The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline T5 adapter plate mock up. FYI with pics.

An S10 T5 can bolt up to a Muncie bell if it has the same Muncie pattern on the T5 case.
In 1994 the S10 T5 case changed to a Ford bolt pattern case. Adapter plates are available to convert the bolt pattern to Muncie.
Pictured here is a 1995 S10. You can see that the T5 bolt pattern doesn’t match the cast iron bell that has a Muncie pattern. The aluminum adapter plate is 5/8” thick and fits between the bell and transmission. A T5 input shaft is usually about 5/8” too long and needs to be trimmed. However, since the spacer backs the T5 off of the bell 5/8”, the input shaft is now the right length.
I’ll still need to trim back the input shaft bearing retainer sleeve. You can see I modified this T5 so it has a 10 spline Jeep input shaft which is the same spline count as the common Chevy clutch kits.

I swapped out a T5 for another T5 with different gearing. The 1995 S10 T5 required an adapter plate to convert it to a Muncie bell bolt pattern. Much to my disappointment, I found out the adapter plate must first bolt to the bell. That required removal of the pressure plate and clutch disc so I could install the top 2 adapter plate bolts which insert from INSIDE the bell.
So the fiddle factor is significant unless you are starting from scratch.

Since the adapter plate effectively made this T5 about 5/8” longer than the other T5 (due to the thickness of the adapter plate), I needed a slightly shorter driveshaft. I have a Chevy Blazer shaft that was the correct length and only needed a conversion U-joint at the rear to make it work. It had the correct slip yoke already.

Good stuff!

Did you fab or purchase the adapter plate?

Does the plate make it tougher to index the tranny to bellhousing or do you even sweat that?

I purchased the adapter plate from a well-established vendor. It is machined out of a solid piece of aluminum and has an index ring properly placed so that everything lines up. It fits like a glove on both the bell housing and the transmission. There are several holes in the plate that are threaded for the bolts that come with the adapter plate. Overall, I am very pleased with the quality.

I don't know if it applies in this case but I have used Heli-coils in the "bolt from the inside" holes and drilled the bell housing for a pass through bolt. Using socket head bolts like yours is a time saver.

Would using a Jeep bearing retainer eliminate the need for shortening the snout? That adapter plate looks like it would be a pretty simple project for someone with a lathe and a bandsaw, and/or a plasma cutter.
Jerry

I vote mill and a bandsaw.

Adapter plates solve at least two, and sometimes three of the problems listed here.
1. The S10 T5 factory shaft is too long to bolt a Muncie T5 to a Muncie bell. SOLVED.
2. The S10 T5 factory shaft splines are not cut far enough along the shaft to allow proper clutch disc movement. SOLVED.
3. A (2nd generation)1994-95 S10 T5 has a Ford bolt pattern that is a mismatch to the Muncie bell. SOLVED.

As you are aware, the center bore of the bell correctly aligns the transmission input shaft with the engine crankshaft. An adapter plate usually spaces the transmission far enough away from the bell that the transmission can no longer index inside the bell to maintain that alignment. Therefore, once the adapter plate is bolted to the bell, it must precisely recreate the bell center bore.

The plate I bought has a recess on one side to index the tranny. The other side has a machined ring to index inside the bell center bore. It’s all one piece of solid aluminum. I assume the machining was programmed with a computer. It is very precise.

The bolt holes are all precise as well and all but 2 plate holes have precut threads.

The S10 bell is the same depth as a cast iron SBC or inline 6 bell from the 1960-80s. See photo. The S10 T5 input shaft is right at about 5/8” longer than a Saginaw or Muncie manual tranny. So making the adapter plate 5/8” thick solves the shaft length difference problem as well as the Ford to Muncie bolt pattern difference. If both bells have the same depth, but the S10 input shaft is longer, it means that the S10 4 and 6 banger engine crankshafts are about 5/8” further away from the face of the bell than a SBC or inline 6.

The S10 input shaft bearing retainer sleeve gets trimmed back so it doesn’t interfere with the pressure plate fingers. You will trim off less bearing retainer sleeve if you use a spacer plate.

Vendors sell V8 Camaro T5 input shaft bearing retainers which are the correct length IF NO SPACER PLATE IS USED. Most S10 bearing retainers will show wear on the sleeve where the release bearing slides. In the SBC and inline six applications the worn area gets trimmed off because the sleeve is too long. That gives the bearing retainer a second life because the new release bearing will slide on the sleeve at a different location than it did when used in an S10 application.

I am unfamiliar with the Jeep style T5 input shaft bearing retainers, but I have never found a need to buy one since the trimmed S10 T5 retainer works fine.

The 10 spline Jeep input shaft swapped in for a factory 14 spline S10 shaft eliminates the need for an adapter plate if you are bolting a MUNCIE pattern T5 to a MUNCIE bell. The Jeep shaft spline length is correct and it has 10 splines just like the Chevy clutch disc hub. Trim the Jeep shaft tip about 1/2” and it’s now the correct length WITHOUT an adapter plate. DON’T trim the tip if you use an adapter plate.

Lastly, the 1994-95 S10 (2nd Gen S10) T5 input shafts have 26 splines (1983-1993 S10 have 14 splines) and can be used without trimming if you have a 26 spline clutch hub and use a spacer plate. Of course you still need the adapter plate to mate the Ford bolt pattern to your Muncie bell.

As I accumulate a bit of age and "moss on the north side of the tree", I'm becoming more and more convinced that my father's opinion was correct- - - -"Automatic transmissions are smarter than all drivers, and most mechanics!" It's virtually impossible to get one into the wrong gear. Since he was the first man in Nashville Tennessee to work on automatics, he had plenty of time to form that opinion. There might be a few specialized applications where a manual transmission would be a wiser choice than going with an automatic, but those situations are few and far between, especially when considering the performance of the recent bunch of autos with lockup clutches in the torque converter, and computer controlled shift strategies. They tend to keep the engine running in its most economical and efficient RPM range the vast majority of the time- - - -much more often than driving a manual trans can do.
Jerry

Jerry,
I have absolutely no disagreement with anything you said.
Automatic transmissions are certainly smart and certainly efficient.
For me, it’s a matter of what I enjoy driving. I actually enjoy controlling the shifter and the clutch.
I don’t tell people what to choose. I simply offer information for people who are considering a T5 and want to know the details involved in getting it to work before they start.
As much as I enjoy my current transmission work, it will soon come to an end because the number of T5 transmissions in decent condition is a dwindling number. The TREMEC TKX transmission is becoming the new standard for aftermarket manual transmissions, but at a steep price.

Thanks for all the great info on this topic

right you are, i have a 700r4 on a supercharged 270 GMC in a 53 sedan. it works perfect wouldn't trade it for anything.
Jay D.