What tranny does my newly aquired '89RS 2.8L 5 speed have? This is my first manual trans thirdgen!

 

yes, you have a T-5. a weak non-WC V-6 version, but a T-5 nonetheless.

 

What does non-WC mean?

 

No.

88-up got the 2nd design.

"WC" is the abbrevitaion for (let me get a good grip on myself so I don't puke) "World Class". Back in the late 80s, when ISO-9000 and the Malcolm Baldridge Award and Total Quality Management and all of those other "quality" buzzwords were just becoming popular, one of them was that nauseating drivel about "World". You'd probably be as disgusted by it as me, if you had lived through as many PIT teams, kaizen events, quality audits, and so forth, none of which has anything to do with whether your product is actually any better (in functional terms) than anybody else's. It was originally coined to refer to "Six Sigma" performance; i.e., if you achieved "Six Sigma", your products were ... in that "class". For some reason that will hopefully never be repeated by anyone else anywhere, Borg-Warner adopted that stupidity as the model name for their 2nd design of the T-5. Somehow it stuck: people actually fell for it. And ever since, people have called the first design "non-" that. Which is about like being an ancient Roman and referring to the current year as 47 BC.

The 2nd design transmission appeared in about 86 or so, and GM specified it for every vehicle line they were using it in, starting in 88.

I can't believe I typed that crap and didn't hurl. Must be the coffee.

 

I often wondered where that WC stuff came from and I didn't even have to ask.

One remaining question, is the WC tranny any better than the non WC? And if you know what the differences are and can list them would be great.

 

Depends on your definition of "better"....

The 2nd design has composition clutches on the synchro rings instead of brass; tapered roller bearings for the countergear instead of straight rollers (the rear countergear bearing in the 1st design is in fact the same one as a 7½" 10-bolt axle bearing); and needle rollers between the intermediate gears and the mainshaft, rather than bushings.

It shifts a little better; makes a little less noise; and has a little less friction deriving from the not-in-use gears spinning on the mainshaft, for gas mileage.

If what you mean by "is it any better" is "is it any less likely to tear up", then no, not really. It has the same fundamental weakness (lack of quality, poor design) as the 1st design, in that the case stretches across the front under high torque loading, allowing the clutch gear and countergear to misalign, and causing rapid destruction of both and resultant total meltdown of the transmission.

But by golly, it's "World Cl ......" {baaaaaaarrrrrrrrffffffff} sorry, need more coffee I guess. And, now I gotta clean up my keyboard besides.

 

Kinda like the LS1 T56? I've often heard people call the synchos "cardboard" Not sure if the same synchros are in the LT1 T56, I'm guessing they are not. I have a super low miles LS1 with T56 and get that little crunch shifting from 1 - 2. It is ever so slight but that is the first warning that the synchro's are on their way out. I'm not pleased. Only has 10K on it.

Doesn't sound like any improvement to me.

The viper T56 got better synchros, think they are either carbon fiber or titanium. Can't remember which but they are a direct replacement for the T56 GM uses. Not cheap either.

 

The WC was actually rated for about 15-20% more torque as well IIRC, but in it's standard GM form was never considered strong enough to go behind anything larger than a 305.

However, the WC model can be "beefed up" to handle LOTS more...

 

Oh, RB, you're going to hurl when you hear this...

I'm a defense contractor for the US Navy, under Raytheon. Every single last technician HAS TO BE Raytheon Six Sigma qualified. Supposedly, we're the guys who recommend process improvements, save the company money, save the customer money, and what-not, by streamlining the process and suggesting design improvements.

Yeah, I had to flush my mouth out with Listerine(TM) after those classes. We get a nifty fifty-dollar check for our first 'project', after that, we get the sense of pride that goes along with saving the company over fifty-grand a year (just one example). 50,000 dolars a year, and the guy who did that project got fifty bucks. Ain't it grand?