Best trans for a manuel swap?

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7dswinger

7dswinger

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I've decided I'm going to with a manuel instead of rebuilding my 904 eventually. There's plenty of NV3500 5 speed's around me and T56's and stuff, no 833's though. The NV3500 is a truck trans though so I think the gearing wouldn't be good for a car. Any advice would be great on a route as I'm new on manuel stuff :newb: lol
 
If your looking for the ease of install, and the driveabillity of freeway driving, look into getting an a833od trans from a mid 70s Mopar.
 
Leave the 3500 for the truck folks. The t-56 will fit after you do some surgery on the floor. There is a thread on here somewhere about a fellow offering the necessary parts to put the car back together after you cut it apart to make it fit.....at least he was talking about it. Someone on here from Canada has/had a t-5. Depending on what you were going ot do with the car it may/may not work for you....Found the thread with the fellow selling the parts to put the car back together after chopping it up to get the t-56 in it...http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=183871
 
T56 is the best trans as far as I am concerned and can be gotten around a grand if you shop. Both 5th and 6th are over drive .74 for 5th and .50 for 6th. I have one in my truck and cruise 90mph in 6th at 2000 rpm. I will be putting one in my 64 Signet, They are practically bulletproof and can take much abuse and can take 450 lbs of torque for the late 90's T56 and that's just a start..

Gear Ratios : 2.66, 1.78, 1.30, 1.00, .74, .50
 
nv3500 would stink with 3.91 or 3.73 gears. Might work okay with a 3.23 or numerically lower gears. first gear is pretty low so even with 3.23 gears your coming out of the hole like 3.91 gears. but then the overall gear spread is wider. There is a wide ratio and a close ratio, you would want the close ratio. I think the nv3500 is good to around 300hp

most T56 trans have pretty good gear ratios. From what I have read some are good to 330 hp and some are good to 550 depending on what they came from. t56 is without a doubt the superior transmission but likely more money as well.
 
Cause I found this locally which made me start thinking about the swap.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/pts/3599406884.html
I'm not concerned about any surgery, I'm fairly competent with a welder. I know I'm going to need the bell housing from Quicktime for the swap and then I want to go with a hydraulic clutch set up as well.
So then scratch the NV3500 then.

If I stay with the hydraulic clutch set up, in the end which is going to cheaper, T5 swap or finding an 833 and the parts?
 
my friend has been running t5s behind a stock short block chevy 350 with simple bolt ons. Real piece of junk, broke one rite a way, found another but that one is getting worse. If you want a 5 speed spend the extra cash and get something decent.
 
Thought T5's where the same thing as a T56, doh!
So then I think it's down to sourcing an a833 then which may be hard in my area, hopefully some one here has one.
 
7dswinger said:
Thought T5's where the same thing as a T56, doh!
So then I think it's down to sourcing an a833 then which may be hard in my area, hopefully some one here has one.
Click to expand...

There a 833's around, just keep an eye out, ebay craigslist, or buy a complete rebuilt from BrewersPerformance.com .
 
I was looking at the brewersperformace and for the correct year for my car, that's basically the cost I want to be all in for the entire swap if I can or close to it lol it would be nice though to do that.
Any one ever made their own floor hump instead of finding one and installing it. Seems like it would be pretty easy to make one.
 
I don't think you would have a problem making something close. even if it's not 100% the same it gets covered with carpet anyhow. But if you can manage to find one for 50$ it might be easier to buy it. either way no big deal. Hell you could drive without it till you got one or made one as long as you have a good exhaust system with no leaks.

Also if you can fabricate a bit It might be cheaper to run a hydraulic clutch. There is no bolt on kit so you gotta make it happen on your own. but a cheap master, some brake line and a slave, you could probably do it for under 100 bucks. If you add up all the stuff you would need from brewers you probably around 200-300 bucks. just a thought.
 
7dswinger said:
I was looking at the brewersperformace and for the correct year for my car, that's basically the cost I want to be all in for the entire swap if I can or close to it lol it would be nice though to do that.
Any one ever made their own floor hump instead of finding one and installing it. Seems like it would be pretty easy to make one.
Click to expand...

I've done several swaps, and unless you find some screaming deals, it usually runs close to $1500 - 2000
 
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