I found a Borg warner 5 speed in my local scrap yard that is in good shape. There only asking $125, if I haul it out. It has all the parts except for the bell-housing. I'm happy with my TH350, But I'm a sucker for a V8 with a manual trans.
How well do you guys think it would hold up?

 

Is it behind a V8 car now? If so it will hold up to about 265 ft lbs. and probably around 275 hp for most driving. Start doing high rpm launches, and dropping the hammer, or thrashing on it, and it will go away fast. Rear traction will also affect how well it holds up. Get some sticky tires and it will give up quickly.
If it is a new enough car to be a world class T5, then it will hold up to 300 ft lbs. torque.
The T56 is a better choice, but the price tags are so much higher.
Here's a link to identifying which T5 you're looking at:
Identification Key to Borg-Warner T5 transmission ID Tags

 

It'll hold up ok as long as it isn't already on it's last leg, and you don't go beating the crap out of it (dumping the clutch, power shifting, etc.).
Here's a pretty good write up on the T5: Five-Speed Manuals- Car Craft Magazine

 

Thanks for the input guys. I took a second look at it and according to the tag, its from a ''GM 1994 Camaro/Firebird V6 WC''.
I guess I'll haft to keep looking.

 

If it's the WC T5, then there's no difference by that time between V8 and V6 that I've heard of. Any of the WC T5's are stronger than the previous low torque T5's. Sounds like about half price for a WC also. I'd just be sure to open the top inspection cover to take a look for any damaged gears or any glaring issues.

 

can someone explain what exactly "power shifting" means?? I have heard different definitions. I normally dont drive my z28 hard, but when I do i never really do burn outs where i drop the clutch, but Ill be in 2nd gear around a turn and floor it kicking the back end out, then shift hard through 4th around 4.5k rpms at shifts. is that really hard on my t56?

 

Power shifting is a combination of speed shifting while not letting off the gas.

 

Ok. ive never done that, that cant be good for it. haha

 

No, there are much gentler ways of shifting.
You gotta be good when power shifting, a blown shift could mean more than just a blown shift.

 

Form what I've heard, power shifting works best for the turbo guys. You don't haft to wait for the turbo to spool back up. or something along those lines. I'm going to just stick with the auto for now. I'm not making much power right now, so I would be better off working on that.