I have a 305 in my 88 wit a 5 speed trans. If i put a 350 in it will i b able to keep the 5 speed?? reason i ask is i know they never came factory with the 5.7 and 5 speed

 

Yes. My car is exactly that.

 

Yep, I'm running that setup in my 91 with no problems so far.

 

I have read stories from both sides on this issue. From what I understand you need to ease in and out of gears before you pour on the torque. Once in gear you can feed the power on. Go slow in/out or you will fry the clutch.

 

I also have put a 350 in a 5 speed car. What clutches do you guys use? I have a Zoom in mine and after 4000 miles it's toast.

 

Yep, i have ad well over 400 HP in front of a 5 speed(world class) and it took a long time to break it.

 

Yes, you can use your 5 speed with the 5.7L. My old engine was a 305 cid and swap to a 350cid 300hp Goodwrench engine. Works fine.

Hope this helps.

 

Are you all using the "world class" T5?

I'm about to do this to my 88 but it has the the standard T5(i think) which I'm told is a real weak tranny?

Just picked up 95 LT1 350 out of a police cruiser. Rebuilt with comp cam (Xtreme Energy 276HR-14), worked vortec heads, etc... I'm thinkin I'll probably smoke the T5 in a week On a low budget so thought I would rebuild the T5 while the motor was out but is it worth the effort??

 

T-56 imho

 

If you drive reasonably, the T5, even a non-WC, should last a good long while--at least mine has.

JamesC

 

I have a V6 WC T5 behind my 350. It seems to be holding up ok. Sometimes is won't downshift from 5th to 4th, but I'm sure its due to some problems I ran into while rebuilding the transmission, not to any problems with being behind a 350. I haven't run it full out yet due to some tuning issues with my carb, but 1/2-3/4 throttle pulls haven't hurt it yet.

As for clutch disc, I had to use a slightly smaller one due to the V6's input shaft, but its a regular Autozone OEM replacement disc. It does slip a bit sometimes when I get on the throttle hard from a roll.

 

Good luck making GEN I heads work on a GEN II motor.

 

LOL my bad they are the correct LT1 "cast iron"heads (gen 2) ;just read somewhere that they are almost identical so I called them Vortec DUH!!.

LOL

 

I had no idea the V6 T5 would even bolt up. A 3rd or 4th gen V6 T5?

 

if you change the bellhouseing on the T-5 to that of the V8 its a direct fit

 

Its a 3rdgen V6 T5. Its the one that was in the car when I got it. I had to change the bellhousing, clutch fork, flywheel and pressure plate to the ones from a V8. You can either buy a specially made clutch disc from Summit made by Centerforce or you can use one from an early 80's AstroVan. The AstroVan one is slightly smaller at something like 9 15/16 but it works. It slips a bit when I get on it, but that's probably due to the fact that I put in a used pressure plate.

 

U also have to cut the input shaft on v6 t5. to make it work.

And I had problems finding a clutch that works cause of the different splines. I dont think center forse makes that disk anymore.

 

I have 88 non wc t5 behind my 350 tpi. (300 hp) beat on it all the time never had a problem. Mind u my tires don't stick at all... And i blip the throttle when i down shift

 

You're right about the input shaft. I don't know how I forgot about that since I cracked my bellhousing because of it. I was stupid and tried to use the bellhousing bolts to pull it against the engine instead of checking to see why it didn't want to fit. I cut about 1/4" off of mine and then spun it while holding an angle grinder against the nose of the input shaft to put the taper back on it.

The clutch I used is for an 82 GMC S15 with the 2.8L V6. Part number at Autozone is CP4201. Its 9 11/16" diameter and the list price is 25.99 w/ a core of 6.

I just checked Summit and you're right, they apparently don't make that conversion clutch disc anymore. The closest ones I found are 9.75" and 11". I can't remember if an 11" clutch disc will fit or not. You'll need one that fits a 14-spline 1" input shaft.