Hot Rods CHEVY 5 SPEED

Is a 5 speed trans out of an 85 Firebird worth using ? Will it hold up in a hotrod???

 

I have a world class T-5 out of a 1988 Trans Am in my '32.
The engine is a dual quad 392 Hemi and so far so good.
I don't do 5 grand "hole shots" or bang gears, but it seems to work fine in my application.
KK

 

Yes. Probably.

Ned more info.

 

5th gear syncro is a weak link...should be a WC T-5...IF the bird was a V-8 car...some 6 bangers back then supposedly came with left over standard tremec 5 speeds...there a major 5 speed trans thread here..been active for years

 

I'd use a World Class T5 out of a 91 or 92 Camaro.

Gary

 

I have one out of an '80s Camaro in my '37 for the last 15 -16 years. Small Block dual quads and the usual stuff. Holds up fine.....so far. I bang the gears a bit, but I don't think I'd would trust it with slicks.

 

None that I have ever seen.

 

I just had a 85 T5 rebuilt, going behind a 327. The guy beefed it up, said it should handle the small block fine as long as I'm not racing it.

 

I have 6 of them in service right now in my cars. I have run low 12s at the drags with small slicks in a light car. Some of mine are "world Class' and some aren't. However they should be the '"V8" style for strength and better gear ratios. I've been running them for about 20 years with out a problem. Although I have seen some people do it, I don't power shift them. There are thousands of 5.o Mustangs out there drag racing with them and running in the 11's. But...then again, some people can break an anvil with a feather.

 

You want the V8 box. The 6 cyl and others have too low of 1st gear.

 

I used one in a 32 roadster pu I built, the current owner bought and finished it and has put around 40,000 hard road miles on it with no problems.

 

To the OP: you need to provide more detail about your transmission.

GM did not install World Class T5s in V8 F-Bodies until 1988. From then on they were WC in all V8 cars. Not sure about V6 cars or S10s. You can tell if your box is WC or NWC by looking at the bearing race below the input shaft at the front of the gear case. The WC type has a distinct raised ridge around the edge whereas the NWC is flat. See pics below.





You can determine if the trans came in a V6 or V8 car from the number of splines on the input shaft. V8 cars have 26 splines and V6 cars have 14. The V8 gear cases had better, more performance oriented first through fourth gears with a better overdrive of .63. The V6 gear cases had a lower first gear and a .73 or .74 overdrive.

Also, GM ran mechanical speedo gears in F-Bodies up to and including 1988. In 89 they changed to electronic speedos. That makes the 1988 V8 F-Body trans the one to have – it's WC with a mechanical speedo.

Most folks installing a T5 in a hot rod will also opt to swap the tail housing from the F-Body with an S10 tail housing to move the shifter to a more desirable forward position.

With all that said, I have a 1987 GM V8 NWC T5 behind a 354 Chrysler hemi and haven't had any problems. And I've driven it pretty hard. See video below.

 

I fall into that category.

 

Well...i heard they were different...never bothered checking...i was told originally that mine came from a 1983 camaro...but when i took it to trans guy this summer, turned out to be a 1988..i also changed over the tail shaft to the s-10 to get the shifter out from behind my seat...slight issue with relocating the Speedo drive grear...but there's a good read on that issue here too...i just dummy plugged mine for now....

Running it behind a 1956 dodge 325 hemi...did a couple of dry hops with a pair of MT 10W slicks...also did 3 with a pair of Radir 12.00 -15. Cheater slicks...but i also have a very light hotrod....

 

This will be a tough one to ID. Its in the Firebird now with a 350 Chevy in front of it.......

 

I'm running a rebuilt 1982 Z-28 T5 in my Chevy. It's a six cylinder motor but a big block six with over 300lbs of torque. 15 years and still going strong. It's not a "Racing" type tranny but it will get you down the road and with the .072 OD, it's not too bad on gas.

 

In 1985 F-Bodies were not equipped with 350 CID engines, only 305s, so that would suggest the motor is a 305 or it's been swapped at some point. If the motor isn't original, it's fair to assume the transmission may also not be original.

So since the trans is still in the car, if you can find an ID tag or sticker like the ones below, you can still ID the origin of the transmission by simply plugging the number series beginning with 1-352 into Google. That's of course assuming that the transmission is unmodified and as it came from the factory.

The short answer to your original question is yes, the trans is worth using as long as it's mechanically sound regardless of knowing exactly what it is. If it's free, it doesn't really matter. However, if you're buying it, you need to know exactly what it is to know what to pay for it. $400 for a good working V8 WC T5, would be a good buy. But in contrast, I just bought a NWC V6 S10 T5 for $50.