My 700r4 decided to finally die but it didn't go out quite the way I was expecting. Instead of it not shifting anymore the front seal decided to blow out a few really cold mornings ago. ATF everywhere. It needed to get rebuilt/replaced anyway.

I'm torn between a T-56 and a probuilt. I would like to try for the T-56 because I prefer manual but I have some questions I’ve come across trying to price out parts. Any/all advice is more than welcome.

Transmission - From what I understand there are two types: factory and aftermarket. Factory transmissions can use the stock DS while aftermarket can't. Aftermarket are also an inch or two longer. Gear ratios vary between the two. Are there any other differences (strength, etc)? I'm pretty sure I want to go factory at this point to save money on the DS and bellhousing.

Bellhousing - Doesn't the bellhousing come built into the factory version? Where can I buy a bellhousing for an aftermarket trans if I go down that road?

Crossmember - Simply buy the correct unit from spohn and bolt it in, correct? There's one for aftermarket units and one for stock.

Flywheel - I would really like to go aluminum to cut mass in about a third (30-35 lbs vs 12-18). What will this do in terms of wear and tear? The car is a daily driver. Is the friction patch a different material?

Clutch - Planning on spending about $500 here for something "good", whatever that is.

Pedals - Should I pick up 4th gen pedals or should I stick with the 3rd gen set? Will it make any difference? I'm willing to go through the hasle of making the 4th gen stuff fit if it means doing it the right way.

Rear main seal - 88 350 is a 1 piece rear, correct?

Harnesses on the T-56 - what harnesses are on the T-56 and what will I have to do in order to wire everything correctly? I already have an electrical speedo and a Dakota Digital box so that’s taken care of.

Parts list - Trans (bellhousing if needed), clutch, flywheel, hydraulics, crossmember, shifter, pedals. Am I missing anything?

Thanks for any and all advice/help

 

The torque ratings are 450 ft on both the aftermarket & the GM spec. Some will say the factory ones are stronger since Borg Warner made them & Tremec makes the new aftermarket ones. I can't verify that though.

Bell comes on the GM one. Use a standard bell on the aftermarket one.

Some claim aluminum flywheels don't have enough interia for steet use. Aluminum flywheels have an iron wear plate pressed or bolted in.

Centerforce, McLeod, Hayes all make good clutches. Call one & see what they recomend for your setup.

I used new 4th gen pedals. I have a source to get new ones, if you want a set PM me. They are easy to mod just cut off the gas pedal bracket & enlarge the upper bolt holes.

86 & up blocks are 1 pc RMS.

 

Thanks for the reply and offer on pedals. You have a PM.

I think I'm going to go with a GM spec trans. This will save me money on a drive shaft and bellhousing. It also means if it really comes down to it I can head over to GM and get parts if I get fed up trying to find them online.

As for the aluminum flywheel, I'm going to talk that one over with my mechanic. If he thinks it will be drivable I think I'm going to go for it. That will roughly make up for the weight of the stereo One of my friends drives your typical civic (carbon hood, springs, exhaust, header, cai, and alum flywheel but nothing to make it really fast ). I drove it before/after the flywheel and it was still pretty streetable and revved up a good deal faster.

I also added one thing to my parts list: the plastic interconnects for the wiring to the transmission. Anyone know where I can get these?

Any and all help/input about the swap and parts is more than welcome. I would like to try to get everything together so that I can do this in a one shot deal instead of having to stop and order something stupid.

 

I would/did go with the GM transmission.

The bell housing should come bolted to the tranny.

There are a couple of places that sell the crossmember or you can make one fairly easy if you have a welder.

Ive heard that the issue with AL flywheel like Ricktpi said is the lower weight has less inertia, so while it will rev up faster it will also slow down faster so like when you push in the clutch to shift the RPMs go down more than usual. I know a couple of people that had them in t56 cars and didnt like them.

Ive heard bad things about every clutch accept for the Mcleod so far. Ive heard that spec's tend to chatter, centerforce can have issues with reverse.....

I started with the 4th gen pedals and didnt like how they were turning out so I ended up using 3rd gen pedals from a junkyard car, worked out way easier because I didnt have to modifiy them.
-- You need the 4th gen hydrolics, 3rd gen is to short. If you have the cash look in the McLeod adjustable/rebuildable unit, Ive heard lots of good things about it and Im planning on switching to it myself.

