My son just bought his first CAM, fac. V6 car swapped out to a carbbed 350, it has a 5spd. bought it knowing 5th gear was gone, heard that several things had to be done to mate the fac. trans. to the 350, no grinding through the gears at all, shifts as fast as you want to with no problems, when you shift into 5th its like hitting neutral, although there is a good bit of whining coming from the bell house area. a couple of questions- would it be worth it to have this fixed and rebuilt, as I have heard that these trans. will not hold up to alot of torque, not sure if its the WC or NON WC yet. next Q- will a 4spd. muncie be a better option and will it fit with little to no fab. work, thanks for any help

 

Not really. The gear ratios in a 6-cyl T-5 are MUCH wider than a V8 one. 1st is WAY low, and with an engine that revs halfway quick (unlike a 6-cyl) it winds up too fast, then the RPM drop to 2nd is too great. Very un-fun to drive. Plus, since the drive portion of the main gear in it (the clutch gear) is smaller, it's weaker. And, the splines on the clutch gear are different from a V8, meaning you have to mix & match clutch parts to get it to work. So, even though the repair to 5th is probably almost trivial, it's not a good option for your situation.

No, because no.

Best manual trans option would be a T-56 (6-spd) out of a 94-97 V8 Camaro or Firebird, and an aftermarket crossmember.

 

I second the recommendation for a t56 it's honestly the best bet. The v6 trans won't hold up as well as a v8 t5 but the t5 in general is a fairly weak trans. The t56 is much more stout and I promise your son will appreciate the 6th gear. The cost of the conversion will be about the same as getting a t5 for the v8 and getting it all setup. When my t5 went I found a t56 with bell housing, shifter, clutch fork, and all sensors for $900 supposedly freshly rebuilt. The rest of the conversion was maybe $1,000 - $1,200 with clutch, flywheel, converting the hydraulics, crossmember, and the dakota digital sgi-5 for calibrating my speedo.