"cheap" manual conversion, possible?

denpo

Carburated Nihilist
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Jul 14, 2010
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Montreal, QC
I'd love to make the auto to manual switch, my donor birdcage is a manual and I've been driving manuals most of my life.
Alas, tremec's TKOs are in the 3.5k ballpark, ouch.
If I do such move, I guess i'll have to look at muncie T20/21/22 or world class T5.
In term of band-for-buck and installation simplicity, what would you recommend for a 350hp 355ci?
 
Same prices and shit I faced 13 years ago....did the 700 then 200 auto, ditched the Muncie.....in Florida, overdrive is mandatory...in Maryland, not at all....

:hissyfit:
 
complete TKO conversions are $4500 - you pay for the convenience....

Now of course you can buy a tranny (Summit sells the TKO) and piece all the other parts together. Probably doable for $3000 but it will take a lot longer.....

If you ask me: worth every penny. I did the 383 stroker at the same time, wasn't necessary. The 5spd added more fun than the engine, would have been fine with the old 350.....

One mistake I made: I did not buy the bulletproof bellhousing :mad:
 
Richmond 5 speed is virtually a bolt in, you need to slightly modify the bolt in transmission mount, need a turbo 400 driveshaft yoke. very easy swap with great results. If you eventually go with a Richmond, be warned there is NO REVERSE LOCK OUT on the Hurst Shifter for this tranny, not sure about the one made by Long, I have a foolproof solution for the Hurst unit, I can send you info if you go this route.
 
Could probably do a T-5 for less than $1500. What ratio rear gears do you have?
 
Could probably do a T-5 for less than $1500. What ratio rear gears do you have?
Alas, I don't know. I guess I'll have to turn the diff by hand and count. Will do this ASAP.
Does a T-5 easy to install/adapt and would it withstand 350hp?
 
I've had a couple of cars with a WC T-5 and had no problems. They are cheap enough that you could buy 2 of them and swap in a day if you have any problems. I think there is someone that makes a "strengthened" version of the T-5 also.

The rear gears are important because (I think) the T-5 has a 3:23 first gear. For a street car, you want the first gear ratio multiplied by the rear ratio to equal ~ 10.
 
I've had a couple of cars with a WC T-5 and had no problems. They are cheap enough that you could buy 2 of them and swap in a day if you have any problems. I think there is someone that makes a "strengthened" version of the T-5 also.

The rear gears are important because (I think) the T-5 has a 3:23 first gear. For a street car, you want the first gear ratio multiplied by the rear ratio to equal ~ 10.

:yahoo: not that what you said in the second paragraph was funny, because it brought up a interesting question for my wife....Florida flatlands native....

Can you start out on a hill with a stickshift?? quick as a flash, she says, yes, put a brick under my rear tire....:hissyfit::hissyfit::yahoo:

but what brought that up was that my '72 came with a 336 rear and a wide ratio muncie....and so it's only 8.4 or so on the ratios there, not ten to one....when driving it with even the stock engine, the car had more than enough for normal street driving, so much so my favorite shift pattern was 2nd to 4th....damn seldom EVER used 3rd gear.....unless on a steep hill, then first to 4th, typically.....

She sez, it's like riding a bike, you never forget.....

:flash:
 
Can you start out on a hill with a stickshift??
I grew up in the Alps, and to get you driving licence mastering this maneuver was mandatory.
There was a road in the village that was steep as fuck, and that's where you was asked to exercise.
 
T5 + 82 700R4 driveshaft = bolt in deal

The strengthened versions are from G-force, they now have a new case too.
 
Richmond 5 speed is virtually a bolt in, you need to slightly modify the bolt in transmission mount, need a turbo 400 driveshaft yoke. very easy swap with great results. If you eventually go with a Richmond, be warned there is NO REVERSE LOCK OUT on the Hurst Shifter for this tranny, not sure about the one made by Long, I have a foolproof solution for the Hurst unit, I can send you info if you go this route.

I'm interested in your solution here. I've got a DN 5spd with the Hurst shifter. It's pretty easy to accidently bump into reverse on occasion.
 
NO not top secret, available to anyone who wants to contact me, AT NO CHARGE. Have to do it this way because I don't know how to put the pictures in here for all to see, also fairly long explanation on how it works and how to set it up.
Sorry!
 
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NO not top secret, available to anyone who wants to contact me, AT NO CHARGE. Have to do it this way because I don't know how to put the pictures in here for all to see, also fairly long explanation on how it works and how to set it up.
Sorry!
If you want, I can post them for you. Send me the pictures and explanation and I'll put up a thread for you.
Let me know, I'll PM my email address.
 
Ok guys, thanks for the inputs, I did a little research on T5
http://www.moderndriveline.com/Technical_Bits/t5_history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg-Warner_T-5_transmission
http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c3/ddecart/c3_corvette_t5_transmission_installation.pdf
I appears there is two kind T5 named "World Class"
a 1982-1992 and a 1993-2002 one, the later allegedly the better.
Also, there's been Ford and Chevy T5.
Surprisingly all reference I've find are about installing Ford's into Vette. Do you know if there's a reason why or it's just because they're easier to find.
 
I bought a used Doug Nash 5 speed and the other parts used to do the conversion. With the DN no need to change rear gears. Tossed the Hurst for a Long shifted and much better shifting
 
When I did my auto to manual conversion I bought almost everything I needed from a Corvette junkyard in Waco, Texas for $600. It included a pedal assembly, flywheel, clutch, shifter, Z-bar/linkage, and a BW Super T10. I ended up replacing the shifter with a Hurst and bought a new clutch and flywheel. I ended up spending less than $1000 to do the whole thing.
 
I was told the longer T5 cases that the slip-joke hits the tunnel, so you have to modify the tunnel a little bit. I that true?

Thanks, Günther
 
NO not top secret, available to anyone who wants to contact me, AT NO CHARGE. Have to do it this way because I don't know how to put the pictures in here for all to see, also fairly long explanation on how it works and how to set it up.
Sorry!
If you want, I can post them for you. Send me the pictures and explanation and I'll put up a thread for you.
Let me know, I'll PM my email address.
The instructions are posted here :
http://www.vettemod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6714
 
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