The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop 350 V8 and 5- or 6 speed manual tranny

I want to install a 350 V8 and a 5- or better yet a 6-speed manual tranny in my 55 Chevy pickup 1/2 ton NAPCO. It has a divorced transfer case, so I can shorten or lengthen the drive shaft. But I would prefer to find one that is similar in length as the original tranny. Any suggestions? What newer Chevy's use 350V8/5-6-speed manual transmissions? Maybe I can find one in a junk yard to rebuild. Thanks. Michael

Used a T5 camero tranny with good results, had to shorten drive shaft and get a new cluch disc with the proper number of splines. all in all a cheap solution.

Is that T5 tranny out of a V6 or V8 Camaro?

Any idea how long the T5 is? And doesn't Tremec make a heavy duty T5 and T6? This truck is a 4x4 but the transfer case is seperate (divorced) from the transmission. So as long and the T5 isnt too long, it might work.

SENT YOU A E MAIL, BUT DIDN'T SEND THE METHOD OF CONVERTING THE THING TO A SHORT THROW SHIFTER' YELL IF YOU NEED IT.

Corvette is the answer to the question, but I'm not sure the Corvette transmission would be a good choice for a four wheel drive pickup...

newer corvettes use a torque tube setup with the tranny mounted back by the rear end for better weight distrobution. i am not sure when that started though.

The Corvette torque tube started with the C5 cars - the C4s with a stick shift used a ZF 6-speed...expensive, and should be avoided. They never used the T5 - it has a weak point in it's third gear...fine if you're careful, but if you power-shift it into third behind anything bigger than a 305 you'll blow it to pieces.

For T-5 info, this is a good start: http://www.5speeds.com/t5/index.html

I'm putting a Camaro 5-speed behind the 350 in my truck (2WD, though). I bought it as a package deal from another rodder, so I got the clutch, bellhousing, all that with it.

The T-56 is the six speed most guys are using. They fetch high prices, as many of the late model F-body want to swap over from an automatic. Low mileage used ones seem to go for $1800-2000+, depending on how much other stuff comes with it. My T-5 was $400 with everything.

I had a T5 made that has the camaro gutz placed in an S10 housing. I didn't have to cut anything. It uses a corvette or camaro clutch w/ 26 splines. The camaro gutz are stronger than the S10 or V6 models.
do a search on the subject as we have talked a lot about this issue.

A very strong trany that will work well
is the NV4500 transmishen.
It comes in some 9Os and newer chevy pickups,(the pre 95 version has extra low first gear).

It is a 5 speed overdrive, and Advance Adapters sells all parts to put it in allmost anything.
Around here you can pick one up for about
$600-$800

The newer Chevy HD trucks use a ZF-S6-650 6 speed transmission, but I don't know if it will bolt to older engines. They are also very expensive.
Only other "truck" six speed I can think of is the NV5600 out of newer Dodges. Dunno how you'd bolt that to a SBC, though.

I don't think anyone makes an adapter for the NV5600. A Dodge NV4500 is easy to adapt to a Chevy engine (I'm going this route for various reasons).

jomichael - i am not familiar with the t-5 or the corvette trannies, but in a 4x4 truck i would want something beefier. i had a 92 chevy with the NV-4500 5 speed, and I loved the hell out of it. It has a compund low as well as a great OD gear. My truck cruised at 70 at just over 2000rpm, just purring along. This tranny was pretty widely used in chevy trucks, and you shouldn't have too much problem finding one if you choose to use it. I drove that truck for about 40,000 miles and never even had to look at it, and now my sister drives it, the truck has 170,000 miles on it a new motor but still the factory tranny. That thing is tough as nails and would be my recomendation.