i have an 87 iroc and i have a 400 hp small block and i need to make my t5 hold up for a little while what can i do to this to make it last i do not have 1000 dollars for a t56 so any advice and or info would be great.

 

i will not be drag racing this or anything it will be a street car and i don't drive like an idiot dropping the clutch at every stoplight either i just need something for about 6 months or so

 

a complete rebuild (bearings) on the entire t-5. I have found that most t-5's seem to break due to improper bearing clearances. (mostly the intput to main shaft) what happens is the bearings allow the shaft to move up a little under load and not only chews up the mainshaft from the poor oiling resulting from this but also causes 3rd gear to lift up from the counter shaft and only touches the upper half of the gear teeth. this causes the teeth to break off ....... causing the common 3rd gear and counter shaft damage.

although many other things fail on the t-5 if you take it easy and perform the full rebulild the trans will last a long life

 

thanks for the info on that i guess i know where to start then. but i also herd some talk of a hardened bearing retainer of some kind ?

 

I would think your T5 would last behind that small block if you drive real careful. Like you said, no dropping the clutch or slamming through the gears. If you drive real nice and gentle it should last. The motor only puts out 400 hp at a certain rpm. At 2k rpm you should only be at 165hp lol

 

I drive my 350ci/330hp like the old fart I am. I don't expect any difficulties at all.

JamesC

 

yeah right codename gee you were so helpfull

 

I pretty much flog mine. T5 is fine.

 

http://www.5speeds.com/t5.htm
http://www.hanlonmotorsports.com/category.php

The first link has the stronger plate you were asking about and the 2nd has just about everything for a rebuild. Notice that the hanlon list has super alloy gears which will resist breaking far better than the stock gears. The shifting of the shafts that was mentioned can be fixed by just changing the shim rings rather than a complete rebuild. FWIW I know someone that has a track only (road course) 1le with a built 383 and he runs a stock t5 and has only hurt it once and that was a bad shift into 5th. 5th is the weakest gear in the tranny. I guess that all my babling here is just getting to the idea that if you do not do drag launches the t5 will live.

 

 

well thanks for all the input i guess i'll be using the t5