Guys, I need your help. I am constantly going back and forth between beefing up my existing "700R4" and installing a Yank or Vigilante; or swapping in a Tremec 3550 5 speed. The mods are in my sig. The car should have low 12s in it with either trans.

Beefing up my 700R4 plus the new tq. convertor including labor will cost around $1500 max.

Swapping to a new Tremec 3550 plus all new parts required including labor will cost around $3500.

That's a pretty big difference, but what if money wasn't a real problem? I will be using the car on the street 99% of the time and it will NOT be a daily driver. It may see a few runs at the track, but just to get an idea of what times it runs. There are pluses & minuses for both options.

Any opinions on the subject? I'd appreciate it

 

id like to have some opinions as well. ive been debating this for a long time and everyone at the parts store where i work is tired of hearin me. lol

 

My opinion, go with the auto. I have a WC T-5 and specifically bough my car because it has the non-WC T-5 and I wanted to do the 350 swap and replace the T-5 with the WC T-5 once it broke. After all that I really wish I had the auto now. Once the trans I have now breaks I will go auto. The T-56 may be worth it if you like running at 100 mph for long periods of time, but for street driving and strip driving the auto with a converter can't be beat.

 

Tremec all the way, REAL cars have a stick, no way would I EVER have an auto in a Camaro unless it was strip only, plus manuals are so much more fun to drive and you have TOTAL control all the time. You can put a manual valve body in the auto but it's just not the same.

 

Im running a HSR with a T56 and 3.73's and I love it. I will go back to a 3.42 gear though after I get a heads and a cam done.

 

Well, and auto is much cheaper and more consistent.

A downside to a stick would be installing pedals, clutch/slave master cylinder, etc since you have an auto now.

Their don't seem to be as many advantages for a stick, besides the fun factor which can overpower the other factors with ease.

 

lets see... automatics are for idiots that don't know how to drive....... are you an idiot that doesn't know how to drive.... make the right choice, go with a stick

what kind of transmissions do.....

-nascar
-indy
-rally
-circle track
-le mans

cars use....

thats right. manuals.(well some run shiftronic)(but its not automatic)

autos are for ******* who don't want to shift.

but..... im very biased

if money isn't an option, go with the stick.

other wise... don't drive the car.....
and save up all that gas money, until you can swap in a T-5

 

I thouhgt indy used a triptronic type shift, which is more of a auto than a stick. I perfer stick myself but there is no way I would get rid of my 700r4 that's sitting in the 56's box lol

Also the main reason most of those racing events use stick is because it's a rule, I bet if you asked a lemans driver who was driving till he was blue in the face which he would perfer he would want auto.

 

It's more a matter of intended purpose, than an absolute right/wrong answer.

If you're going to drag race it, and that's the most important thing to you, the auto would be the way to go. If it's street-driven, I think it would be alot more fun to drive with a stick.

It really doesn't matter much to you what purpose-built race cars have in them, if your car isn't one of those. That's a bunch of monkey-spank and a good way to make a wrong decision.

 

the world's fastest small block is currently in a 2800lb 63 split-window corvette running 6.50's and 6.60's in the 1/4 at well over 210mph, guess what he's running for a tranny? you guessed it, a powerglide, he also has the world's fastest auto tranny record.

 

I switched from a Level 10 700R4 and Vigilante 2800 to an aftermarket T56. It all comes down to what YOU prefer, but I can give you the pros and cons of both, performancewise. My car is a street car, not a track car.

My automatic setup provided awesome launches. However, the converter generated A LOT of heat, and I was running a 28,000 GVW cooler. I had to do some work to the governor and servos to get the shift points where I wanted them, and to firm up the shifts. I had a button installed on the shifter for engaging/disengaging the torque converter clutch. With this setup WOT driving was fun, part throttle driving left me wishing I had a stick. And yes, I had a B&M megashifter and could shift it manually. In traffic I didn't even have to think about the transmission. It did pull a bit in gear stopped at idle sometimes, thanks to a bit of a lopey cam. Pat from Level 10 told me this setup was good til 600-650 hp should I ever decide to run a blower or nitrous. I didn't doubt him, it seemed very durable.

My T56 in my opinion is way more fun. At times I miss the launching characteristics of the Vigilante, but I can live without it. The T56 doesn't generate as much heat as the auto did. I decide where and when to shift, so normal driving is way more fun. WOT is a blast. The T56 shifter looks cleaner that the B&M Megashifter, IMO. There seems to be more room when working under the car than there was with the 700. Traffic sucks with a stick. I can run as big of a cam as I want and the idle won't bother me like it did with the auto. Servicing the T56 is easier than servicing the 700.

These numbers are off the top of my head, but the auto setup was roughly 1700 for the trans and 700 for the converter, excluding Megashifter, cooler, etc. I think Level 10 gets more for a 700R4 these days.

The T56 was just under 2000 from Scoggin Dickey at the time I purchased it. 150 for pedals and bellhousing, clutch and flywheel were new from Summit, hydraulics new from GM. $40 to have my driveshaft shortened 2" and balanced. All in all I'd say the cost was close to what the built automatic setup went for. I sold off all my auto stuff to help cover the costs of the manual stuff.

Overall, I like my car much better with the T56, and am very glad I made the swap. You'd probably have to hold a gun to my head to get me to put an automatic back in it.

That's just my opinion though. Hope it helps.

 

Which as RB83L69 did a good job pointing out, is absoutely worthless when trying to figure out what trans is best in this instance. Pointing out what some guy in a 6 second Corvette or what Dale Jr runs in his Winston Cup car is a complete waste of time. None of that crap helps Scott figure out what is best in his car.

Scott, all the advice that I'm going to give is to decide what primary purpose your car is going to serve, and which transmission you will enjoy more during its primary purpose. If the car will be a daily driver that sees some strip time here or there, decide on the trans that will best serve the daily driver status. If the only time it sees streets is going to and from the track, decide which you'd prefer for track usage.

Whatever you choose, make sure you spend some time thinking honestly about where this car will spend the majority of its time. Having a 4k rpm stall converter and a fat cam might be great on the strip, but if you've got to live with it in traffic more than once a month the car is going to just sit in the garage instead of getting driven. Choosing the wrong transmission will result in a similar fate.

 

i was just going to the other extreme. it doesn't matter what they run in these circuits, it's all about what he wants to drive and what is the most applicable tranny for his job. just cause someone runs a manual here, doesn't mean that another person won't run an automatic there.

sarcasm and the internet are not a good combination.

 

Well, looking at the stated use of the car should be a decent way to look at it.

1. NOT a daily driver....no traffic to/from work, so no strike against manual. Either trans is ok.

2. On street 99% of the time....not dedicated to running consistant 1/4 mile times. No benefit to automatic here, so again, either trans is ok.

3. Cost....automatic will end up being cheaper.

4. Least Work....auto again.

5. Fun....manual all the way (but I suppose it is an opinion)

So, weigh cost, amount of work, and amount of enjoyment and you're set.

 

my opinion is go with a fourth gen T56, they're cheap compared to an aftermarket trans. 94-97 ones support 450lbft.

i bought a wrecked formula to use the trans and rear end from. after i parted the rest of the car out, the trans, flywheel, clutch hydraulics and rear ended up costing me only $157. add to that $400 for clutch/pp and $400 for a spohn t56 cross member/torque arm (only $100 for the cross member w/out torque arm) and you're looking at under a grand for a complete swap