i'm about to build a motor for my car, and my T5 is shabby as it is (grinding, missing 2nd gear) and i was thinking maybe i could just bolt a 700r4 in it's place. how hard would this be? and how hard would it be to change back if i ever wanted standard again? just wondering what would be involved in a swap like this. thanks for any help.

the crossmember is different. youll need a flexplate. you will also need another driveshaft I think. you can get a non lock up 700 and not worry about having to deal with that part of it , goodluck but if it were me I would just get another T5 or go to a T56.

buddy did it in his 383 sonoma, he said it was easy

cross member is the same, and so is the driveshaft, for t5s and 700r4's. i know because i am using them with my t5, to be honest my sahft and cross member are still from when my car was a v6, but i had a 700 in it with the v8.