Contemplating swapping a t5 into my car. I've got an '84 T/A for parts which has a 5 speed in it which is why I'm thinking about it. Just a couple questions.

Is the 84 tranny worth messing with? I'd like to know if they're the same throughout the years besides the WC.

The stock setups feel sloppy. Does an aftermarket shifter alone solve this or will it still feel like I'm stirring a bowl of pudding?

It's getting a T56 in the near future as soon as I find a decent one, so hopefully the t5 wont be in there too long.

 

i have an 85 non wc in my car. When i bought the car the previous owner had put a botched 350 in the car and didnt install the pilot bearing. The tranny was very noisey.

After i rebuilt it and installed the bearing it almost shut up. Also judging by the flywheel which was all blue and old clutch the owner beat the snot out of the car. Even without the bearing it held up.

I now have a much more powerful 350 in it, 500 miles and no problems. It has a hurst short shifter in it and it greatly tightened up the shifts. I also had an 84 5spd years ago with the stock shifter and it was like pudding, the hurst is much better.

The weakness of this things is greatly exaggerated, unless your dragging on slicks, or driving like a dumb ***.

 

i just finished my T5 swap...it was a NWC and the guy that previously owned the tranny had put a hurst shifter on it and its so tight to shift...and the plesure to drive a manual car...swap this tranny!! you not be disapointed...

scuse...im french

Good luck with your swap if you do it

 

Thanks. I'm not worried about it not holding the power, it's only an LB9 car. Just wanted to make sure that the 84 tranny wasn't junk and it's worth swapping and wether or not it's possible to get rid of the sloppy shifting.

 

We just finished putting a T5 in my '82, switching from an automatic. It changed the car from a Suzie Secretary commuter to a semi-muscle car--outstanding. I had a whole '91 parts car with the 26 spline WCT5, lucked into it, and it turned out the tranny is solid--pure luck--looks and drives like a factory 5 speed because my friend is a born mechanic.
Biggest hassle was putting in the hydraulic clutch assembly where the '82's have mechanical--and it turned out to be no hassle at all with help from people on this site.
We did a lot of research into the T5 v. T56 question, decided that because the T56 is basically an emissions/smog tranny, heavy, slow shifting, requiring all sorts of special clutch stuff and reverse lockout and an overdrive so tall we'd have to run minimum 4.10's on the street--making first and maybe second useless--that we were better off with the stock T5 then maybe upgrading to a TKO later. We're very happy with it, an easy, time-consuming swap that could have used all factory parts, all bolts lining up--and the used T5 in the parts car turned out to be in good shape, just fine for our present stock 305 with the 3.73 posi. The car is a blast to drive--won't win many street races but it's plenty quick, fun, dependable and economical--sounds good, too with a Flowmaster and a light flywheel.
Next year the 350 4 bolt out in the barn is going in there with plenty modifications but still dependable--maybe 400-450 hp--and at that time we'll go for a TKO upgrade rebuild on this T5--will cost about $700--and we'll have cooling and hood clearance issues to resolve. If we wanted EFI and a T56 we'd have bought a 4th gen Camaro.
The earlier 5 speed is adequate, apparently, if you have one laying around for free, but a TKO or a TKO-upgraded WCT5 will handle all the power most people could use on the street and it's a bolt-in swap. Our T5 with 3.73's gives about 2400 rpm at 70 mph, excellent for a mid-range motor. With the 305 the car is competitive in SOLO II--with next year's 350 and a 6 point cage we're good for open road racing, too. The money spent on a T56 swap would cover a lot of gas and motel rooms, if you like to drive your car.

 

why do u want to switch to a stick. by the looks of your signature below u have a good higher stall converter in both of your t/a's. if i were u i would leave it that way. on some cars i would say go for it. but im a firm believer in a good built automatic will whip the **** out of a stick in any kind of race! get a used turbo 350 and build it up. then get a higher stall converter for that

 

Because the red car is the drag car and the white one is for the street and I'd like to maybe run it in a few scca or autox events. I also like to bang it around the twisties and the automatic sucks. I will use the red car to embarass people on the street when it's done. For now I want to have more fun driving the white one.

So is the '84 T5 the same as the later ones or should I hold out for a newer, possibly beefier tranny?

 

When the WCT5 came out in the late 80's it was seen as a big jump in strength over the earlier one. You should really ask the people at TKO why, the specifics concerning bearings v. bushings and such.
Sounds like you have the best of both, a built automatic for the drags and a stick for the twisties. In SOLO not even a manual valve body makes an automatic competitive--remember the Chaparell? Putting the 5 speed in this 305 '82 makes it drive like our first Camaro, a new '69 Z28, but it handles better--and the 305 poops out right where the 302 turned on. We'll be correcting this.

 

Mine is a NWC t5, bone stock too behind a bolt-on 5.7 out to 3.73's...

 

Man--that is one slick Camaro. Mine is almost the same blue but not an IROC, of course ('82) and has the stock hood. I have a set of IROC wheels that need to be media blasted and painted to match and I have to figure out a hood clearance problem--I don't see many cowl induction hoods that look smooth like yours, like factory option.
Where did you get that hood? If I can figure out how to get a picture of mine in here I'll do it.

 

The one I'm gonna use is a W/C unit out of a 88 SC (V6 T5). Gonna convert it to work with a V8 (carb'd 350) and see how long it lasts. Yeah I know thats weird but I got a mad deal on the parts, all I need to buy is the V8 bellhousing, V8 fork, and special 14 spline 10.5" clutch. When it eventually blows up I'm gonna send it to G-Force for a rebuild. I know I'm gonna blow it up ... I know it ...

 

I'm not worried about the strength. I'm only putting it behind a 14 second LB9. Looks like I'll be starting the project this weekend. Thank you for your help.

 

Lemme know if you need any pointers, it's not too bad. I took Steve and myself about a weekend but we really took our time and it was the first one we converted.

 

Thanks Erik, I may end up giving you a shout. I'm just taking the setup out of the donor car this weekend. Still have to order my clutch and I think I'm gonna go through the tranny and make sure everything is OK. BTW, are you running the stock shifter or not? I'd like to get an aftermarket one to firm up the shifts a bit.

 

No sweat bro. Don't go with the stock replacement clutch from autozone or whatever, I thought that it was okay for my car, but it's weaknesses showed up on the dyno for me. You could see it even in the first pass graph where it started to slip. By the third pass you could really smell it!

I am running the stock shifter, which is not the greatest by any means but works...