I finally made the switch. T-56 no more. Hello 4 spd!!

After the uphill battle with the t-56 I am officially retired from the 6pd. I ran a best of 9.94@138 with a best of 1.30 60ft. That was with a 364 LS1 off set stroker and a 200shot. When I switch to the 403 and a 200 shot I was breaking all the time.

After a lot of research I decided on a 4 speed. Talked to Bubba at G Force Transmissions in PA and he recommended there G101A with their V Gate shifter. Price to my door was around $3000.00
It’s a Muncie/T10 style trans with a straight cut gear set. After the clutch it’s just forward and back on the shifter.
And for a clutch I called McLeod. Billy and Lee educated us in their Soft Lok slipper clutch and there throw out bearing.
Then there was the Quick Time SFI Bell Housing. A LS1 to Muncie style with their SFI approved window.

Now for some pictures.
Check out the shifter.

It’s a T-52!

McLeod Throw Out Bearing

New alum driveshaft compared to my old t-56 chrome moly one. Saved 5lbs.

McLeod Soft Lock Clutch

Quick Time Bell Housing

Throw Out Mocked up on the trans.

Moser M9 Trans brace with new trans bracket made.

Get out your plasma cutter. Your gonna have to make some room on for the linkage and the shifter.

Shifter is 6-7” over from a stock T-56 shifter

Picture from underneath. It’s tight next to the fuel lines but isn’t that bad.

Custom made shifter box with shifter boot 

Have to get a new carpet to fit the shifter the right way.

Had to move the seat over to fit the shifter, but I not that bad at all.


Gear Ratios
1st-3.022
2nd-1.093
3rd-1.33
4th-1.00
Rear End Ratio-3.70

Overall the install was not that bad. A lot of measuring and adjusting was done. The trans and shifter came in out of the car many times. Hardest thing was adjusting the throw out bearing and getting that right.

Parts Needed:
G Force G101A with V Gate Shifter
Mcleod Soft Lock 4914-00-07 (LS1 clutch with 18 spline clutch)
Mcleod Throw Out Bearing 1400-20
Quick Time Bell Housing RM-6036
Custom Driveshaft with TH400 Yoke
Custom Trans Brace
Custom Shifter Box and interior work

Time and patience. And of course not have a problem cutting your car up a little bit

And yes it’s a loud and I love it. 
So a little history on the car:
I had a 364 LS1 offset stroker with a 200 shot and ran a best of 9.94@138 and best 1.30 60ft. I put a new motor at the end of the summer 09. A LS2 403 keeping the same 200 shot. Broke parts left and right. I did run it NA and ran a best of 10.66@128. Then sprayed and got a couple of 10.0X @142. Bad 60fts and sloppy passes.
Info on the Car it self
99 Camaro SS
LS2 403
12.8:1 on 116 Race gas set up for nitrous
251/259 .624/.624 112LSa+2 Adv hydraulic cam.
All the suspension goodies 10 point cage etc.

So I went out for some license pass on Wednesday. Told the track I was going to do my 2 runs first NA just to break in the clutch.
Run felt ok, nothing special. Fun banging the gears and not missing any of them 
Come down the return road and the track manager wasn’t happy with me and I didn’t know why. He didn’t like me running 9.93!
Ya that’s right 9.93@137 1.45 60ft without nitrous.

I was in shock. Best prior NA was 10.66. Make another break in clutch run of 9.91@137.9 1.41 60ft. Car is bogging a little after the nose goes up.

So I start my lic runs and waste 4 passes. Couldn’t finished my runs and the tracks traction was gone. Have to finish up my lic passes on Saturday. Going to do them NA and they on a rental day hit it with the spray. Adjusting the clutch has a learning curve and wants to get this done right.

Hope this helps anyone that is interested in doing this swap.

Going to make some in car video this saturday.

 

Cool swap. I've considered my options on which way I wanted to go with the car once I outgrow the T56. This might be a good choice for me as I want to stay with a manual trans no matter how fast the car eventually gets.

Good write-up and thanks for the info. I'll be bookmarking this post.

Mike

 

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What mods. were done to the T-56 to hold up that long? Also what clutch were you using? Thanks

 

That is a HUGE gain - very nice. I can't wait to see what you run with the 200 shot. Where do you think the gains in your trap speed where picked up? Quicker shifts, more efficient trans, DA, etc?

 

Congrats on the swap.
How is the clutch adjusting going?
Keep us posted.

 

What clutch were you running before and how much did it weigh with a flywheel?
Do you know the weight of the Mcleod slipper and flywheel?
Do you thing the big improvement is do to the clutch weight, trans or the shifting?
Awesome gains!
Thanks man.

 

i just read this same post on the bullet talk about deja vu.-tony-

 

so the proper T56 cant handle the abuse? hmmmm

what clutch where you using with your T56? I got a soft loc and a Tick faceplated T56 going in my car soon. just wondering what problems you where having...

 

Went to the track on saturday. Chasing a misfire somewhere. No good times. Also tried to use the in car camera. Had it mounted to the rear window, but its lexan and shakes to much. Have to mount it some where else when i go back to the track.

Our old T-56 set up was:
Fidanza Alum Flywheel
Spec 3+ then a stage 5
Six Speed Inc Built Trans

It was a great set up but when i dropped the 403 in and changed the gears to 3.70 from 4.11s it just didnt work out well.

Some of my gains is from a weight loss. I did loose 200 lbs from last season. I went with speed glass and pulled my wipers and cut the cowl out. That is about a 60lb loss. The G101A is way lighter than the t-56 and i lost the center console and other stuff as well.

Will be giving updates when something changes.

 

That's a cool swap, I've kind of been waiting to see someone do that. Next up is a liberty type tranny.. I wanted to do it but there's too many places that it's not allowed, so a glide was the choice I made.

Nice job though, it came out clean, ya still get to shift, and once you get the clutch slip figured out (how much to have it slip) for n/a and nitrous, you'll be able to set the car to run the best both ways, no having to live with a converter working for one and not the other.

 

sounds like a fun set up Barry!

 

Nasty set up!! Very cool!

 

Very nice you'll love that deal. Looks pretty similar to my setup ,but I went with a manual clutch linkage. I was worried the hydraulic setup wouldn't work well. Looks great! Alot better than an H pattern huh.

 

So far the hydraulics are working fine. Yes alot better than an H pattern