I've got an 87 base coupe, and my T5's synchros are pretty beat and there's some housing damage on it from something bizarre a previous owner did.

I've got to do the clutch pretty soon and while I have the whole thing apart I'd like to drop in a newer T5 to go with it, but a few of the wreckers I've asked around at have fed me some BS about T5's being "rare", so I'm looking around now for some other bolt-in options.

The back of the V6's bell housing looks like it's got other bolt holes in it for different placements, are there other transmissions that are direct bolt ins for that housing? Is the 5-speed from S-10's and S-15's the same T5 and bell?

 

It's highly unlikely that there's anything the matter with the "synchros". They almost never wear out, unless the car has been driven a hundred thousand miles with a bad clutch, or without fluid.

You have a 87 car, so you have a 1st design transmission. If you decide to change it out, don't bother buying one like that; get one out of a 88-up car. They changed to the 2nd design T-5 in 88.

The only T-5 that will fit, bolt up, and work right, is one out of a 6-cyl Camaro or Firebird. There are NO OTHER bolt-in options. Fortunately there's lots of those in junkyards. Seems like every time I wanted one, that's all I could find; which is of course utterly useless to me.

Just go to all the junkyards and look around.

 

You got magic synchro rings?

Synchro rings are friction rings.. they wear, so do synchro hubs. You rebuild a transmission, you put in new ones because they're worn, it's their job to be their and wear so that you're not jamming teeth on gears that are spinning at different rates when you shift... and they're only brass.

Maybe I should word the question another way... aside from a T5, what transmissions will bolt to the bell of the 60 degree V6's, and a standard SB bell?