The harness will have a plug for the skip shift(not needed), reverse lights, reverse lockout, and VSS for the speedo. I would recomend getting them from a wrecked car because their expensive from the dealer. The hard part hear is switching your auto stuff to manual stuff, like the wires for the Neutral safety switch get wired to the new clutch switch. Not to tough though.


Its not all that hard, just gotta take your time and do it right.

 

I'm currently thinking the same. It sounds like the best/easiest/cheapest option.

I'm just going to get the spohn crossmember/torque arm combo.

I'm guessing there's no issues with the stock clutch? I might buy a new stock combo (clutch, flywheel) from a member for a pretty nice price.

That's why I'm asking all these questions trying to get it done in one shot without getting stuck on anything.

Thanks for the great reply. As always, input is more than welcome.

 

To summarize, I have two questions.

1 - Is there a spacer I need to run for the slave cylinder, between the slave and the bellhousing?
2 - Does anyone have any drivability issues to report with a stock (T-56) clutch?

 

1. Good question, I asked the same thing because sometimes it seems as though my clutch isnt fully engaged when Im off the pedal. All my searching on here never turned up anything about a spacer but Im planning on trying something as soon as it gets warm out. Part of the reason for the adjustable hydraulics is they would iliminate the need for a spacer or anything.

2. THe stock clutch didnt last very long in my car, and the stock HD replacement isnt that much better. If you have mods on your engine or anything putting out a decent amount of power I would look at something better than stock.

 

The only reason why I know about a possible spacer is because someone offered me one in my 'I need parts for my T-56 swap' thread. I just figured I would ask because I hadn't heard of one either. Also, I think your problem might lie in your pedals. From what I understand the 4th gen ones allow for a little more motion.

Clutch - I'm not that worried about frying one right now on my pretty much stock (the typical minor mods done to it) L98. All I want is a drivable car for now. If push comes to shove I can always upgrade it when I do the engine swap (383) at some point this summer/fall.

Keep any and all info coming. Weird stuff, things you screwed up on, oddball parts, etc

 

Thinking very seriously about buying this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

Anyone have any reasons why I shouldn't?

Edit: some e-mailing with the seller gave me some good info. The unit is a 1386000007.

After some time on google, here's where I found the part numer: http://www.noid.org/~lj/T56/images/wpe4.jpg and here is where I found the torque raiting: http://www.darklair.com/T56.html

The trans is from a 93 and is the stronger of the two units available that year. It's is raited at 400 ft/lbs vs the standard 450 because of slighly more agressive gearing and a different input/output shaft than the other BW T-56's (94-97). I figure I can always rebuild it down the road if I need to but damn is that a good price on a new T-56 (GM wants 4,600 and GM parts direct wanted 2,800-3,600 depending on year).

I just bought me a trans Time to gather the rest of the stuff needed. I will keep posting questions as I come across them.

 

My T-56 just arrived yesterday. From the research I've done, the LT1 style clutch is poor performance item. The Ram HD clutch is an option for moderate setups but the Street Twin is really the way to go. Either way, you'll be spending about $1000 on the clutch / flywheel combo.

With the retrofit tranny I think you have better options for the clutch/flywheel and bellhousing. You will have to shorten your drive shaft. I'd suggest trying to get through to the Tech support guy at McLeod and talking with him about clutch / bell housing options.

If your running a higher HP setup you may want to upgrade the output shaft which also requires you run a 1350 u-joint.

 

This isn't true of the OEM Borg Warner transmissions (93-97), but rather of the Tremec version, which is something like 2" longer.

There seems to be a lot of talking about what clutches suck and which are good. I will probably do some lurking on a 4th gen board to find out what works best if the deal I have right now for some stock stuff falls through.

 

Correct, I'm not speaking of the LT1 style there but the aftermarket or retrofit style.

 

Random not important note: I just drove a friend's 93 TA and man did that thing shift nice. I can't wait for this thrans to get here. Very short/accurate throw even with the stock shifter.

 

I don't know a ton about this topic, but the one good thing I've heard about the aftermarket retrofit T56's is that you can run a standard "push" style clutch instead of the LT1 "pull" style clutch. The standard push style clutches are a lot cheaper and you have a lot more selection if you want a really severe duty clutch. Just my .02.