I have a 1987 BW T-5 tranny in my car right now, when I put it in about 2 and a half years ago, it had 341,100 miles on it, no misprint. If that alone is not impressive enough, I have driven the crap out of it (everything shy of speed shifting) and it has held together for me. The synchros are finally toast, so it will be replaced soon, but it has lived a heck of a life! Keep in mind that this is not a World Class. I am able to drive it now just fine, but now and then it grinds while shifting. I am using a Centerforce dual friction clutch and have a decent motor in front of it... I figured I would post this to let some doubting people out there know, these are not half bad, just don't dump the clutch at 3.5 billion rpm and don't shift without letting off the gas, they will live!

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1991 Camaro,polished TPI, 355ci. Sportsman 11 heads, LT-4 Hot cam,Pete Jackson gear drive, on,and on, and on... 13.6 @ 102.5 with a 2:73 open rear, no traction, no tuning, no practice. Car is pictured in Chevy High Performance magazine, June 2000 issue.
http://www.geocities.com/jasonsz28us/INDEX.htm


1997 GMC Yukon, 4 wheel drive, leather, loaded, Gibson exhaust, K&N intake, Boston pro series speakers..... That's it so far.

1971 GMC Jimmy, green, 4 wheel drive, project vehicle..

 

hey,

Finally a level-headed person who KNOWS how to drive a standard gearbox!

I've been trying and trying to tell people that these gearboxes will live if you know how to drive fast (not hard)

thanks for the info

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Clem


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1983 Z28 with LG4, 5 speed, and (unfortunately) T-tops
1983 Z28, NO T-tops, (unfortunately) Auto Transmission---FOR SALE---
Looking for a V8, preferably 4 or 5 speed Camaro with NO T-tops (wanna trade?)

 

This is what I have said as well. I went to the t-5 because the 700r-4s just won't old up but, the t-5 is still going and the 350 it is behind is far from weak.

and yes you could build the 700r-4 to take the power but, why the t-5 was cheeper and holds up better.

 

i fully agree. my BW t-5 has nearly 200,000 miles on it, about 20,000 of which have been behind a 300 hp 350. its never been rebuilt and it's never skipped a beat. I too drive the hell out of it every chance i get. the only thing I don't do is power shift. I've been told by quite a few people that the biggest thing that kills these trannies is wheel hop, which my car seems not to have...

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My 1986 Z28 and more!!
85 IROC w/ 1364 miles!

R.I.P Dale Earnhardt

 

The t-5's biggest problem is that aluminum shift fork. If you screw up a shift, then you are almost always going to have a problem. If you are good with shifting, everything should be fine. I have seen some pretty fast 3rd gens with stock t-5's living behind them.

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1992 Pontiac Firebird 350/Six Speed
1987 Toyota Pickup 383/500+ HP