ok guys, i have a 83 camaro, it had a 4 banger in it, i switched it for a built 305, the stock 4 speed stick tranny is now only shifting into 1st and 2nd gear, it wont go over into 3rd and 4th, it did when i put it into the air to switch it for the 305, so maybe the car has to start to get it to all work?, and if it does work how long will it hold up, its about 230 more horse power then what was on it before, and if i need a new tranny what should i get?

I didn't think the 4 cyl tranny would work at all. What bellhousing and clutch did you use? What's the input shaft on that tranny like, how many splines?
Also, what tranny is it anyway? There were 2 4 speed manuals offered in that age range, i'm not sure what they gave you with a 4 banger though.

Are you looking to get another manual tranny, or swap to auto?

i used a bell housing from a truck, 70 something, fly wheel came from it too, i had it resurfaced, it is very big, and heavy, spline is a bigger one, car is at shop so i cant figur it out right now, but i know that it had bigger teeth on it so it was a lower count one, i would love to stay manual, but if auto is cheaper i have to go that way, money is tight when ur a 16 year old farmer boy, do u know where i can get a tranny for it, hopefully this helps, thanks you so much for ur help

oh man you are not going to like my answers at all here...

Have you driven the car with that 4cyl tranny yet? Because I was under the understanding that it would not mate up to a V8 at all.

Also, the truck bellhousing is a tight fit in the tranny tunnel of these cars, if it fits at all. You probably already know this by now.

So, any tranny you decide to put in there at this point has these issues:

-needs a way to mount your torque arm to the back of it. This means you need one from a V8 83-92 Camaro/Firebird, this is the T5. Or if you go to another tranny, ie from a truck, you'll need a different torque arm, such as the jegster unit. More $.

- Almost any other tranny, like the T5, will require you to shorten your driveshaft, or get a different driveshaft. More $.

- If you go to a tranny like a T5, you would have to use the T5 bellhousing, since that T5 needs to be turned 18* so the shifter will line up and go up into your shifter console. The T5 bellhousing is right for this, however it also means it's the smaller bellhousing, which means you need to use the smaller flywheel, which means you need offset bolt pattern starter, (and the smaller clutch) which means you probably need to drill that bolt pattern into your block. Wayyy more money and hassle.

- There are probably more hassles that I can't think of right now, but you are in a world of hurt right now. The easiest thing I can think of, would be to grab a TH350 from pretty much any vehicle, find one in good shape, and bolt that up. Grab some auto tranny pedals, and set it all up in there. That way you can most likely keep the driveshaft (might need to grab the yoke from whatever driveshaft was in the vehicle that had the TH350, so the output splines are right), torque arm is... Easier. I'm not sure if you can simply swap tailshafts, with one that has a torque arm mount.

Sorry to say, there are lots of options and paths for you to take now, unfortunately none are easy or cheap

[QUOTE=Sonix;3341394]Also, what tranny is it anyway?[QUOTE]


Probably a Saginaw, like what was in mine before I extricated it. I have read that the Saginaw is not strong enough for a v8, but don't know for sure. I'd suggest a T-5 to keep the manual theme going. You don't want to have to pull the tranny too many times if you don't have to. Runs into money and can be a royal PITA when it's your only mode of transportation.

Sonix is probably right about using a TH350. That's what I'm doing, but I haven't got to the point of checking the driveshaft for proper length. I do know that the splines from the manual driveshaft slides right in to the TH350 tailshaft.

yeah, so i have yet to drive the car, and tight fit is an under statement, i had to pound fire wall back to fit my shorty header and clutch hook up in, on the side of the tranny it say z-bag transmisions, is that what it is? the tranny had the regular 4 bolt hook up for the bell housung that is found in most 72-89 chevy trucks, so maybe it might work? its a big iffy, but fingurs a crossed, so does any one know where to get a tranny cheap, used is allright, also if for some reason it all comes together, why is the tranny not shifting like i stated above
u guy r great help thanks

The shifting problem might be the throw-out bearing. It could be improperly installed. Sofakingdom has a good illustration of how it should be installed on the tranny forum I believe.

If you want to get a used tranny, start combing the junkyards, I'm sure you can find one pretty quick especially if you go for the th350 swap suggested by Sonix.

thanks very much, ill look into it, sometimes i think i should have kept the 4 bager, no problems, save mee about 4 grand so far, and gas prices it would be alot better

That post with the throwout bearing pictures is titled "t5 problems!?" on this same forum about 3-4 posts below this one.

You should have the old saginaw 4 speed in your car. In 82, 83, and 84 if you had a 4 speed, not a 5 speed, you got a "straight up" bellhousing just like the 70s and manual linkage on the side of the tranny.

Two things bind up your tranny from moving left and right and those are shifter position where it is bolted on and adjustments of the shift rods. One of these two adjustments is WAY OFF. If you have a weird 4 speed that is rail shifted then you may have a throw out bearing alignment issue.

Regardless of the cause, you can find it fairly easily. When you have a problem you always go back to where you didn't have a problem and then work your way forward to where you are now. Your tranny worked fine before and then you took it out of the car. When you put it back in (regardless of what engine is in front of it) you had already taken apart your shifter and lost all of your original adjustments, right?

Take apart your shifter and start over. If you have a saginaw with external shift rods then you need to disconnect everything and move one rod at a time to make sure that you have full travel between the gears. You will have three rods, one for the 1-2 rods, one for the 3-4 rods, and one for reverse. Once you verify that your transmission is okay on the inside then you set the shifter again.

You do it again and again until you get it right; it's that simple.

Keep diggin! you'll get there!

Moving this to the transmission forum.