yup, I'm cheap. Looking to switch my failing T5 to a Auto or a cheap T5. Well, it's more difficult to find an F-body T5 cheap than a 700R4. I'm wondering if only the F-Body Auto's had the mounting holes for the Torque Arm, or if they all would. And, would I need a long or short tail 700R4? Yep, I know there are plenty of people that hate the 700R4.. But, I'm looking at one on ebay for $40 starting bid, local pickup only. It was from a 1/2 Ton pickup.... I'm trying to find out what year. I would go with a TH350 or 400 but I can't afford a different crossmember - I'm a poor college student.

hmm, from some pictures I found it appears that at least the tail shaft housing would need to be swapped for an F-body one so that it has the mounting provision for the Torque Arm.

im looking into doing the same thing, i will attempt it this weekend, let you know how it goes!

In my Friend 84 Trans Am we used the trans from the 86 Caprice we got the engine from. All we did was change the tail shaft housing from a junk v6 700r4.

The trans will fit, but you will hafta swap out the tail housing, or get a tranny mount with the torque arm relocation mount.

thats right, i switched mine w/ a suburban and while your at it switch the spedo gears. itll save you some trouble while your down there and got it open lol

why switch out the speedo gears? also is there a way to hook up the manual(cable) speedo?

Because chances are, the vehicle you get the tranny from, will have different rear gears. If so, your speedo will be off. Either a high or low reading.

Yeah, I would defnitely change the gears before it's in. The previous owner of my car changed the rear.. My T5 has the wrong drive gear.. I don't want to switch the drive gear in a failing tranny, I would rather just put in a better trans with proper speedo gears.

will i even be able to hook up the speedo in my 86 to a 88 tranny?

Yes just need to use your old cable gear driven housing. they swap over if its electric same animal. Put a 89 700r4 last year and it was electric. and my 86 was cable. All i did was switch out the gear housing.

no way! good stuff! i gained the convinence of using a friends car lift and hopefully tranny jack this weekend! let you all know how it goes! PV9685 when do you plan on doing yours?

Well, right now I'm still in the planning phase... Though I am about to acquire parts over the next week. This has been something that I have thought about for a while (switching to Auto). Though I would have prefered finding an inexpensive T5 or T56.. of course I suppose I could use analogies such as pigs flying and cold days in he.....

So I will hold on to my T5 parts and swich over to Auto. Lucky for me the old owner (as incompetent as he was) put in a chip for an Auto.. Kinda sucked as my shift light always came on (it is the wiring for torque convertor lockup on an Auto).

So, so far.. I need to get - and swap a tailshaft housing so I'm using an F-Body one; check and change the speedo drive gear (driven will be addressed once determined); and find an Auto flexplater; Auto starter; Auto shifter... darn lol; not to mention Driveshaft length!

Just pull the gauge cluster out, pull the shift light bulb out & reinstall the gauge cluster. Not a big deal to do & will eliminate the shift light coming on.

ok just got my tranny in. the speedo gears on both trannys are totally different, and the one on the 88(electric speedo) is pressed on and i couldnt get it off so i couldnt hook up my speedo cable!

I have the electronic VSS on mine aswell, of course. I don't believe that the gear is pressed on to the metal shaft. If you look at the side of the gear on the shaft which faces the VSS, if I recall correctly it looks as if there are notches that "click" on to the shaft.

I put mine back in the trans abotu a week ago so I can't look at it... but pulling it off without cracking it may be tough. However, who knows - it may hold up to being pulled off just fine. If you do try pulling it off, put something below it like a crescent wrench so that you are pulling/pushing from the center. (So the gear is less likely to bend and eventually crack)

As for me, I wasn't able to get the 700R4 I was looking at - so it's going to be a little while until I swap.

However, I got a set of Bosch Design III's for $20 and an MSD coil for $5 so I have some items to keep me busy... along with plugs for the AIR injection exhaust ports