Cheap manual trans to use with LS1?

In reply to Greg Voth:

Custom T5 bellhousing? Uh, or grab a SBC bellhousing off of one of the millions of 305/T5 Camaros and Firebirds made...

I believe that causes some problems but have honestly not looked real hard into using a T-5 after reading time and time again it would require using a $600 bell housing.

Any sources or info on it being that simple?

Anybody have any impressions about shift quality ("feel" for lack of a better word?) and synchros on some of these options?

Not to tangent, as I don't think it's vital for the OP's question, but I'm favoriting this thread for later reference if/when I get to LSx something

ransom wrote: Anybody have any impressions about shift quality ("feel" for lack of a better word?) and synchros on some of these options? Not to tangent, as I don't think it's vital for the OP's question, but I'm favoriting this thread for later reference if/when I get to LSx something

Well I know an A833 and a Muncie shift like transmissions. Nothing notable one way or the other. Hurst shifters were available for either (and stock on the MY6). the Ford WC T5 shifts fine as well. I honestly didn't notice a huge difference between them and the old tech, but I am not that sensitive.

Swank Force One wrote: Yanno... If the Solstice trans bolts up.... then so should a Toyota R154 in theory. Sounds strange? Yeah, i know.

I think some of the supra guys have tried to figure out how to use the MA5 since R154s are getting hard to find and pricey. I"m sure one of the supra forums has some info. I recall scrounging them to try to learn more about LSX/MA5 compatibility.

DILYSI Dave wrote: This would be a road racer, not a drag car, so not drag launches, but 14 hours of 2-3-4 pulls followed by 4-3-2 braking zones. On the plus side, it's a light car on street tires, so there's only so much abuse the tires are actually capable of delivering. The chump rules base swaps on the value of items from car-part.com. LS engines are cheap. Unfortunately, modern transmissions are a lot by that measure. Thus the motivation.

In the Detroit area, used colorado transmissions start as low as $200. The bellhousing I was looking into was one from these guys: http://www.advanceadapters.com/categories/adapter-kits/61/0/0/0/0/23/0/0/

From my emailings with them, it seemed possible to buy just the bellhousing for a reduced price. You also might be able to find one used.

In reply to tuna55:

I believe the MY6 shifter is not available new anymore so if one is acquired, it would hopefully come with the shifter. The nice thing is that Hurst does rebuild them if you want and they are supposed to come back in excellent shape should it need some work.

pres589 wrote: In reply to tuna55: I believe the MY6 shifter is not available new anymore so if one is acquired, it would hopefully come with the shifter. The nice thing is that Hurst does rebuild them if you want and they are supposed to come back in excellent shape should it need some work.

Give me six months. I have a Hurst on my MY6 which needs rebuilding. Once my restoration is nearing a close, I'll send it to them and report back.

Why put a 5 speed or 6 speed in a road race car when you will never use 5th or 6th gear, and you'll just be hauling the extra gears around as dead weight?

If it's a light car, I'd go for this---

http://www.smileysracing.com/shopping/productDetails.aspx?i=13986&c=1574

In reply to Greg Voth:

Well the T5 came stock behind literally thousands upon thousands of SBC's. Most of the guys using them on LS's are pulling a complete setup from a 305 f-body and then rebuilding the T5 with the stupid cheap Ford Racing stuff (sychros, gearsets) and/or using a Ford T5 (since it doesn't have a 3-link hookup) with the stock GM bellhousing and clutch components. The 1-bolt thing is really nothing, again there's drag racers in the single digits with that 1-bolt missing thing going on. The big issue is that the GM bellhousing clocks the T5 about 17 degrees. That makes it tough when you're swapping it into a 1G Camaro, but for a GRM oddball build and/or racecar, who cares?

Javelin wrote: In reply to Greg Voth: Custom T5 bellhousing? Uh, or grab a SBC bellhousing off of one of the millions of 305/T5 Camaros and Firebirds made...

Jav:

The LS motors use a 168 tooth flywheel . . . Not the 153 tooth on the SBC. It won't fit in the T-5 bellhousing, but if you can find an old school truck style (63-66 and late 70s-80s) bellhousing or buy the 621 aftermarket repro, you can make it work.

No help on the transmission front, but it surprises me that a car with an LS-version V8 swapped in would still qualify for crap can racing. If that's the case, it sounds like crap can racing isn't really crap can racing any longer. Some friends and I are thinking about making the jump to Lemons or Chump, but, hearing this may cause me to reconsider.

dyintorace wrote: No help on the transmission front, but it surprises me that a car with an LS-version V8 swapped in would still qualify for crap can racing. If that's the case, it sounds like crap can racing isn't really crap can racing any longer. Some friends and I are thinking about making the jump to Lemons or Chump, but, hearing this may cause me to reconsider.

