Dano428

Hi, Everyone.


I am quite the novice Trans Am owner. I bought it off a friend of mine at work and am picking up with the restoration mid-project.


So far I'm able to get good answers on most of my questions...but this one I'm having trouble with.


The car is an '86 Trans Am. 305. 5 speed stick. I just had the motor pulled to go out for some servicing. My body guy doing the paint pulled the motor. He asked me if there's a racing tranny in it. He said he only has seen a tranny like that on his cars he races. There's a spindle coming out from the tranny that engages the motor.


I asked my buddy if he replaced the tranny, he said no, that it's original and supposedly a somewhat rare set up of an 86 T/A.


Does anyone have any info on this??

bigal55

iTrader: (1)

Your 86 tranny is just a Borg Warner T5 non-world class 5 speed. This trans was not available for the 350 as it's torque rating is below the torque output of the 350. Every trans has a splined shaft that is supported at the crankshaft by either a pilot bearing for a manual trans or by the rotor in the torque converter. The torque converter is then supported by the crankshaft. The splines engage a clutch disk or the rotor of the torque converter to transfer rotational force to the transmission. This is common for every transmission for every make and model of car. The T5 is not a racing transmission by any means but is adequate for normal driving. If you are going to restore this car then the T5 is the transmission to use. If you are going to put money into the trans and don't care about originality then you may want to look into an upgrade. Don't "upgrade" to a world class T5 as the upgrade is not that good, slightly better but not much. You have to weigh the differences in cost to rebuild versus upgrade and be honest about what you want from your car. Do a search and read about the T5 and it's limitations, it will help you make an informed decision. HTH!

Dano428

Awesome, BigAl....thanks for the info. That's exactly what I was looking for.

novaderrik

tell your body guy that you'll sell him that "racing transmission" for the low low price of only $2500, which would be enough for you to upgrade to a TKO...