Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

Good to be driving the car again! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> Just took it out for the first test drive. It's all good! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

It wasn't that difficult. Just a lot of pieces. If you have the manual, it's cake. My only problems were:

*Shift rail bolts stuck in bellhousing. Had to weld a nut on one of them to get it out.
*Manual is pretty poor in describing how the shift rails fit together and work. My tranny literally 'fell apart' when I popped the bellhousing, so I never saw how the rails fit together. This took a while to figure out. But once I did, I understand how the T56 works now. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

And then there's the damn bird that's been living in my car at some point over the last two months. (mental note to self: next time you leave the car outside for two months with the shifter hole open, close the damn hole!).

Bird crap everywhere inside my car. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Sad]" src="gr_sad.gif" />

Ah well. Still good to be driving it.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> Will I have to? Mmmm, probably not. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

-Andrew

bigSS

Glad to here from someone who's rebuilt one! Have you rebuilt tranny's before? I've helped rebuild a T5 before, and i'm not sure how much more involved a T56 was. What parts did you need to replace?

Congrats, BTW. <img border="0" alt="[Burnout]" title="" src="graemlins/burnout.gif" />

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

Nope, never rebuilt one before. I've done a few torque converter installs, couple of shift kits, heads/cam swap, cam-only swap, but never a tranny rebuild.

I was very curious to see if I could do it. I figured I could. It's not rocket science. It's more like paint by numbers. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> I have the 94 Helm Manual (for my 94Z), and it has a T56 rebuild section. I followed the diagrams in it.

I fragged second gear doing a burnout at the dragstrip. I replaced second gear ($150), the 1-2 slider gear ($150), and the synchros in the rest of the gears ($230). I bought everything from D&D, spent about $600 total (parts and misc).

-Andrew

FastAl

Can you give me an idea of about how long it took you to rebuild it? I've been thinking about doing mine, but would like to get it done over a weekend!

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

The only 'special' tools required are a largish press and a bearing splitter. If you have access to these, then you're set. I own a press, but it's 440 miles away, so I had to go to a local shop and use theirs. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> And a good bearing separator (Snap On or OTC) is not cheap - $100-$130. The cheaper ones may break on you - not fun.

I think it could be done over a weekend. Start Friday night by yanking the tranny, and disassembling it on a large clean table (I put large sheets of packing paper down on the table).

Saturday can be spent examining parts, cleaning, and then splitting out the gears and doing the synchro swap. Clean the original gasket sealant off of the case with an SOS pad - worked great. Takes two of them. Start reassembly Saturday evening, finish Sunday morning, reinstall Sunday afternoon and enjoy. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Keep in mind that the two shift rail bolts must come out, but they are loctite red'd in there. I broke 3 T40 bits trying to get them out before the nut welding. That's time that may bite you if you're in a hurry.

If it goes smoothly, it could be done over the weekend. I probably spent 3 days total time working on it, but that was across 2 months.

-Andrew

Speedfreaks101

I am presently replacing the blocking rings in my T-56 and there is one more tool you need a two jaw puller that has jaws at least 13 inches long. I had to make mine, from Snap-On the tool is 293.00 and that just sucks.

Damian

iTrader: (89)

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And then there's the damn bird that's been living in my car at some point over the last two months. (mental note to self: next time you leave the car outside for two months with the shifter hole open, close the damn hole!).

Bird crap everywhere inside my car.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">ROTF.... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

Glad to hear it wasn't to bad for ya. I've been into a t-56 before, not to bad of a job.

Josh

Camaroholic

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, I didn't need any 2-jaw pullers. The manual shows one, but my gears weren't stuck on the mainshaft in that area. They all slid right off.

And they slid right on too.

As for the bird... At least it wasn't a cat. I know someone who had a kitty living in his "Catmaro" for a while during a long wait for a motor. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

(The bird doo cleaned up just fine - drove the car to work yesterday - tranny worked perfectly! I forgot how much fun this car is <img border="0" alt="[devil]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_devil.gif" /> ).

-Andrew