Outlaw28

ive searched and read a lot on this subject but still have not found good answers cuz it always turns into a big argument

this is what i have and what im looking for and you guys tell me the benefits and disadvantages of each and let me decide which is better for my case...

i have a very mild 350 at the current moment plans to boost power in future...at the current moment my daily driver will be for about 3-6 months until i get my truck...then it be mostly a weekend cruiser and it might see a little track time both road course and the drag strip...at the moment im driving on highway a lot but once i go back home in washington i will rarely be on the highway for the speed limits on most of the roads never exceed 50...depending on cash flow in future i plan to bring horsepower prolly to 500...max prolly...no matter the case either the tko 600 or the t56 both will be an upgrade from my time bomb t5...and both will shift better then the t5 ...so either way im getting an upgrade...i dont really want used because that means i have to pay more to get it rebuilt and you never really know what you get when its used may sound good may look good but could be crap once you open it up...so im leaning towards brand new...i am limited on cash flow but i rather spend all my money on my car then anything else lol...lets just say for now max for this upgrade be 2500...now i do like my 5 speed but its not ganna last much longer...and i dont see a point in putting money into it...so give me your guys opinions...plz state your motor trans combo and hp/tq if possible...if you have not driven a camaro with a tko or a t56 in it plz dont bother posting...

now from what ive read since i have a t-5 i can get an adapter to attack to the t56 and use my current clutch,slave cylinder, and pedals...but will have to enlarge the tunnel for shifter what else will i have to do...any other modding to the car...also crossmember too....i also hear ppl saying it shifts sorta sloppy is this true???

now with the tko we know it can handle the power for my case same with the t56...i hear its somewhat notchy shifting until you break it in...notchier then the t-5?? do i have to shorten drive shaft? i know i have to put a new 31 yoke on shaft for it to fit anything else???

one last thing how clean does it look with stock manual center consol any pics of in the car and under plz post...opinions are welcome...

thx Joe

mcgarnicle

iTrader: (14)

Hello Joe, the t56 really isn't a good track transmission imo. If that is what you're planning to do with your car is mostly weekend cruising and track time then I would say the tko, also because of the power you'll be eventually putting down.

this is kind of a good pic of the interior back together. I don't have any underneath shots though


For t56 modifications, you'll have to come up with something for your speedo since your current setup is cable and the t56 is electric, you can see in my picture I went with all aftermarket gauges since the cable converter box was $350. My t56 is not sloppy and has very clear shift points very easy to find where I was going with it. $2500 will be tough if you want a new t56 I think they're like 2000 by themselves new, and I don't know about the converter to use your t5 stuff no experience nor do I know anyone who has used it.

calebzman

iTrader: (3)

The benefit of the T56 is that you can get them used for fairly cheap. But, if you want to go new, buy the tko.

I think the T56 shifts better than the T5. The look of the consule depends more on the shifter than the tranny. If you go T56, I would use the LT1 bellhousing, clutch, hydraulics, etc instead of trying to keep the T5 components. You can always sell the T5 stuff to get some of your money back.

Like I said though, it sounds like the tko is the better choice for you.

bjankuski

I do not have any experience with the TKO but I have a T-56 set-up in my car and it works well. It shifts smooth and I can power shift it at the strip without any problems. It went in easy and made a bracket to get the stock T5 shifter to come through the floor in the stock location. The transmission was new and it was upgraded to viper shift forks, total cost was $1750.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

you will most likely spend the entire 2500 on the TKO swap, mainly because it would be all new, they dont pop up used that often. I like mine, it does have a very positive shift and i hear you cant powershift them , IDK, ive never tried.

I like the tko, and you can get a .85 or so overdrive which would work well in an road race car, or the 68 od which is great for the highway.

The only thing that i have noticed, and 1 other person i know of noticed the same thing, the trans is very tall, and with Spohns crossmember, or my UMI adapted one, the rear of the trans kinda points down a little. I feel in a perfect world i would modify the tunnel to let me raise it a little more, maybe 1/2" or so from where i have it now. this sloping doesnt hurt anything, its just an observation.

I would also vote that if the car is for autocross/road racing, the tko is the way to go.

