how much power can a stock t56 take? i just want to know if its gonna handle wat i throw at it next year. wat needs to be done for it to take more?

 

What ya throwin at it? They will take quite abit.

 

buildin a forged 383 our goal is 450rwhp but the more the merrier and then a 200 shot ontop of that wen i hit the track.

 

If your throwing alot of off the line torque at it, I'd get a tunnel mounted torque arm. Seen a few guys snap the tail shaft off the trannies because of the torque arms.

 

plannin on a tunnel mount im lookin at the midwest fab 9" so thatll be there torgue arm if i use that

 

I hated my tunnel mount TA for a street car. I would suggest running a full length TA and relocate it off the trans.!!
Good question through. Im building my car now and would also like to know how much it will handel. Im looking at 400+rwhp.

 

We specializing in beefing up the T56 in both LS1 and LT1 applications. Check out our site for more details:

http://www.tickshift.com

We rate our Level 2 to 700ft/lbs of torque in all 94-02 F-Body T56 units. As you all know, the 1993 units are a weaker design and are the most prone to breakage.

 

I'm putting a Stock one behind my 402, I have a Tunnel Mounted T/A as well, I'm thinking about getting the full-length one mounted off of the Tailshaft if I can sell my Tunnel Brace mounted one..

 

I cant vouch for the torque arm or the mount. I can say that the stock T56 can withstand A LOT of abuse and should be able to take the 450whp + a 200 shot without a hickup.

The T56 in my 96 Cobra has been through hell! Fords from the factory only have a 10 spline input shaft, it is common for them to break. I upgraded to a 26spl input (GM's alrady have 26spl). The gears are strong as hell, it is rare to see a gear failure in a T56.

Most problems have to do with beating up the syncros and blocker rings on missed shifts. T56's built before 01 had an aluminum 3-4 shift fork that is best upgarded to a steel unit.

The 3-4 slider keys are another common failure. If you have ever had the trans get stuck in gera or not engage all the way in gear, most likeley the stamped steel keys are shot. Solid billet replacemet keys are available through most any vendor that deals with the T56.

The next item would be the plastic shift pads. Atlest replace the 1-2 and 3-4 pads with bronze pieces.

Those would be the simple items to beef up and make the stock T56 shift smoother and hold together.


For those that want piece of mind of a close to bullet proof trans, the T56 can be upgraded to Viper specs with a larger out put shaft and all the rest of the goodies that come along.

Here is what my T56 has done in the 96 Cobra. Keep in mind my car is not light (almost 3600 with me in it) and makes about 700rwhp on the race tune. It's been in the 9's at 142mph ,1.43 60ft with a 6000 rpm launch and runs low, low tens consistantly with 1.5 ish 60fts.

All I have done is the mods lited:
Billet 3-4 slider keys
Bronze shift pads
26spl input (GM's have it already)
Steel 3-4 shift fork (stock T56's built around 01 and later)
Pro 5.0 shifter with stops adjusted correctly.

You shold be able to find anything needed to upgrade here:
http://ddperformance.com/T-56%20Parts.htm

With the right tools and patience, the T56 is a fairly easy transmission to upgrade.

Even without the upgrades, if you dont miss any shifts, it will take years of troble free abuse.

 

alright this sounds good to me because there was no money in my budget for a trans upgrade just clutch flywheel and a pro 5.0 shifter

 

Check out Call911 sig, his tranny is bone stock and he has put that thing through years of abuse with 650+rwhp with I beleive 90,000miles on it.

 

LOL! My poor poor clutch!! I wish I had money in the budget for that also while the car is at the shop!! Oh well a couple more weeks and Ill have it!

 

Long as your not powershifting it all the time, you should be good!

 

All I know how to do is powershift!LOL! Is there any another way???

 

are you sure you power shift?? dude im sure you use your clutch pedal right? power shifting is where you dont use your clutch, just shift it....you dont powershift your car everyday and everywhere i hope

 

If that were the case, there would be a lot of damaged transmissions when someone tried to "powershift" thier stock t56.

I beg to differ. Most consider powershifting this: Keeping the throttle to the floor while shifting (still using the clutch, just giving it a quick enough stab for it to go into gear).


Speedshifting would be very quick shifts while bereley lifting off of the gas.

What you are talking about would be more like Pro shifting, lol.
I am pretty sure the clutch is used even in a dog ring (pro shifted) trans, they just go into gear much easier at high RPMs.

 

well i just blew my t-56 about two weeks. and it was completely stock. i think i snapped the input shaft. ALOT of hard shifting and it just said to hell with you. lol. it was a pretty beat trans. from the guy i bought the car from seemed like he liked to miss gears and **** up shifting. i would definatly suggest beefing it up. its better to have a trans that can hold more instead of it breaking then you have to rebuild it.