Im hunting for a set slicks for my 91Z. its got a 350, 4.10 posi and the ever unpopular....T5.
i know... if i skip gears, etc it will break,..... but even if im careful with dragging it, will the T5 break faster with that rear end with slicks attached?

 

lol, of course. Just ensure that you 'load' the tranny before launching. This means that you apply minimal load to it when staging to ensure everything is touching. Even still, the slicks will play havock with your bearings..

 

hehe you can detonate a t5 with bald street tires if you beat it.....with slicks you can make short work of one.

then again slicks are havoc even on tough drivelines....i dont expect my tremec to last forever.

 

the first thing that will break will be ther rear end not the t-5
if u load up the drive line and instead of dumpin the clutch strait out slip it ou untill it just grabs then dump it so it doesnt shock the tanny or rear end....the parts in the tranny are strong but the case is junk

there are plenty of guys runnig around with 400 horse 350's and 383's and as long as u dont launch it THAT hard and dont bang gears it will live for a long time..and with more gear (3.73-4.10) the tranny doesnt get as much load so a clutch dump wont be as hard on it
but there are guys like Tim Burgess who launches at 6000 off the limiter with the nitrous on and drag radials with the stock t-5 and rear end

1.6 60 ft...he recently broke his pinion gear and the 2nd gear synchro....not to bad for a 120,000+mile tranny

if you dont beat on it then it will last a while...but who DOESNT want to beat on it

 

anyone who has a t5 that last that long is just lucky. any transmission specialist will tell you how weak the internals AND case are in a t5....the gears are one piece CAST cluster shafts.

if t5's were usually strong....then there wouldnt be millions of them blown up in regular street driven cars that have never seen track duty. i have broken several of them just driving down the street.

i blew up 2 t5's while the stock 10 bolt was fine the whole time, never had a problem with that rear end.....until i put slicks on the car and launched it at high RPM...snapped a shaft.

 

Sometimes you get a good one. Friend has an 84 Z that runs 11.70's @ 115 with the stock T5, launching at 5000 on slicks with a 4.56 gear in a 12 bolt. The car has been lightened though.

It's a crap shoot with those trannies sometimes.

 

What tranny "Expert" told you the internals of a T5 were junk? The guy who sold you the Tremec?

The T5's main problem with handling alot of power, comes from the case flexing.....and then of course the internals get out of alignment and sometimes hit the case...then boom.....or bang.....or grind.

Just like anything else, it depends on a few things.....

- Condition of tranny, miles, fluid condition, maitenance, previous owner abuse......

- As for slicks, I wouldn't do it on a STOCK 7.5" rear...that would be my first worry. Driveline shock is the killer.......

I've seen the T5 live behind some SERIOUS HP. And ALOT .....did I say ALOT, depends on the driver.

I guess that's why the T5 survived and still does on the road racing circuit......most of the time, if you're good enuff to be racing there, you can drive the thing without killing it.

When I was a GM Tech I saw the T5 get trashed by LG4's and LO3's all day...and surprise, most of those owners couldn't drive a manual tranny to save their lives....not too mention clutch drops at 5000 RPM, incorrect fluid, trying to "speed shift" 'em.......

Everyone immediately down the T5, and praises the T56.....talk to some 4th gen owners who race......the T56 ain't perfect.

ANSWER TO THE ORIGINAL POST.....

If your '91 has it's original world class T5, change the fluid to some synthetic Mobil 1 ATF, and while you're in there look for signs of massive wear.....

Make sure your clutch is disengaging ALL The way. When you leave the line, actually SLIP the clutch a bit......

For the money, slicks won't help most street "quick" cars.....say 12 seonds and slower......no more than a decent rear suspension, a good posi or an air bag preloaded on the pass rear tire, and some drag radials if need be.

I used to get consistent 1.78 60 ft's out of my old '80 Malibu w/ a NON posi 3.73 w/ street tires, some VHT, and an air lift bag in the spring......And EVERYTIME I cut a good 60ft time, I actually felt really slow off the line......

Loading the driveline helps......

Also, if you do go slicks, get 'em hot and sticky first...helps to "break" 'em in AWAY From the track w/ some VHT. We used to use a two windshield washer pumps, plumb lines thru the trunk that sprayed VHT directly on top of the rear tires when activated. Simple, cheap, stealth, and it worked...picked this trick up from a big $$$ street racer when I was a young 'un..

Don't SLAM The gears.......practice shifting as QUICK ( not hard ) as possible, shifting JUST enough to where it engages the next gear......clutch engaging RIGHT as shifter engages next gear...takes practice but worth it.

But if you start to REALLY hook at higher RPM's off the line, you're gonna see **** break eventually.