I bought mine from Fortes, and it bolted up no problems, i didnt have to shorten the driveshaft, just change the trans yoke. The shifter does sit a little too far forward, so a straight stick wont work. fortes sell a offset shifter, which i have, that will put the shifter in the right spot front to back, then just use a straight or slightly left bent stick, as short as you can.


I dont know how much truth there is to this, but i seem to hear a lot that the t56 can be rather sloppy and it can be rather easy to miss a gear?

Tony89GTA

iTrader: (7)

Well think you have the right idea and not get used for one. My personal experience with the t-56 is it shifts kind of sloppy, I liked the t-5 much better but i drove my friends 93 bird and his shifted smoother then mine so could be a used tranny thing. Price on a new clutch for the t-56 is pretty expensive if you want a reliable one, my advice is to stay away from spec clutches. Personally I think the first gear ratio is shitty in the t-56 all though i think if you have a high reving engine not tpi then would probably be the better of the two trannys your looking at. One problem with my t-56 is the Spohn aftermarket crossmembers kind of sit low to the ground if that means anything to you like if your car is lowered. Not sure how much a TKO weighs but guessing its less then the t-56 if you want to factor that in the equation. Also as one person has said you might have to figure out something for your speedo if your running a mechanical one but not sure how the TKO deals with that same problem. And guess last thing with the t-56 your going to need some new rear gears if you dont have them already, 3.7-4.10 is a must otherwise your pretty much just going to be running with 5 gears. Use 3.7 for a TPI engine and 4.10 if you have something thats high reving.

Stevo

iTrader: (45)

You guys covered most everything.

Few things in my experience.

If you can find a good used T56(thats not broke) then go for it, but that is getting hard now a days as they rack up more and more miles. I picked up my T56 complete with a twin disc clutch off of Camaroz28.com for i think $1350. Payed another 400 or so in swap parts, i already had the elec speedo at the time so just needed a converter box.

3.23s are too low for 6 speeds, at least get a 3.42 so you can use 6th gear on the highway without bogging. 3.73 is about perfect but lots choose 4.10 which is still alright. As said 1st gear of the T56 sucks, doesn't throw you back nearly as hard as the 700R4/T5/TKOs steep first gear. 6 gears is awesome to have if you drive your car on the highway a lot.

Tremec TKOs, expensive new, hold more power, they are lighter, steeper first gear, no double overdrive though.

I picked up my TKO500 here off of the classifieds a few months back. They don't pop up very often and i jumped on it. At the time i had a T56 that needed a new reverse syncro and started shifting a little ruff. I was looking at $1000-1500 to rebuild it a little better then stock. Shifter was noisy as hell it may have been my B&M but i never thought of it as a smooth trans. so when the TKO came up for sale at $1200 i jumped on it.

I still needed a new trans x-member which i purchased with the torque arm setup from spohn. I also went to a complete autometer gauge setup inside the car so i bought a mechanical and ran a cable for it.

Stock driveshaft will work with the T56 and TKO. The TKO will require a 31 spine yoke.

Downsides of the TKO, my shifter is too far forward, 1/3/5 all hit my console a little bit, only annoying cause it squeaks but it still goes into gear fine and feels comfortable with your arm/hand. As said by 86TA, hes not the only one, with my spohn x-member the back of my trans definently sits downward, i thought it was my torque arm angle at first but its not.

I have put a whopping 8 miles on my TKO so far, ran into a few snags but i hope it will be moving tomorrow afternoon haven't got to work on the car since monday, these 14 hour days are killing me.

So for me, the car had to stay with a stick shift, automatics always have been boring for me. The tremec holds i think 525 ft lbs of torque and is lighter then the T56 so its a great choice for my weekend, track, fun car.

Outlaw28

great info guys...you all still make it tough to choose though...im not sure if i mentioned it but i am running 3.73's but i need to get posi...one tire fire sucks lol...i dont plan on using it at the track very often...ive had the car for about year and a half and yet have taken it to the track once...down here i been using it on highway a lot but when i move back to washington in august it will prolly rarely see highway speeds...i have a set of brand new gauges sitting around from when i had my malibu...they never got used so i could always put those in car if i drop in a t56...well anything else yall want to share feel free to post...thx for the tips,advice,and help

Joe