i just finished putting in my t-56 from being an auto
it runs goos but when shifting the tranny moves up and down dont know if i need to tighten it or what?
the speedo doesnt work nor my reverse lights or turn signals and i dont have any of the diagrams to see what is what
and it also sounds like a nasty exhaustr leak coming from the tranny

 

Moving from Tech/Engine to Tranny/Drivetrain...

 

first off, the moving up and down of the tranny is most likely a broken trans mount. check that first. put a small jack under the back of the tranny just in front of the trans mount. jack the tranny up slowly and watch the trans mount. if it seperates from the crossmember, then the mount is bad. use you best judgement in how far you jack it up. you shouldnt need to go more then 1" in height.
second, the speedo on yout 89ta is driven by an electric VSS(vehicle speed sensor) this sensor is on the tranny and is specific for your car. I am 99% sure about your speedo being electric. I think the firebirds started that in 89. anyway, if it is indeed driven by a VSS, then you will need this .

third, your reverse lights are simple. you just need to get a wiring diagram for your automatice trany connectors and go from there. Iknow I say it is simple but i cannot give you much help here cuz I went from a T5 to a T56. Ihave read that it is fairly easy though.

forth, your turn signals not working have nothing to do with your trans swap.

 

thanks for the help got the reverse lights on and it was a broken tranny mount the speedo i'm still looking into it not too worried about thinking about dropping in a lt1 anyways so i figure that the wireing hareness will have what i need to get it to work.....thanks though

 

wiring harness will probably not have what you need. The problem is that electric VSS works on frequencies (pulses from the reluctor wheel) and most likely T56 from 4th gen had different frequency than what you spedo wants being a 3rd gen.

That dakota box is a converter where you can adjust what goes out to make the spedo happy. And because it fudges with the signal, it can also helps you calibrate the spedo when you do stuff like change rear end ratio or even tire size.