Alittle background on me personally. I'm generally a guy who likes to keep a car original. I'll do some tuning and maybe light mods, but I generallly respect originality. I'm also someone who's alway had manual trans cars.

I bought my '83 Crossfire Z/28 about 18 months ago. I've done alot of fiddling with it, and think it runs pretty darned good now - except for the performance of the 700R4 trans. The previous owner told me that the trans was rebuilt shortly before I bought it. But it's plagued with upshifting early and not any big eagerness to down shift. Essentially it never lets the engine get to the sweet spot in it's powerband.

Anyhoo, I've been seriously thinking of doing a T-5 swap. Am I nuts? Or should I just have the700R4 gone through again?

Thoughts?

 

i dont know much about the crossfire cars, as far as production numbers, but i would not let that keep you from doing a 5 speed swap if you want to. The car has 97k miles, so its not like its a low mileage survivor or something that you would want to keep all original for future worth.

I say go for it! Just do all your research first, gather all the parts, then do the swap. Dont tear it apart and leave it to sit for months while you looks for pieces

 

iv'e heard something like 1200 '82 C/F z28s were made
with the super t-10 4 spd,but no '83s.
myself,i would just fix the 700r4-might just need some
tuning,mine works great. The t-5 swap will reduce weight and drivetrain H/P usage though and probably
will be easy swap if '83 clutch linkage etc. can be found.
I sometimes miss the old super t-10 my z originally had

 

I say go for it! You already have a 5-speed car so you know what that adds to the driving experience. As mentioned above, do all the home work and collect all the peices before starting. I've done this swap on older cars but not on anything computer controled. My first step would be to see just what is involved there. Good luck!

 

You might consider a shfit kit of maybe just adjusting your tv cable. I have a CF with the 700R4 and was not happy about the way the car was shifting so I just adjusted the TV cable and it is great now.

The CF only came with an auto trans from the factory. Manual trans was not offered in 82 or 83 in the f bodies.

 

Yeah, I've adjusted the TV cable already. Better, but still not good enough.

And you're right, no CFI F-cars came from the factory with a stick.

 

Well, Charlie, my .02...

If it was MY car, I'd leave the AT (even though I'm a stick guy) but do a mild rebuild. Get a better, mild converter, add a shift kit, etc. That way, you have the stock look, but much better performance.

I've talked to a variety of people with built 700Rs over the years, and in general they seem happy with the results. I understand and respect the desire to leave an original flavor to a third gen. As much as I'd love to rip out the LO3 and throw in a ZZ 383 and a T-56 (and believe me, I'd love to...) and go run high 12s (laughing at the oversized, overweight 5th gen next to me...wait, that's for another board we love so much ), I'm confident I never will. I've done enough homework on here to show myself how to make an LO3 run very well with heads/cam/gears...hence the direction I will take with mine throughout the years.

If it was an IROC/Z28/GTA/TA/Formula, I probably wouldn't even do that, as it'd be actually worth something! Just my .02...lemme know what you decide!

 

Yeah Jason, I think I'm leaning towards re-working the 700R4 now. This all started acouple of weeks ago when I went with my cousin to check out afew 3rd gens for sale. We came back to my house and he wanted to go for a ride in both of my 3rd gens. I hardly ever drive them both back to back. But after doing that, I kept thinking about what a nice package my CFI Camaro would be if it had a stick like my IROC, or at least just alittle bit of help from the trans. I mean rowing it through the gears as those functional hood flaps open and you hear the intake taking a gulp of cool evening air would be neat. You know, you get something in your head and get all hot over it and a week or two goes by and you sort of come back to your senses.

I'm getting ready to put the Camaros to sleep soon for the winter. So whatever I do will probably be next year. But honestly, if a whole T-5 set up fell into my lap before then - it would be hard to resist. Of course, I'd also have to find a '82/'83 specific shift **** with the stitching going up and down rather than around the equator.

We'll see.

 

I'd only change it if you're one of those people that just has to have a manual. Otherwise, I'd do a like 2200RPM stall and Trans-Go shift kit.