ALSO DON'T FORGET the driveshaft loop...mandatory for NHRA w/ slicks, not sure about IHRA, DO IT......

I pole vaulted my old 67 Chevelle once when a U-Joint let go and that SUCKED........I was lucky, all it cost me was a little body work, tires, and a new pair of shorts.....



HTH

 

some people just dont learn. the t5 is not a good transmission....if it was it wouldnt break even if an idiot was driving it....at least not as easily.

like i said before, ive been leisurely crusing down the street and up shifted normally, and had the things snap. behind a stock motor at the time none the less, that car never saw action at the track and wasnt really beat on. and i can drive.

if the t5 was such a great transmission there wouldnt be an aftermarket for 5 speeds other than t5's.....no one would want to use a tremec or a richmond, or a t56. the internals in a t5 are IN NO WAY as strong as they are in a tremec or a t56 or a richmond, etc. can you break those? sure power shift and miss a gear....you could break a jerico if you tried hard enough.

the point is, the t5 is NOT stronger than the factory 10 bolt, it has an always will be the weak link in 5 speed 3rd gens. It just amazes me that there are always 4 or 5 guys on the boards that thing a t5 is goddamn lenco. i think history and the 10's of thousands of t5's that were put in the f-body and the mustang speak for themselves.

 

Nope it ain't a Jerico, or a Liberty etc.......


But, I DO LEARN......


So you don't like 'em, and they've broke on you. Sorry for your bad luck.

And us "4 or 5" guys around here will keep using 'em, running as fast 11's and 12's...


Fair enough?


Chris
I remember when everyone said 7004R and any OD tranny couldn't be built to handle any power

 

the bottom line is, the VAST majority of t5's are junk and if your denying that then you have psychological problems that need to be addressed.

are like 95% or so of people crazy because they break t5's with relative ease? i think not.

if the t5 was such a great transmission everyone would use it, you arent some special privleged group of people that know something everyone else doesnt.

im all set with cast cluster shafts.

 

this isnt nessesary man, him, i and YOU are expressing our opinions on are experiences or stuff weve seen, no need to make cat scan appts.
sounds like youve had bad luck with t-5s...this is the first t-5 ive had and its been pretty stubborn,,,its taken all ive tossed at it..but i know how to drive it...still i beat it quite hard

noone said that there arent a lot of them that are junk...we said that a small % of them are still going strong and have taken large amounts of abuse with no hiccups...

u like your tremec great man im happy for you...hell when i get enough moyney im gonna get one...im gonna rebuild mine for 200 bucks and go at it...i know its eventually gonna break but so what..when it does i get a tremec or t-56....noone is tryin to make a t-5 into a peice of gold..just some hold together better then others...

 

i agree....

what im trying to say is,

do a few people get lucky and have a t5 hold together? sure
can you build a t5 to handle some power? sure

but why bother, given you have the cash to get a better transmission. its like making a pinto run 9's, it can be done but why do it? lol

 

my t-5 has held together rather well in the couple months I've had my t/a and it has 130k on it, and I drive it HARD! dropped it pretty high a few times, till I really figured out how to make it work well, since it is my first t-5. just a month or so ago I finally figured out the drivetrain preloading trick some of you have mentioned, and I must agree it is definately the way to go, not only do I launch better (despite the slipping of the clutch) that way but I can feel that the tranny likes it alot more.

I also have a question, for some of you t-5 guru's I am going to be bolting a 300+hp and 360-380 lb-ft engine to my stock t-5, as of now It isn't having any problems except a clutch disengagement issue, which I want to ask about also, but what I'm getting at, is should I rebuild my tranny while my engine is out or should I just wait till it goes out, keeping in mind that it has 130k on it. and also are there some parts I should upgrade while it's apart, or other parts I should be sure to check the condition of?

and also, my clutch doesn't seem to disengage all the way sometimes, and this is the first manual that I have worked on with a hydralic clutch, I've tried bleeding the hydraulic system. and it worked better for awhile, but now it's back to it's old tricks. it doesn't seem to leak any fluid anywhere, I've never had to add fluid to the resivour except when I bled the lines. I've noticed when I was under my car and someone was pushing on the pedal, the tranny case where the slave cylinder mounts, seems to flex a bit, but I'm not sure if that could cause it, or if my slave or master cylinder may be failing,

and also obviously, since my car is an 84, I have the feared, and despised NON-world class t-5

any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks.

rob

 

t5's were rated for alot less power than that so be careful, espcially with 130k on it.

if your clutch isnt disengaging all the way, check to see if you clutch fork has a crack in it, and its bending under pressure.....ive seen that happen quite a few times....your pivot ball could need adjustment too.l