I recently pulled an engine and tranny out of an 83 T/A it had a Borg Warner tranny manufactuered in 86' obviously its not original but can anyone tell me anything about this tranny.
The casting number is 13-51-097-901 Is this a decent tranny. its a 5 speed. thanks in advance.

Anyone?

OH JESUS if this is the rearend I think it is throw it the hell away. My buddy down the street had one of those and it was right wheel only, no power at all to the left wheel, and pig gears. it was manufactured for austrailian cars or something. Sorta like cheapy go karts with one wheel know what I mean?

He's talking about a transmission, not a differential. The differential you're referring to is the Borg Warner 9 bolt, which is stronger than the more common 10 bolt.

What makes you say that?

It's a Borg-Warner T-5. What came in all manual transmission equiped F-bodies from 83 to 92. For '86 it was rated for 275 lb-ft of torque, and it will work great as long as you don't needlessly beat it like a retard.

There's a little ignorance and mis-information in that post!

It's not likely the factory used a transmission made in 86 in a car made in 83.

Good point. I didn't read the dates thoroughly. My bad. Same trans though.

-Tom

They weren't quite all the same though. The W/C T5 became available in there somewhere, I'm not sure when exactly.

1988

It's a Borg-Warner T-5. ?? 2 drain/fill plugs??

I was just looking through posts to see if someone had posted about the BW T-5's (Non-WC) just to see if they are total garbage or what. I know I have heard ALOT of people praise the WC units because of the upgrades the manufacturer did to them, but I was wondering if that means that a non-WC is total junk or what? I may be buying an 85 Iroc w/the HO ( sarcastic smiley,BTW ) 305 and a 5 speed and it doesn't indicate any problems at the momment, and I was wondering if there is anything a person should look for as far as indications that this trans may have problems on the horizon. Is there a more common problem with these trans as compared to the WC versions?
Thanks for any input.
(sorry for the thread hi-jack, but I believe this may be useful info for us both)

what is wc?

my tranny has twwo plugs on the side which one do I check ;level at?
I am getting 33 mpg highway and its a loud tranny

wc=world class
easily identified by the use of dexIII instead of gearlube
wc=also has fiber lined blocker rings
non wc have old school brass blocker rings

wc are stronger best case scenario they are medium duty trannies

Both the WC and the non-WC "suck". Or they are both, sufficient...DEPENDING ON HOW YOU TREAT IT. A moron can blow a WC T5 w/a stock V-6 if they try, yet I ran a NON-WC T5 behind a SBC 400 for years, as a DD, Auto-x'er, and two nights a week at the local drag strip for two years; power shifting every shift, every pass. In over three years of this, and with over 150,000 miles on that particular transmission, the only issue I had was one broken 3-4 shift fork, which cost me $12.00 to replace. After that, I installed a shifter w/adjustable shift stops to eliminate that issue.

SO, if you're the type of person who is simply abusive, neither the WC nor the non-WC is going to last; the difference isn't great enough to make a difference. If you drive smartly, and get good life out of compnents in general, the again, it won't matter which trans you have, because either one will meet the criteria.


Check for gear/bearing "whine". That is the first sign of an ailing T5 and it's usually the countershaft front bearing, which takes a lot of load, and is a cheap bearing. Second, look for weak synchros/gear clash. Both the regular and WC versions will have the same issues, in the same order, and both will literally break or "blow" with roughly the same abuse. So if the trans isn't BROKEN ("blown"), and it shifts well and makes no gear or bearing "whine", (which it sounds like yours) then it's as good a starting point as virtually any T5, IMO. Keep good oil in it, don't be retarded, and it will give you many years of service.

Thanks 'Tom 400 CFI' for taking the time to post that reply. I am thinking of buying this car solely for the fact that it is a V8, posi/3.73 car with a 5 speed. I think even with the dog carbed motor, it still would be fun to drive and the 305 won't be in there very long. I don't plan on doing hook-downs or slamming the gears too bad though.

Glad I could help.

Eh, unless you have another motor sitting around already, a ~$100 worth of cam, and the exhaust that car needs no matter what (headers to tail pipes), and you should easily have over 260 hp, and possibly tag 13's w/great driving. That motor is only a dog b/c of the exhaust. Then the cam after that. you need to buy exhaust anyway, and flat tappet cams are cheap.

That 3.73/5speed/V-8 combo is a great starting point IMO...especially if it's got rear disk brakes.

Here's a link to identify your t5 from the id tag.

http://www.5speeds.com/t5/index.html

My 1989 WCT-5 is holding up behind a L98 HSR and a 200 shot of nitrous. Runs 7.98 1/8 mile (or low 12's 1/4 mi) with a 3.27 rear. Daily driver with no problems. As previous poster stated, it's all in how you drive it and possibly a little good luck.

Have fun!