed the main shaft.

Put the whole box in a spare bellhousing so I could work on the rear main bearing and 5th gear system.

5th gear stuff sorted and checking operation.
And finally the speedo drive gear.
Next on the list is to sort out the cover and 1-2, 3-4 shift mechanisms which I have no idea as none of my manuals show which way around the parts go which clearly they have a certain way when I look at them. I have a spare t5 I bought a few weeks ago which I needed one shift component from the cover anyway, so I will study that to work it out.

The other part I now need is the tail shaft bushes, once those 2 things are done I can finally seal the extension housing on and then proceed to shimming the front input end to get a 0 end float.

Only other thing is a shifter, going to go for the billet products T5 shifter. Exy but looks the best made out of all the others on the market.

Nice work there Vlad

When the times come I'll be going with a 20T press for home as well, definitely worth the extra coin, on a job like this it's already paid for itself.

Damn straight!

nice work. definately vlad spec dude.

vlads T5 rebuilds

Opened up the other spare parts box I bought off my local mechanic. He'd had it for 15 years left over from a customer that complained reverse was hard to get into. LOL no wonder.


So from that box I worked out how the 1-4 shifter bits go. I also needed that main rail as I managed to fuck the other ones I had getting them plated. Not together yet but Ill have it sorted out later when I have spare time again.

I got a NOS air defector for under the radiator for 34 bucks on ebay, first one I ever came across so I grabbed it. That will go on the S one day, not that its bad but always nice with fresh parts. For this VP I have one I had on the shelf for over 4 years. Good thing I had it as last time I went to a free for all wrecker in bendigo and a pick a part they were all busted. People obviously crunch them into those concrete barriers at car parks.

There is 2 slots cut in this VP's deflector, I still have no idea what for though.

So I got a reply from Tony at astro about the input shafts, he says its a no go as the forgings for the input are too short to begin with. I didn't realize they began from forgings, that adds to why they are so strong.

So now seeing if PPG would make a custom shaft to suit and whether it requires any of Astro's design specs to pass hands or just a sample shaft is suffice.

I recon this would still be a better option than a complete PPG set due to Astro's bruit force gear set and inclusion of stronger main shaft, overhaul kit and many other upgraded components. Where PPG is only gears and input, no main shaft or any parts at double the cost of the Astro whilst being rated 200hp less capacity. Bit of a no brainer.

I know PPG is known for being globally one of the best and reputation is great, but Astro's T5 are known to be unbreakable. I'm sure someone would of busted one at some stage but no reports of any failures in big CC blown and N/A v8 drag cars is mighty impressive for a T5.

As for PPG T5 sets, there is no info on the net in regards to anything other than their listing for the product. I can't even find a single thing on the net regarding anyone using one so I have no data to how they perform in high power/torque applications.

Anyway it will be interesting to see what might possibly come from this.

So I got the top cover on and sealed. Gave the inside a good flush with mineral turps to wash out any contamination, dust, lint etc.. and a blow out with the air gun.

Heated the lot up with the heat gun to initiate sealant curing. I found sealant basically wont cure under 10C surface temps and if left too long open in the cold it never correctly cures at all even when temps are brought up latter. Exactly the same thing happens with solvent based paints and primers I found.

So I am keeping inside the kitchen for now to keep it warm

The extension housing is just bolted on, still need to have the bush sorted as soon as they are ready, so its on for dust protection.

My nephews dust cover arrived today, I knew it was different from the norm when he bought it but was the only one we found for sale in the last 3-4 months of looking.


Looks like it was one made where the factory ditched the support brackets all together? if thats the case, what model? The T5 stuff he bought was from a VS T5 which has cast recesses in the top edge of the bellhousing to miss the rear main seal plate on ecotec V6 and also the cut clutch fork cable receptacle. Only VS had that cut to allow easy access for the cable and fork cover.

Maybe its from a last run of VS with T5? and Holden ran out of the support brackets?