WHY gm always put the 350 with the 700R4 and only the 305 came with 5 speed ??

 

Because the 350 had too much tourqe for the T-Top version cars, would cause too much body flex.

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BigBlockJason
85 Z28 T-Tops
http://communities.msn.com/JasonsStuff/homepage

 

yup..

 

GM says the T-5 couldnt handle the torque of the 350, which is possible IIRC the T-5 was rated at 300 ft/lbs by the manufacturer, and the 350 was 330 ft/lbs+, so there were probably some warranty issues.

The 85 and 86 TPI's werent available with a 5-speed either. That leads to my reason... which is that they didnt want a cheaper car to be faster than a Corvette, nor did they want the highest output engine available with a stick, they wanted those people to get a Corvette instead. Not to mention it would have required another NHTSA certification and another EPA certification... so blame it on the bean counters at GM.

 

the reason is because the 350 made too much torque for the borg-warner T5 transmission. There were a few test third gens with manual trannys but they were never produced. There was also a '92 RS B4C camaro with the ZF six speed but it would have cost too much to produce.

 

actually there ARE 5-speed 350's out there, they just had to be special-ordered.

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89 iroc-z 305 tbi
k&n filtercharger, open element air filter. nuffin' else

 

Think so? Show proof of just one.

 

i know a friend of a friend who's cousin said that his uncles next door neighbor's son in law knew a guy that had a 90 iroc with the 5.7 and a 5 speed. i am gonna go check it next week when i get back from pluto.

 

I have heard rumors of 5-speeds and 350s but like everyone else said I have never seen one. Check around if someone does have a 350 with a 5-speed it probably isn't factory and if it is then that car won't be for sale.

 

the real reasons are

1) GM refused to warranty the 350 TPI/T-5 combination because they knew that were they to produce it, they'd be seeing a ton of cars coming into dealerships with blown trannies.

2) The 350/5 speed combo produced too much NOX emissions on deceleration, even the EGR valve couldn't compensate for it.

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91 Trans Am WS6
Bright White
5.0 TPI auto
Flowmaster 3" 2 chamber catback
Trans Go shiftkit
2000 stall converter
ported TPI setup

Built on Wednesday

 

I always thought that this was part of it, but it ran a little deeper. Obviously, GM could have used a different manual for the 350. But they chose not to. I was under the impression that they didn't want a same year Camaro L98 manual beating a Corvette L98 auto at a stoplight. That 'Vette owner would be pissed and definitely be taking the car back to the dealer...
I always thought that it was product strategy myself. If the 350 manual trans were available in the Camaros, they would have sold ALOT of them.

This is the sort of thing that hobbles the Camaro when compared to the Mustang. The Mustang should be a better car than the Camaro by now since they have no limits... The amazing fact is that the Mustang (to this day) still takes a back seat to a top Z28 of the same model year...

Does anyone think that the product strategy thing is wrong? I'm genuinely interested in comments.

 

the general seems pretty much confused when it comes to product strategy...i.e.- the impala ss, a 4 door corvette is gone, and the beloved camaro as we know it will soon be gone.
on a side note, it's amazed me that current rustangs have outsold 4th gens. even if i weren't a camaro lover compare the two: the svt rustang couldn't keep up with a z28, and it was ford's best offering. the z28 sure isn't the general's best, as there is the SS. go figure

 

Well, if they didn't make many manuals... Would it be hard to make your auto and manual???

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92 Camaro 305 TBI Automatic. Everything stock so far except a shift kit.

Future mods. Spark plug wires and plugs, tint, new 3inch pipes. Maybe putting 2 glass paks for effect. any other advise on getting to 300+ HP would be appreciated. Thanks

 

actually, that's not really true.. there were alot of 350 t-top cars up through 1989 and i believe a few in 1990

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Webmaster: www.IROC-Z.org

 

I know a guy who has a 350 with a BW 5 spd. (originally a 305) and he gets about 6 to 8 months out of his 5 spds. He finally went to the junkyard and got a spare to rebuild. I mean he really likes the set up. When the one in the car tears up he puts in the rebuilt one and rebuilds the one he took out. I'd think that would get old after a while, but he's really hung up on it. Yes, he runs it pretty hard. I run my 81Z pretty hard to, but that 350 isn't gonna tear up my Muncie. GM could have put a stouter 5 spd. in the cars, but why? We bought them anyway didn't we?

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Z's r Best

 

you could use the non-OD Super T-10 if you wanted..

your friend breaks gears or just kills the clutch/seals?

 

t5's are junk and so are muncie's except the m22.