Hi.
I'm trying to find a suitable location for the emergency brake handle on my T56 manual trans. The car is a '34 Ford hotrod, but I post here on this board because you guys are more familiar with the T56. Hope it's ok.

The transmission is from a LT-1 Camaro. On top of it, in front of the stick there is what looks like some kind of block off plate (app 2x4") fastened with 4 bolts.



Probably a stupid question, but are there any nuts, washers or other stuff that will come loose and fall down into the transmission if I remove those four bolts?
Or are they just fastened in the transmission body and do nothing else than holding the plate in place?

And one more question while im here: I have mounted the T56 with the original flywheel bolts and pressure plate bolts. Is that good enough, or do you usually change to new bolts when the trans has been apart from the clutch?

 

You can remove the bolts on the plate. They just screw into the transmission housing. There are no nuts or washers on the back side, it just holds the plate on. I think you should be able to resuse the bolts as long as they appear to be in good shape. I think I used new bolts just because I had them but reused the bellhousing bolts.

 

I wouldnt recommend mounting ur ebrake there.

Anytime your engine vibrates (which is all the time), so will the tranny, and if you have an ebrake cable mounted to it, you'll probably smack the handle around in the interior, or cause that plate to loosen over time, prematurely.

I would recommend either mounting to the body, or the frame....

Just my 0.02, cuz i can imagine you trying to get under there every couple months to retighten the bolts.

 

Tank yopu for your inputs!

I will think about that.

But most hotrods do have their e-brake mounted on the transmission in some way.

What I might mount the e-brake on the side of the transmission. Not on top of it.
Make some kind of bracket, and in addition to the bolts on the top also find some mounting point on the side of the trans. Then the bolts on top don't have to take all the stress, and the e-brake handle will not move quite so much.
Problem is these cars are so narrow. There are no room between the front seats, for example.

 

If youre up for making a bracket, and insist on mounting to the tranny, start with the torque arm mounting location. Since you dont have a torque arm to worry about, that point should be perfect, but you might have a lil trouble getting around the shifter.

 

Good point. But where is the torque arm mounting location?

 

At the very back, pretty much under the shifter, you'll notice 3 lateral holes. (one of them may already have a bolt in it). These 3 holes mount the bracket for the torque arm. Heres a couple pix, of it bare, and the torque arm assembled.

 

Thanks!
This is very valuable information for me.