Which do you all prefer to do. I was thinkin of doing a T5 swap on my 89 350 iroc. I heard bad things about it. Post ur poll and give input.

thanks

-Steve-

 

Honestly, I think alot of ppl that willt ell you not to do it have never had a T5. My T5's been strong for me, never had a problem with it. As long as you're on street tires you will be fine. It's when you start launching on slick that you'll have a problem.

 

If you're looking to drag race it, the autos have a slight advantage in the area of consistency, but a lot of folks will say the T-5 will put more power to the ground (there is less parasitic loss in a manual than an auto). Plus the stick is a lot more fun to drive in my opinion. The T-5 can also be "beefed up" if necessary for your motor's output, but I have no idea of your mods there.

I've got a TKOperformance T-5 behind my 383 and it feels great so far. But stay away from drag slicks - either the stock T-5 or the weak-knee 10-bolt rear end will go and it's a toss up on which one will do it first.

Just my two cents on the matter....

 

It was pretty much all siad above . I have a 85 Iroc that I put a gm 350 creat motor in and I crushet it with street tires in 3 months .I beat it good though and I am on my second one . I would never evan consider an auto . I now only get on it in the higher gears .

 

There's nothing like rowing your own gears. And that's aside from the cred you'll get when you tell people you converted your auto car to a manual. Commands respect.

The only unforseeable downside is rush hour traffic, should you ever get your baby stuck in it. Your left leg is gonna mutiny. 1->2->neutral->-stop->1->stop->1->2....can you feel the burn yet?

 

Dont you have to worry about replacing your clutch pretty frequently too if you beat on it?

 

actually, i just bought an '84 a couple of months ago with a T5, and it had the original clutch in it. granted, it was a pretty bad scene in there, grinding into the flywheel, but the car had almost 200,000 miles on it.

 

ive had my t5 for 4or5 yrs now and its worked great for me (knock on wood) now i just last tuesday put slicks on the iroc and shattered my spider gears up.... and just this past spring i wrecked a ring gear doing the burnout you see in the video tread here. Im not easy on the car by any means at all and its lasted this far. Altho i heard mine was rebuilt maybe it was a lie from the old owner but maybe it was beefed up alittle who knows. But id probably would of sold my car by now if it wasnt for the 5 speed being there.

 

T-5 for sure.

ever consider a tremec 6 speed. That is what I am getting. Uses the stock bellhousing and shifter location.

 

Well, my car was originally a T-5 and I'm swapping in an auto at the moment. But don't let that give it a bad rep, I just happened to have an auto at easy access and decided to swap it in while I rebuild my T-5. It's the original tranny and the car has had 126,000 miles of crazy abuse and the tranny finally went. Ofcoarse, my car had 150 shot of nitrous through it quite frequently. The clutch held out suprisingly well, the pilot bearing and throw-out bearings actually started crapping out before the clutch did. I'd say go with the manual, it's a lot of fun clutching it at 15-20mph and slidin' around the road a bit.

 

A T5 is fine, but just be wary of making modificatios. You don't want to make more power and torque than it can handle. If you need to handle more power, try a Tremec TKO 500 or TKO 600. They are supposed to be direct replacements for the T5. But check with manufacturer first.

Rush hour traffic can suck with a T5, Been there, done that!

 

T-5 all the way. Mine's behind a 350 HO Deluxe and functions well--though, granted, I'm an old fart and don't thrash it. That said, one day I'll do a T-56 with 3.73's or 4.10.

JamesC

 

Auto w/2800 stall and a hurst dual/gate shifter

 

Auto transmissions are junk in my opinion, so complicated and heavy. T5 for sure