in my 86 camaro i have a 2.8L that im working on swapping to a 350 5.7L. I've heard that the T5 5 speed manual would stand up to a 350 but i have some major doubts. Does anyone know if it would?

if you dont think it would then where do you think that i could get a cheap T-56 6-speed or anyother Manuals that could hold up?

thanks
jake

 

Besides being considerably weaker, there are other issues involved with getting the V6 version of the T5 to bolt up to a V8.

 

will it not bolt up? because i thought that even the t5 was a four bolt main. but what other manual trannys will hold up to the 350 besides the T-56?

 

it will fit. its the same transmission whether its from a V8 or V6. now you may have to modify some stuff related to the transmission, but i dont know what Apeiron is talking about... and theres no such thing as a 4 bolt main T5. a 4 bolt main has to do with your crankshaft in the engine. and no 3rd gen ever came with a 4 bolt main block.

check ebay and the junkyard for T56 trannys. you could get a used one and find someone who does trans work on the side to rebuild it for you

 

No, it isn't. Apart from the different bellhousing (which could be swapped), the gearing is different and the input shafts are different. The V6 T5 is a much weaker animal than the V8 version.

 

IIRC its the number of splines on the input shaft, that makes the input shaft different. I knew someone that said they used a clutch disc from a certain year s10 so as to make the adaption, seemed like a waste of time to me.

 

so should i attempt to get it to spline together or would it cost me less to just get another one? i really want to stick with a manual. if i absolutly had to i would switch to a AT but i really need a MT. ive looked everywhere for a T-56 but there extreamly hard to find. if there any other MT that would hold up to a high performance 350?

thanks alot for the imput you guys.

jake

 

Keep looking for a V8 T5; I got my last one from the classified ads on this site! Cheap, too! It came with everything needed to go to a V8, even the flywheel!

The thing about the S-10 clutch is what I used to get my V8 tranny to fit my V6 engine. As a proud owner of a 2.8/5-speed combo I can tell you that the stock transmission is weaker than a V8 trans. If you have a world class T5 then you can re-use your original housing and output shaft. Beyond that, the other internals are weaker than a V8 model. The input shaft for the V6 is a 1" 14 spline and the V8 model uses the GM standard 1 1/8" 26 spline input shaft. It's much stronger. A V8 (even a stock smogger with no power) has enough torque to break that shaft.

So, once you've got your tranny then you still need a flywheel and a bellhousing. That's why getting a complete assembly is the best way to go. I got mine labeled as a "change over kit" and now I have extra stuff like the clutch master cylinder that I don't need but it's nice to have anyway!

Good luck!

 

wow./ good info right there i think that pretty much convinced me to just go get another tranny. i figured i probably would but i just wanted to make sure.

thanks guys.
jake

 

try sixspeedsinc.com

 

or t56rebuilds.com

 

Aperion:

couldn't you just change the input shafts and bearing retainers between a V8 tranny and V6 tranny? and use the gears and body of the V6 version?

I've also heard if you have a good friction parts wherehouse/supplier around you can take the center sections of the clutch disc itself out and change them. Like using the 14 spline center section on a V8 disc. A guy I know did this before with a GMC Jimmy he had a 305 in and the stock 2.8 5 speed trans, seemed to hold up fine.

 

If you were going to do all that, why wouldn't you just use the right transmission in the first place?

 

Sorry I know this is getting off the T5 topic here, but I had to respond to this comment. I used to believe this same thing until I saw it with my own eyes. About 5 years ago a buddy of mine wanted to build a more powerful engine for his 1988 GTA. He bought a used 4-bolt engine block and did just that. When we pulled his old engine we discovered that it was itself a 4-bolt main block. We thought perhaps someone had swapped the engine out prior to him buying the car so we ran the numbers on mortec.com. It was indeed the original engine. It only made sense too since the car only had 60k miles on it. He was a little upset to say the least, but it was too late to go back. That engine is currently in my 90 RS as I bought it off him.