does anyone have an accurate description or picture where to cut my auto trans tunnel to fit the t56 shifter?

 

A squarish hole with rounded corners, just above the shifter.

Seriously though, did you try a Google image search for "T56 thirdgen shifter"? Lots of photos out there if you look.

 

Drew, yes I did. Lots of hacky jobs, nothing too too convincing comes up that I would like to replicate.

Looking for something a little more precise. I thought I remembered seeing a template kicking around here years ago but I can't find it.

People like you are a constant reminder of why I come here for help, thanks for your invigorating lightning fast response

 

When I did mine I put the trans in with the shifter off. Then went from the bottom and marked around it to make the hole as small as I could. I was on a lift whitch made that part easier. When I put it in for the final assembly I left off the shifter and poured the fluid in shifter hole till the fluid came out of the fill plug for a easy fill.

 

Sounds like the most accurate method thankyou.

 

I made a hole that was larger then needed and then just welded some metal on the sides to make it a perfect fit.

 

I'm not entirely sure how I'm eventually going to go about it. I picked up a section of 5spd trans tunnel to either make a pattern from, or weld into the car. Most people seem to agree the stock 5spd tunnel cut is an inch or two short of clearing the rear of the shifter. Theoretically the stock style opening could be moved back a bit, but there's not a lot of room between the stock 5spd cut, and the forward console mounting bracket.

I'm not sure, and I've got a few hundred smaller projects in line on the project car before I get to the point where I'm ready to install the drivetrain.

 

This is how I have done 3 of them. Works very well. I usually drill the corners from under neath with a small drill bit and then draw the square above and cut outside the line since you want a little wiggle room for the trans to move

I thought about this too since the stock 5 speed hole is reinforced with another piece of metal, but in actuality, at least with an LS T56, it doesn't work out that way. You would need to move the engine forward quite a bit to make it happen. In addition to the console bracket being there, the back of the shifter is basically right where the metal is contoured. Fortunately the T56 shifter boot has a metal ring and I was able to get it bent to the hump shapes and curves.

 

I'm also not convinced I want to stab the tranny in twice in order to get this hole precise. I think once I get the clutch and bellhousing on I'm going to take a bunch of measurements off the trans and have a go at it.

Wish I could find that template I know it was on here but it also could of been 10 years ago with the way time flies.

I also feel the search feature doesn't work as well is it did back in the day, or maybe it's my brain that doesnt...

 

I think I'm going to start on the trans dead center where it meets the bellhousing, verify this is centrally lined up with the center of the rectangular hole where the shifter assembly bolts on. Take this distance and measure off the installed bellhousing then go up from the distance until you hit the floor pan. Mark that and drill a small pilot hole. From that hole draw the rectangular dimension of the shifter probably plus 1/4 inch each side and cut it out.

 

You could pretty easily slide the trans onto the the engine without the clutch and flywheel so you don’t have to line all that up just for a test fit.

 

You can kinda see how tight I cut it here. Little bit of massaging with the old Ball peen hammer.

 

I did much as scooter describes. I ended up cutting just over an inch, probably no more than 1¼", from the rear of the hole. Just enough to remove the reinforcement on that section of thehole. It was then possible to put the original rubber shifter boot back on with all its screws except for those back ones, and make a simple clamp sort of bracket to hold it down back there to where it was completely sealed.

I don't recall having to use the gentle and subtle fine alignment tool (aka BFH) on my car for it, but I had an aftermarket crossmember (Spohn) that seemed to hold it down a scosch lower than the T-5 had been. Different parts choices might result in different details.

 

I finally got to the task of cutting out the hole for my T56 shifter. I used pictures from TGO for reference and tried to do a neat job. The sheet metal is thinner than I thought and was not hard to cut or drill the starter holes on the corners. It was a funny feeling to remove the drivers seat and console and cut a big hole in the floor as I have owned my 89 Z28 since Oct of 89 when new but I think driving around with a 6 speed and my new motor will be a lot of fun. Here a few more pictures that people may use as a reference to help them.

 

 

The end of the camaro emergency brake handle without the cover, I found in several pictures to be just slightly to the rear of the center of the opening. After cutting my hole using measurments I found in pics on TGO my e-brake handle ended up about in that spot. I hope these pics help someone else.

 

Mine is very similar I started with a smaller hole and once I had the trans in I used a air-body saw to trim it up... I just lowered the tail hosing down and set the guard so I wouldn't hit anything and trimmed it with the trans in place. easier to trim than add metal back. With the body saw no sparks, just make sure the trans is covered and sealed so you don't get chips in it.

There is an indentation in the floor pan that sortof looks like where the hole would be for a original stick car. Though mine is a little more to the right than the pictures above. There is some variation depending on your set up.

One thing to consider you may want to make the hole large enough to change out the shifter if you ever decide to do so.

Side note the plastic plugs under the rear seat of a 4th gen fills the hole for the original auto cable quite nicely. I used one of those and some seam sealer. Then I have the lower shifter boot from the 4th gen.

 

The centerline of the T56 shifter mounting flange is about 3/8" to the left of the transmission centerline so I shifted my hole about that much from the center of the tunnel. After seeing how easy to cut the sheet metal was I figured once the trans was in I could cover the shifter mounting hole and enlarge as needed. I'll try to find one of the plastic plugs your referred to for my shifter cable hole.

 

One of these days I really need to gain renewed interest in working on my project car. Threads like this at least get me thinking about it again...

I only got as far as removing the auto shifter mounting bracket and deviated to some other more important aspects of the project. Still haven't decided how I want to go about opening up the shifter hole.