It still has to survive the race. Many V8 powered cars don't and if they do, their fuel economy keeps them in the pits more often than the smaller, lighter cars.

Look at the past results and realize that ultimate speed isn't the key to winning or doing well.

At the end of the day, it isn't about winning so much as cheap track time in a wheel to wheel environment in cars you don't care very much about and hope against hope will survive the entire event so that everyone can get a chance to drive.

You'll be fine. Sack up and race. :)

dyintorace wrote: No help on the transmission front, but it surprises me that a car with an LS-version V8 swapped in would still qualify for crap can racing. If that's the case, it sounds like crap can racing isn't really crap can racing any longer. Some friends and I are thinking about making the jump to Lemons or Chump, but, hearing this may cause me to reconsider.

It would never fly in Lemons. But the more chump adds to their rulebook, the more loopholes they introduce. And well, we're racers. So while I think it's dumb that their rules allow it, I'm also not gonna be the one to not take advantage.

Oh woe is the Chump rulebook. It's something like 65 pages now. We're building a 302 RX7 because we can justify it as a reasonable LeMons car as well. I'd really like to build a Pinto Squire or 70s mini truck with a massive engine and cab setback, but Chump will give us grief about it. They didn't give us laps, but they did give us a hard time for not having an AIV for our 79 Fairmont wagon.

I just passed on a 6.0 LS powered Chevy truck for $600. I could have swapped it into the Rex under Chump rules, but it would be out of the spirit of LeMons.

Since I haven't contributed anything useful to the thread, I did find out that the early 6.0 had the correct crank spacing for the earlier trans, and I believe the bellhousing off of a similar truck was good for swapping. I'd run a T5 and learn how to mix and match internal trans parts to get it working.

dyintorace wrote: No help on the transmission front, but it surprises me that a car with an LS-version V8 swapped in would still qualify for crap can racing. If that's the case, it sounds like crap can racing isn't really crap can racing any longer. Some friends and I are thinking about making the jump to Lemons or Chump, but, hearing this may cause me to reconsider.

We just bought a complete 4.8 LS truck motor for $150 on Friday out of a rolled over truck. 180,000 miles. Motors don't come much cheaper than that.

We are currently running a 302 in our RX-7. Yes, the car is fast but we start ten laps down. We can't get a full 2 hours out of the stock 16 gallon tank before it starts to fuel starve. In the end we are out there for fun, not in the hunt to win. We haven't done an AIV for the car so we just take the laps they give us and try to keep the car on the track.

Greg Voth wrote: We are currently running a 302 in our RX-7. Yes, the car is fast but we start ten laps down. We can't get a full 2 hours out of the stock 16 gallon tank before it starts to fuel starve. In the end we are out there for fun, not in the hunt to win. We haven't done an AIV for the car so we just take the laps they give us and try to keep the car on the track.

Good point. My comment was more directed towards the slippery slope Chump finds itself on. If they keep it up, they'll have $10k cars competing in a $500 crapcan race.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

dyintorace wrote: No help on the transmission front, but it surprises me that a car with an LS-version V8 swapped in would still qualify for crap can racing. If that's the case, it sounds like crap can racing isn't really crap can racing any longer. Some friends and I are thinking about making the jump to Lemons or Chump, but, hearing this may cause me to reconsider.

It would never fly in Lemons. But the more chump adds to their rulebook, the more loopholes they introduce. And well, we're racers. So while I think it's dumb that their rules allow it, I'm also not gonna be the one to not take advantage.

That's the route I would take too, if I had the mechanical know-how to do the swap. It would be interesting to follow your build progress, if you find a transmission that works.

The last 2 5.3l LS motors I got were $$$ free.

I know of more than one $10k plus car in LeMons. I shudder to think of what some of the Chump cars cost.

Where are these cheap LS motors? TheCheapest I can find here is a 4.8 for $600

I've found a few for 200$ locally, they're out there just keep looking.

Ours was craigslist. Add said parting out a 2000 Chevy 1500. He was asking $200 but took $150. We did have to pull it but that allowed us to get everything down to the wiring and throttle cable.

Heh, probably the same one I was looking at!

what do you want- cheap or strong?

copy this guy's parts:

http://fargo.craigslist.org/pts/3615092271.html