hello everyone, this is my first post here, i hope i'm in the right spot.

anyway, i'm kinda new to all of this, so please bare with me, i'm most likely going to say something stupid, lol. i have an 88 iroc w/ 83,000 miles, t-tops, 350, headers, a flow master w/ 2.5 inch pipe, and a rebuilt 700r4 tranny w/ a B&M shift kit. the automatic transmition works very well, i have no complaints, but i'd love to have a manual transmition in it. i was thinking about putting a t-5 into it, but i'm not sure whats the best way to spend my money.

the heads on the engine are going bad, but its not that bad yet. it smokes alot when it starts, but not like its smoking as i drive. my plan was to simply let the heads get to the point where they had to be fixed, and then just replace the whole engine. when i replace the engine down the line, i'd love to put something like a 383 in it.

my question here is this, if i go and spend 1500 dollars now on putting a t-5 in my car, will that t-5 be able to handle an engine like a 383? or, am i better to leave the 700r4 w/ the shift kit in it and spend that 1500 on doing other things to the car(and if so, what?)? i don't want to go and put the t-5 in the car, then go to replace the engine down the line and find out that i need a better manual transmition, and that i basicly wasted 1500 dollars...

thanks for any help anyone here can give me, i really appreciate it alot.

 

Well 1500 seems like a lot of money for a T-5. For that price I could buy a complete T-56 6 speed tranny with all the stuff to convert one....Which is what I would recommend doing especially if you're going to be putting in a bigger motor down the road. A T-56 is much stronger than the T-5 and should be able to handle the extra power. However you can replace/rebuild the T-5 with stronger stuff and go that route...I can buy a t-5 car for under 1000 and have everything needed to swap....so I'd hope you could too...Just my .02 cents

 

i ment 1500 with shipping and labor. i can't do the swap myself. my plan was the buy the transmition and parts from hawks for 850. then, plus the shipping and labor, i figured i'd be spending 14-1500ish. sorry for the confusion.

 

mhmmm..... amother question. sorry, this isn't totally transmission and drive train related, but anyway. i found on ebay a bunch of places that solid used LS1/T-56 combonations for like high 3,000's low 4,000's. most of them had like 33-60 thousand miles on them. is a price like that good? i kinda was thinking i would just totally wait alittle bit until i had the money all saved(and then some, so i didn't have to empty my account) and then hopefully i'd be able to find the same type of stuff again.

also, if i would buy a LS1 and T-56, would my car be able to handle just dropping that in? or would i need a better rear or something else?

thanks again for anyone who responds.

 

An LS1/T56 swap, especially if you pay someone to do it, is gonna be a major expense. A lot of labor goes into that swap - the LS1 engine swap is NOT an easy task (new motor mounts and associated frame changes, all new front engine accessories/brackets like AC, PS, etc., different computer and harness, different exhaust manifolds or headers, a really big deal). I've heard guys paying $10-12 grand for the complete switch over including the labor and parts. Way out of my pockets capability!!!!

As for the T-5 vs. T-56, I'm a 383 Firebird kind of guy myself (check out my sig). I seriously looked at the T-56 since it will handle 450 HP according to lots of verified usage, and the T-5 will "only" handle 300-350HP or so according to lots of "experts" (some who have tried it, and some who haven't).

My World Class T-5 is holding up fine so far, but I haven't been doing any power shifts w/o the clutch being used either. You hear the same thing about the 10-bolt rear ends, but since I don't do a lot of heavy full throttle or 2500 RPM and then dump the clutch burnouts, mine is holding up fine as well so far.

The advantage of the T-56 besides as I see it is the extra overdrive gear and the gain in highway mileage. Usually, at least on the later T-56's (which are the stronger ones), that's usually around a .63 overdrive gear if I remember right. My WC T-5 has a .70 overdrive, so there isn't that much gain, but still some. I'm still tuning my SuperRam 383 setup, but I got 22MPG running 75-80 MPH on the highway - with the A/C running full bore - on a 250 mile trip a couple of weeks ago so I'm not doing too badly. I only got 23-24MPG with the old 305 motor.

The disadvantage to the T-56 (besides weighing an extra 40-50 lbs.) is it has a higher 1st gear, too. So you won't feel quite the power taking off as you do with the T-5. I don't remember the gearing differences (you can search for that), but it was around .5 or .6 different in 1st, and about half of that in 2nd if I remember correctly. Seemed significant to me as I remember. I've actually see several references to the T-56 as a "smogger tranny", but I don't go that far. Plus I still use the standard clutch setup instead of having to change all that out for a T-56 setup. The T-56 also requires a new transmission cross member.

You can switch out the 700R4 for a T-5 and resuse your cross member, use the same drive shaft, etc. You'll need the clucth assembly and pedals for a manual though. It's really now a hard conversion, lots of folks do it themselves in just a weekend on the driveway. Luckily, I didn't even have to do that since mine was a T-5 to start with (which is one reason I bought this car!)

As for rebuilt T-5's, G-Force and TKO will both rebuild a T-5 with strong enough components for 450-500 or more HP for under a grand. If/when mine gives out, that's the route I plan to go. Then it will be stronger than the T-56 and still be lower cost.

Just my 2 cents, YMMV of course.

Have a Great Day!!!


- Ye Old Phat Phart, Vern

 

Hey--Vern says it all very nicely--and putting in the stick changes it from a commuter to a fun car to drive.

 

All good points...


As for the "heads wearing out" on your engine...

Smokes on start up? Especially after sitting? But not when driving?

Valve stem seals... welcome to the wonderful world of the small block chevy.

Easy job for a novice too...if you can pay attention to detail. Worse part for a beginner, in my opinion, is setting the valves, but that can be made easy too.


If you can do it yourself, it's a $50 job including beer.

 

you have a PM stoked

 

hey, thanks alot for that post vern, you gave me alot to think about.

 

TKOPerformance will rebuild your T5 to take 450 hp for about $750. Contact them at BigRedK5Blazer@aol.com, talk to Tom.