Ok Im about to put my new motor in 383 punched .060 over with a fairily mild, streetable in NY winters cam (sorry dont know exactly what yet) little **** like those 50hp chrome headers no muffler, gutted cat, a few stickers t 10-15 horse each and a cool new paint job easily 150 hp. but in all seriousness im wondergin what i should do about a tranny anyone know of a good aftermarket tranny? OK im sorry to ask the question what about a world class? sorry guys i know that name is almost forbidden at this point!!! lookin for somthing that will hold up to my motor and possibly a 100 shot of nitrous. Ill be honest i do not take it easy on my car it is driven hard. let me know what you think or even if a rebuild kit on the t5 would hold up?? thanks alot

 

I have shredded so many T-5s with a N/A 400, I lost count. I shredded 4 or 5 with the 305 that came in the car for that matter. How you drive it is critical; I pretended that it was a 4-speed, and those simply won't stand it. You can't speed-shift one, or do those big 4500 RPM clutch dumps that so impress high-school kids, and expect it to live.

There's no real significant difference in the strength of the 2nd design vs the 1st design T-5. Their "ratings" are maybe 10% different, which IMHO is not significant; and that "rating" difference doesn't really mean anything anyway, since the thigns that ultimately determine the transmission's survival didn't change. The shafts are the same distance apart, so the gears are the same diameter; the shafts are the same diameter; the case is about the same thickness; etc. etc. There's no such thing as "rebuilding" them to "beef them up"; either you put T-5 parts in them, or you don't put any parts in, because only the one kind of parts will fit.

I'd recommend getting a 94-97 T56 if you're worried about tearing it up. They're not too expensive, reasonably plentiful, and far stronger than a T-5.