i know i've asked if a t-5 can be used with a 383, but i was wondering now if a rebuilt t-5 could handle the power? just curious, want to do the swap but i also want to save money. also, i'm not too interested in the t56.

 

a rebuilt transmission will have no great power handling capability over a non-rebuilt one. The only thing you will be replacing is the bearings and synchros. It will shift better, but thats about it. If you're worried about breaking it, go T-56, don't know why you're not too intereste in it. If you want a manual transmission that will handle the torque of a 383 with no worries what-so-ever, its your only cost-effective choice. Your T-5 will last a while if you take care of it, but if you beat on it, you will break it.

 

yhere's always the G Force Gear set for a T5

makes it stronger than a T56 but it costs 950 for the gears, plus the 180 for a reabuild kit...then you can upgrade it here and there with better shift forks and a stronger input shaft. too.

 

i've thought about going w/a t56 i just don't see the point in getting a trans with a sixth gear unless i want to get some 3.73's or 4.11's. but then again, by the time i'm ready to get a new trans i'll probably be ready to change the gears again.

 

The G-Force will more than handle the 383. My factory WC T-5 is still holding up behind my 383, but I'm still tuning it and not quite up to full power yet. I figure it's just a matter of time, so I don't shift it w/o the clutch or beat on it too hard. Tremec/TKO is another option to think about, someone on here was quoting a rebuild of an existing WC T-5 to the 450 HP/TQ range for under a grand. Maybe they'll chime in on this thread too.....

 

i was just thinking, if i can fit a th350 into my car, how about an old four speed manual trans, they seemed to hold up well to the big blocks of that era. is there a way to fit one of those in our cars w/a hydraulic clutch?

 

"someone on here was quoting a rebuild of an existing WC T-5 to the 450 HP/TQ range for under a grand. Maybe they'll chime in on this thread too....."

That was me.

It isn't hard to build a T5 up to the 450 HP range. You use the super alloy gears that Ford installs in the "Z-spec" T5 they offer through their racing parts program. Those gears, coupled with a thorough rebuild and blueprinting, plus a good aftermarket shifter could easily make a T5 hold up behind a 383.

The major killer of the T5 or any transmission is traction. You'll have a hard time making anything but a super strong transmission live indefinately in a car that launches on slicks with a high RPM clutch dump. It's brutal on any trans, or rear for that matter. In a street car with radials, even performance tires, you'll light the tires up before you'll put enough load on the trans to break it. You could run 700 HP through the trans, but if there isn't any traction available it's doubtful that the trans would break. Even G-Force will tell you this. Check out their website.

Let's clear up a few things about the "old four speeds". I assume that you mean the good old Muncies, which came in M20, M21, and M22 variants. First, they didn't hold up well behind big blocks. I have fixed more Muncies over the years than any other transmissions, and most guys with serious cars have swapped them in favor of Super T-10s, G-Force 4-speeds, Liberty 4-speeds, or Jerico 4-speeds. Muncies are also getting more expensive and harder to get good parts for. You can actually buy all the parts to build a new Muncie now, and the case and gears are stronger than stock, but for the same price you could just buy a brand new Super T-10. The "really good" Muncie is the M22, with the dubious nickname "Rockcrusher 4-speed". These are fetching well over $1,000 now, and the truth is that they aren't as strong as everyone wants you to believe. My Dad used to run a Chevelle with an LS6 454 at the track. It had an M22 Muncie in it. It would yank the front wheels on the launch and run mid 11s in the quarter, but it was a fairly basic combo, which probably put out around 500 HP. After the fourth time I had to replace the cluster gear and one of the speed gears he decided to swap to an automatic. Under high torque the Muncies flex the casing and shear the teeth right off the gears, even the stronger M22 gears. This is the same problem with the T5, but the fix for the T5 is a lot cheaper, plus the T5 bolts right in to a 3rd gen, and a Muncie won't.

 

ok, so how much would it cost me to have a T5 rebuilt to hold up to my engine...and i'm looking more at road racing nowadays, i still like to drag but i want to swap to the manual for occasionaly road racing and i just like manual trans.

 

Ah, TKOPerformance speaks! See, Vern? I've chimed in about ten times about this...when I yank my 305 and go to your level of power, the T5 is going to TKOPerformance, via UPS, for his rebuild--after I finish my roll bar and interior, put the Vortec heads on the 400 in my Suburban and paint my Austin Healey.

 

A full rebuild with all new bearings, synchros, seals, and normal wear items is $370. For high performance rebuilds I recommend replacing the caged needle roller bearings sunder the speed gears for an additional cost of $60. The super alloy gearset, which replaces 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and the countergear is $450. Every trans I rebuild is thoroughly cleaned, inspected, and blueprinted. If I find any hard parts damage upon disassembly I contact the customer to discuss options. When replacing the gears with the super alloys about the only hard parts that could be damaged would be the mainshaft, case, sliding sleeves, forks, or mainshaft. If it's a case or a mainshaft its cheaper to just buy another core trans.

The total cost to rebuild a T5 with the super alloy gears, capable of handling roughly 400-450 lbs/ft. or torque is $880 plus shipping and handling. Shipping each way is typically about $60 inside the contiguous US.

The G-Force kit is another option, but if you really look at the information ontheir website you need to buy their mainshaft to get the 600 HP rating. This pushes the cost of the kit to over $1,200. You can easily find a Tremec TKO for that, which is an inherently better design.

Alternately, if you want to try the rebuild yourself you can just buy the parts from Halon Motorsports, and save about $200 in labor and some of the shipping costs. I don't consider a T5 to be a tough rebuild, but having built quite a few I'm probably biased.

 

Yo TKO dude, you have a website?

 

No, nothing yet. After the first of the year I might look into setting one up. I'm still gathering material to put on a website.

 

TKOPerformance,

I have emailed you before and was wondering if you had cores that you could build up and send those out for a core charge? I am just not wanting to do without the trans in my car. I would not want to return one to you just wondering if you had a junkyard that you got them from or something and then charge a core.

Thanks

Bill

 

I can vouch for TKOPerformance, he always gives you choices when there is any questions about what should be replaced and he really knows his stuff. I know absolutely nothing about transmission internals so I had to read a book to keep up with what he was saying. Its nice to know what options you have, especially since every core is different and could require more parts than others. I had originally set out for the Super Alloy gears, but after thinking about it alot and considering the costs I decided to go with the G-Force stuff because its rated alot higher. My motor will never make as much power as the ratings but its a track car and I dont have a pit crew to help me swap broken transmissions at the track events. So I decided to spend more from the start for a stronger product and deal with less problems in the future.

 

I do run into cores occassionally. It's really just an issue of timing. When you get ready just drop me a PM or an email and I will let you know if I've got cores available. Pricing info always has to be discussed through PMs per TGO policy.

 

Sweet sounds good. I will probably just email you since I have your email.

Later brother

Bill