alls i can say is WOW! i serviced a 87' IROC at work yesterday, and took it for a quick spin around the block. the instant torque and throttle response amazed me! it felt like my Vette, even though i knew my car was a good second and a half quicker than this. man i gotta get a stick, maybe ill convert my Z to manual, and throw in TPI. anyone live near Delaware? if you let me drive your TPI 5speed fbody, ill let you take the Vette for a spin! i gotta drive that car again!

 

Sorry I don't live near you or have a 5 speed for that matter, but my brother does. He has a 89 Formula TPI and his car has always felt faster than mine. His best time was a 15.0 while mine is a 14.0. I want a manual, too. I have had so many problems with the three transmissions I have gone through, that a clutch going out every 30-40,000 miles seems like nothing. If I can find someone to do the work, that will probably be the next thing I do.

 

damn wish i lived by ya. we could take turns in each others car all the time

 

If I had an Lb9 in my 'bird I'd drive to delaware just to drive your car! Maybe after my cam and exhaust work this summer.

 

I drove a 1991 Formula with the 5-Speed 305 TPI with G92, It gave my buddies 1990 350 auto one he!! of a run. One of my friends ended up buying it. In stock form with K&N filters it ran a best of 14.64

 

As long as we're talking about this. How hard do you guys shift your 5 speeds. I know a lot of guys don't want to bang the gears real hard because they're afraid of breaking something, but for those of you who do. How long do those trannies hold up to the abuse?

 

I have said it before and I'll say it again, Why do all of this stupid " banging gears " and " Heavy power shifting " ? It does'nt help.

 

My friend has an 87 Z28 and he is always burning the tires off his car by popping the clutch, and yes he does powershift ALOT. As for his tranny, no trouble yet ( he got the car last may) but last summer he went through 3 sets of tires and 2 clutches, high perf. ones ......I guess his tranny is getting bad and his rear end.

 

I shift real quick and kinda hard, no problems just those cheap 10 bolts. if I hook up real good kiss those gears good bye.

 

i broke my T5, i shift it kinda hard, i always use the clutch though. i went through one clutch(exploded the disc) now the tranny won't stay in first gear and it's hard to shift. The tranny is now the least of my worries cause my 10 bolt exploded too.

stock motors shouldn't tear up T5s unless they are really abused, mine just makes a little too much power(if there is such a thing)

 

I was banging gears one day and missed a shift going from 3rd to 4th. The T5 came out okay. The engine lost. Had to get a new crank. Need to get an MSD box with a rev limiter . . . yeah.

 

Powershifting does help your 1/4 mile time, this has been proven a million times. Just buy an aftermarket shifter with Positive Stops and it will protect the T5 from bending shift forks due to hard shifting.

nick

 

My non-World Class T5 has actually held up very well with the 350 in front of it. No real problems, but I think it's time is coming pretty soon, hopefully not too soon [knock on wood]. It's got a short shift, and I never really dump the clutch or go hard in first gear. Sucks when you want to floor it from a stop and can't

 

Ive had 2 5 speed cars and pounded the crap out of both and the current one is still fine. T5 get ruined by mistakes like miss shifts and poor maintenance. Mustangs have the T5 exactly as we do and there are lots of 400+ hp stangs running around, clutch dumping and there fine. If you know how to launch a stick properly, the only the that wears is the clutch.

 

Nice site. But why do you have a pic of a ZZ4 under the heading "Goodwrench 350" ?

;-)

JK

 

Didn't really think anyone would look at the site who would actually know there was a difference.