Where is the best place to look for a used T56 for an LS1 Camaro? I've tried every junkyard with 200 miles of my place and nobody has one. I can find used ones online for 3000$, but that would be insane to pay when a new Magnum is 3400$. Have the 4th gens basically ran out?

 

I bought one off LS1tech.com a few months ago for $2200 that came with all the hydraulics, shifter, and clutch. I ended up not using and sold it on FB marketplace in a matter of hours for what I paid. I plan on doing a Magnum when the time comes to actually swap my car.

 

Without doubt, as the 4th gens that came with the T-56 variants we can use for our cars become antiques and disappear into car crushers, they are getting scarcer.

Might not be a bad idea to watch for cars that are wrecked, rusted out, etc.; and just buy a whole one to sacrifice for the transmission. Throw the rest of it away, maybe sell whatever else can be salvaged.

 

I've been calling around, haven't found any under 2600. That's way too much, I'll probably just buy a new magnum, it will be cheaper than an old trans with the added cost of the rebuild kit.

 

I see on fb marketplace quite often by me I bought an lt1 style one that I will use behind my 305 while I'm building my 5.3 hybrid then build my hybrid t56 and put it altogether lol I bought mine for 800 with a clutch I cant use and hydraulic I wont, no pedals though.

 

I found an LT1 T56 in florida, asking 1800

 

Way too much for the lt1 version especially because to convert will usually cost a few hundred more. Unless it was highly built with a clutch you could resell is the only way I'd paid that kind of price. Check the ls tech forums on like ls1tech, ls1gto, ls2gto etc. All the track guys switching to autos for times might have to be more competitive on pricing to get a sale plus those guys would have have more of them but downside they also know what they are.

 

That is the absolute cheapest T56 of any type I have found. Most are high 2000s to low 3000s.

 

Try the CoPart auctions and find a wrecked one if you need all the hard parts to get started...i/e pedals, clutch, flywheel, etc, etc. (assuming you need that stuff too)

You can't test drive them, but can't test drive one that's sitting on someones shop floor either.

 

I just need a transmission, the car was a manual already

 

If you want a used T56 (doesn't matter what it's out of they are all scarce) then it will require you to wait around for a few months while you watch multiple classifieds, checking them at least twice a day. You're correct in observing that a new T56 may be a better option because it won't have seen years of hard use of unknown mileage. It took me a several months of searching to find my LT1 T56 and that was back in 2016. Mine came via the same way members have already told you it will; from a fourthgen that was being parted out. You will never find a T56 in a wrecking yard so stop looking. The employees of the yards have first dibs on cars that come in and they will pull the good stuff and sell it personally or the business will sell it online.

 

I posted a classified locally for my 95 Z28 as a roller. I've gotten at least 10 x the number of requests for the T56 that was in it compared to the body itself. The classified add clearly states the car is a roller with no engine or tranny,.... yet almost all the incoming mail I get from that add is guys asking " Still got the T56 ?? How much ?? ". That Tranny is not for sale; I just wanted to describe the kind of interest that the public has for the T56. Have your $$ ready and waiting because when they come up for sale they usually sell pretty quick.

 

Especially when people are asking and others are paying nearly as much as a new magnum costs.

 

I scored big time on my T56. Snagged it for $300 out of a Cash for Clunkers car in a junk Yard back in 2010 or so.

$250 for the transmission, $50 for them to pull it, $150 for rebuild kit, $150 in labor to have a friend rebuild it. $100 for used dual friction clutch, $100 for hydraulics. And the trans already had the Hurst shifter on it too with the short stick.

$800 T56 swap. Best damned deal I ever got on anything.

 

But that was 10 years ago, now its 2500$ for a worn out t56. I found a guy trying to trade an LT1 t56. His offer was he would take an LS1 T56 + 1200$ for his LT1 T56. ????

 

Used T56 prices are getting to be pants on head retarded.

 

At that price range you might s well get the Gforce close ratio set, and have epic T56.

 

A new Magnum Close ratio is a drop in for an F-body, buy it and go

 

These people selling used ones for 2700 to 3000 are looking shocked when I tell them I won't pay anything near that. So I'm going to pay new price for used? How about no.

 

It is if you get one with the fbody tailhousing. If not, you'll need to get a new cross member and modify the floor tunnel.

 

I'm shocked you haven't found one, dirt cheap, in the 4 days you've apparently been looking. I spent over a year looking, with a $1500 budget, 15 years ago, and didn't find anything. Ended up selling the car with no second gear, and found a T56 for $600 a couple years later. Since then I've passed up several listed for under $1,000, but they don't pop up often or last long when they do. Gotta be patient, and willing to pay shipping, or be willing to drive a few hours. Might help to alter your expectations, lower your standards, and accept that anything you buy used is potentially nothing better than a core. Or stop crying about it and just buy new, since it was a fairly uncommon part even when they were relatively common, and here a decade later the secondhand market reflects that.

 

Im not looking for dirt cheap, just not the price of new.

 

Patience Grasshopper.

One must wait for cars to be wrecked or otherwise no longer need a transmission. Then one must have a stack of Benjamins.... it's AMAZING how a seller's "hard and final" price starts melting as someone starts peeling yuppie food stamps off of a nice thick roll.

There are 2 lessons here: wait and watch, and be irresistibly ready when one appears.

 

Personally I won't be buying another F-body T56 when mine breaks. Gotten too expensive. Shell out $2000 for an old, used trans and then dump another $2500 into a professional build... and it's still just a 450 lb-ft rated F-body T56 with dual synchro's. NO THANKS!

The Magnums and TR6060 are rated at 700 lb-ft stock and shift like butter even at high rpm. All told the cost of a good manual trans has gotten extraordinarily high. It's not a poor man's hobby any more and that's a damn shame in my mind.

 

me and a buddy went in on a 94 Z28 that was on copart. I got t56 clutch and shifter for $250 with them getting scarce I couldn't pass it up I should of gotten the pedal assy though

 

I went down this same road and ended up scoring a Z06 T56 for $400. DISCLAIMER: It HAS to be converted!!!!! BUT if you can source your parts used it can be done fairly cheaply. As long as all internals are good no extra cost will be necessary. But the main parts to swap it out are an LS1 midplate ($300), GTO mainshaft ($200), F body tail shaft ($200), shift rail and few odd ball internals (~$200). I have a complete list and a link to this conversion. I'm still sourcing parts for my conversion but a bunch of guys have already done this as an alternative. The trick is to go onto marketplace and beat the guys up on price with the ammo of how long the corvette T56's sit unsold on there. If you do it right you can come in around $1500 for a better T56 than an F body T56. Guys are also grabbing corvette T56's and putting in SSR mainshafts to get a monster 31 spline output shaft. It's also very smart to upgrade your keys with billet ones and your shift fork pads with bronze ones while you're in there. Lastly the corvette shares the same case as every other T56 out there so all parts bolt up directly.

Here's the link!
https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...to-a-Fbody-one

 

I bought a 2001 Corvette T56 about three weeks ago, I'm doing the conversion when I get the parts for it.

 

Nice! keep me updated on how it goes! I just need the midplate and then I can dig in.

 

I'll be doing a full thread with pictures when I finish, should help anyone else trying to do it.

 

Finding it is the easy part, I know right where it is. The hard part is getting the project car far enough along I can worry about installing the transmission.

 

I won't be working on anything for a while, hay season is starting up. I'll get the parts and convert the transmission after hay is done.

 

Nicholas, check these threads out if you haven't already.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...ap-thread.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/faq-...questions.html

 

I'm putting my T56 behind an LQ9 with a good cam in it.