I'll more or less copy whjat Ive emailed Liberty, as these seem to be the main ones offering this.

But would like opinions/experiance from those who have done this.

I have an F Body T56 that is in need of a rebuild. Currently has 30T Viper mainshaft.

As it needs various blocker parts, syncro sliders etc...I’m wondering if this faceplate work for 1-4 might be worth investigating as a cost effective upgrade.

Main queries...

For normal driving, what is shift quality expected to be like ? Would it be as crude as a typical dog engagement box ?

You modify stock gears ? How robust is this process ? 1000hp twin turbo 3700lb car. It rarely sees a proper drag strip these days though.

For shifting. I assume you still expect clutch usage ? or could a power reduction/engine cut be implemented during a shift as per a sequential style setup with drive still engaged ?

ie not a flat shift with power still applied and drive engaged.

This faceplating process is intended to make shifting more reliable, especially at higher rpm’s ?

What cost is involved, what timescale, and what would be required from me if I did go ahead ?

 

I did mine a little over a year ago. I'll take a stab at your questions.

Shifting is crude, as you'd expect with no syncros. Once you get seat time with it, you can upshift and down shift (with proper rev matching) with virtually no noise. Stop paying attention briefly and you'll quickly be reminded of what you're driving.

Liberty is the only outfit I'm aware of that offers faceplating. They make their own custom sliders, cut the engagement teeth off the stock gears and laser weld the faceplates to the gears, then machine the stock cluster gear for clearance.

Using the clutch, or a torque cut of some sort, is required during WOT shifts. So long as you're interrupting power to the input shaft one way or another. Per liberty, this is because of the fact the faceplates are welded on to the stock gears and not built into the gear, therefore not as strong as aftermarket gear sets that allow clutchless shifts.

The engagement window for the faceplates/sliders is very wide, so it's virtually impossible to miss a gear even at high rpm. I shift mine at 7400rpm and it basically flies into the next gear.

Liberty does awesome work, but they've been known to be not exactly speedy at turnaround times. You can either have them build your entire trans, or you can send off your 1-4 gears and cluster to be modified and build the trans yourself when they get the parts back to you. Cost is roughly $800 for the latter. I was quoted 4-8 weeks to have my gears modified, but ended up finding a new set of modified gears for sale on here, so I didn't have to wait. The gentleman I bought the gear set from waited over 3 months.

Hope that answers some of your questions. If you search youtube for faceplated t56, there's a few good ones on how they drive.....couple of them are my heap.

 

That covers most things, thanks.

A further query.

Obviously changing up gears is a vital part of accelerating. But for a multi-use car...when racing places other than a straight line, where you might go 4, 3, 2, 1, or basically down gears in a hurry, be it 1 gear or more.

I assume the trans is reasonably happy at this ? or could that area be a struggle ?

Maybe thinking that just faceplating 2, 3 and 4 might be most sensible, if they're able to do that on a single half of the syncro ring for first ?

Even proper dog engagement boxes or sequential require a power cut of some description during a shift. I'd most likely use the clutch anyway, just curious though if a clutchless shift would be possible via a power cut instead.

I'm not in a big rush, but dont want the box sitting in bits for months either

 

You can downshift quickly but you can't skip gears on the way down.

Nobody makes a t56 slider that will allow you to keep first gear synchronized with a faceplated second gear....at least that I'm aware of.

 

I see from some searching that they remove the springs/keys from the sliders.

If that's the case, then it would be very difficult to operate a syncro on the other side.

Would have made for a nicer road box though if it was possible.

Will wait and see what some vendors and Liberty come back with as far as pricing and timescales.

I need some other parts too...not sure how available those are. Again some vendors seem to list some basic parts on back order, with no est delivery date.

Although even decent used parts would do really.

 

From what ive read that besides the characteristics of a faceplated tranny being tougher to drive, they dont last long in a street/strip car and expect to rebuild it every 2-4 years depending on mileage I drive a semi for work and can put up with a lot in my car(no front sway, ac, drag shocks, body torque arm) but my wallet can't put up with that.

 

I've had my fp'd t56 for about 7yrs......of dd'ing mostly. I've only ever broke one face plate on 3rd gear and that was my fault. Here's a couple vids on how they drive.


Some down shifting backround stuff


Town driving

Upshifting at wot w/o the clutch

 

Just to clarify for op

You can downshift multiple gears. Youjust have to row back threw the box as you rev match.

 

Hiosilver, dang it, now you got me second guessing again! How did you brake the one if I may ask?

 

I was out pulling hole shoots and running through the gears. A friend called and I was talking to him with my head kinked on the phone while I was doin it.....lol.....caused me to miss time my 3rd gear shift. It knocked one of the dogs off 3rd gear. If I woulda been using the clutch it woulda probably been fine. I still ran it like that at the track the next weekend. I just noticed it wasn't shift as it should.

I probably have over 40k on that trans beating the snot out of it. It needs fixed again but not the faceplateing. 6th gear/reverse sycro needs fixed now and it's got that dreaded 5/6th vibration. .....but the faceplates are good.

 

Oh man.....now im super tempted! I dont care about some difficulty I just didn't want a constant expense