I'm going to be doing a LT1 swap in a month or two and wanted to know if the 6 speed was a good choice? I have herd several say that most of them need rebuilt that they have seen that are used. My car has a auto in it now and I don't think the swap will be that hard from what I have read. And all i'm going to do to the LT1 is for now a cam and CAI. I just dont want to buy one and have to put alot of $$$ into it. Or would i be better off with the auto? THANKS

 

If you dont want to spend lots of money, stick with the auto.

With the T56, you will need a short rear end. 3.42 atleast. If you have a 2.77 with that auto, your car will be all legs and no grunt.

So add that to the cost of the t56 swap.

 

Oh well i have got a 4th gen rear end out of a 98 i think it has 3:42's so you are saying it would be better to stick with the auto?

 

the 3.42 will work great with the t56, so you dont have to worry about that.

 

That rear will work great with the T56. I got my T56 used and I have never had a problem with it. Unfortunately, you won't know for sure it it needs help until you install or pay somebody to tear it down to inspect it. I would go with the six speed and it it needs to be rebuilt, get it rebuilt. You will be much happier in the end with the extra gears.

 

Good point. Buying one cheap that needs a rebuild and rebuilding would be better than spending a lot more on one the supposedly works great.

 

take it from me the extra money is well worth the t56, i was using the auto for alittle bit and i hated it, i put the t56 in and wow what a diff. i am running 373's and at 70 it is 2k rpm so 342 will be even better. i paid 1100 for mine and it needed sycro's but the guy i bought it from didnt know, he bought it from someone and they said it was fresh rebuild. so u really need to watch what you get. but deals are out there on the t56's and it is well worth the money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It all depends on what you like. If you like auto, stay auto. If you like driving stick, switch to the T56. As stated, switch to a minimum of a 3.42 rear-ratio. The 4th gen rear is 1-1/2 per side wider, so you may want to look into wheels if you go that route. - I switched from one from of the hardest shifting autos you'll ever find to a stick. I just enjoy driving stick in a performance car. - T56's are/can be a good trans.
better? Probably not. You don't want your rpm much(if any) lower than that, especially if he's going to a larger than LT1 stock cam. Too low of rpm will cost you mpg. If you get too far below your cam, it will burn more fuel lugging.

 

i didnt see i was getting a cam

 

I think he meant you can be at 2k at a higher speed.

 

T-56 is better no matter what gears you have. Its more fun to drive and gives you better mpg. You can always swap gears or rears later on. I run 3.27's with mine does great down the track im peaking 3rd out at the end which is good for my setup.

 

going through the 1/4 in 3rd isn't good for any set-up. If you're not achieving 1:1(4th), you could be going faster. Not that it will hurt anything, just that the set-up is wrong for racing. Unless geared properly, the T56 won't gain you any fuel economy.

 

[QUOTE=Shagwell]going through the 1/4 in 3rd isn't good for any set-up. If you're not achieving 1:1(4th), you could be going faster. Not that it will hurt anything, just that the set-up is wrong for racing. Unless geared properly, the T56 won't gain you any fuel economy.

so what your saying is im not geared properly and i didnt gain 3mpg highway. Im running a stealthram, slp headers, ramair, A/C delete smog delete tb coolant bypass 58mm tb. Im running about 5600rpm in 3rd at the end of the 1/4 it pulls like a mad man in higher rpms with the stealth. When i first ran with the t-56 it wasnt tuned or anything its capable of 100mph easy i ran 97.7 but out of tune. Ive got it tuned up and going back when i get a chance ill probably stay in 3rd tho. I run it to 6000rpm's usually ive tried diff shifting points but around 6000 gives me better mph and times. I need a freaking cam and a chip but im broke, my motor is getting old and im going to build one anyway so im done with my setup until then.

 

[QUOTE=1BADROC]Your first gear must lick ***** unless you have a 93 t-56.

I wish I seen a mpg gain on highway but I'am going to have to agree with Shagwell on the gearing for fuel economy.

 

actually first is great i cant get traction for nothing. first feels just as good as it did in the auto. running lower rpms gives you better mpg on highway. I run 1500rpm at around 70mph in 6th. oh my T-56 came from a 95T/A

 

Well that explains why you think first is the same, hate to say this but get some real tires and injoy the bog. Also running lower rpms does not totally guarantee better mpg on highway, you could be pushing the peddle down twice as much to maintain your speed.

 

lol it never bogs unless i dump it at low rpms. i got more torque and morehp than the Lt1 it came out of dont tell me enjoy the bog i dont see Lt1's bogging down. I have 255/50/zr16 firestone firehawk tires which are soft and grip very well. When you put power down any street tire is going to spin. when i get some lc relocation brackets some sfc's and some new lca's ill have my traction. I could run slicks if i had some and get some good 60's easy im not affraid of breaking the rear since its a 9bolt.

 

Maybe you should step up to a drag Radial but now your telling me your tires grip very well. The bog I'am talking about is in first off the line or a low rpm roll to about 3500 rpm's, when my car had the 3.27 I had the mods you do minus the steathram which should make it worse since it takes away some of the torque so I'am talking about from my experiance, but unlike your car with my Goodyear GSC I had no traction problems and my car was good for about 14.1 up here in the mountains.

 

what is the gear ratios for the 94-97 T56s? And what was the 93 T56 again?

 

94+
1st 2.66
2nd 1.78
3rd 1.30
4th 1.00
5th 0.74
6th 0.50
Rev 2.90

Beleave there was 2 types in 93, not sure how it works but this is what i can find
1st 2.97
2nd 1.94
3rd 1.35
4th 1.00
5th 0.84
6th 0.62
Rev 3.28

1st 3.36
2nd 2.07
3rd 1.35
4th 1.00
5th 0.84
6th 0.62
Rev 3.28

 

tony it doesnt bog at all my tires grip fine if i dont dump at to high of a rpm they spin like a LT1 or sl1 car does with any tire. There is no torque loss with stealth i got stealth before any other mods. I ran 15.3 at 93mph stock here in the mountains. i ran 15.3 at 93 mph with stealth. Stealth helped a lot when i added headers which allowed it to flow i ran 14.5 at 95.5mph. Lt1s here run 14.5 stock becuase of the altitude. My auto gave out so i swapped for T-56 got rid of a/c and smog. added ram air, new tb, and custom exhuast. when i ran at the track this year i was out of tune needed spark plugs and ran with a very bad air leak in the boot. I still gained 2mph with all the bad. My tires needed rotating rears was half gone getting to the harder part of the tire. They are now rotated and will grip better next time. Stealth works a lot better than the tpi pulls like a mad horse down the track when you allow it to flow. I should hit 100mph next time i run since i tuned it up. Ill probably run about a 14.0 due to tire spin. Im going to slip the clutch instead of dump should get a better 60. I also got the same 60's 2.2's with the tpi and stealth with rest stock had a 2.77 rear gear at the time. I couldnt get better than a 2.3 60 with the tire spin last time. I could put 295's on and still spin them at the line just like the 255's. I dont heat my tires up before i run becuase there is no point on street tires. If i had slicks i would say i could get 13.6 here about a 13.0 sea level.