Ya'll are gonna love me. I'm turning 22 this month, i have a 1974 type LT Camaro and am restoring it. I want advice.
Currently running a 350 block (unknown if modified, got the car from my dad who gave it to his cousin before his cousin died then got it back) with headers. Runnin TH400 automatic currently but wanting to go T56 6 speed manual. Currently has 2.73 rear end.
I'm working on full car, interior, body, engine, tranny, Leaving rear end alone for now. This project will be finished in a few years but just want to get it driveable. i give you my plans so that you can best give me advice on engine and torque specs.
First question, Interior, i'm wanting crushed velvet seats (or at least the look of crushed velvet). is this a good idea or no? any suggestions on fabrics? Color schemes (door panels, dash and such. car is going to be a sapphire blue Kandy coat over Silver metallic). any and all input here is appreciated. interior and engine are coming first. the rest as i get funding.
Second question, Engine. I'm planning on eventually going to a T56 6 speed and would like to keep my 2.73's if possible, what kind of torque and mods would i need? I was thinking converting it to a hi compression or 383 stroker but have not decided yet, shopping lists are appreciated. (college kids budget, not a millionaires dream) Oil pump is weak and rear main leaks so rebuild is necessary.
Third Question, Tranny. Suggestions as to where to go to get a good quality T56 for decent price (used is acceptable, i can rebuild it if necessary). If you have one you want to get rid of Great! 93-97 camaros have the T56 that'll fit in the 74 w/ slight mods and kits.
Finally, overall. All suggestions, ideas and such are more than welcome. i appreciate the variety of views that come from a forum like this. just remember i'm a poor college student so it'll take time. its torn apart right now and i'm tinkering as i feel like it. mostly waiting for funds. (tax season is gonna be great.)
Thanks for your time and assistance. i look forward to input on this.

 

Sounds nice but your sights are set pretty high for a college kid budget.
You could have a sweet running 350 4 speed set up for a hell of a lot less money.
Just my 2cts.

 

Yea they are set high, however i have 10 grand coming in may of '11 and i've got round 4k comin in at tax season, plus i can work for an uncle and make roughly 1k a week. i'm just lookin for suggestions from those who've been around and know where to look for deals.

 

Well look to spending a good chunk of that 4k alone on your transmission setup. A lot of those kits you see are 600 bucks and don't include a lot of things. You'll need a new flywheel and clutch kit. Just in that I spent 700 bucks and went with a setup that would work with any clutch setup you wanted to throw at it. If you get a used one you won't really know what you're getting unless you get to see it in a car before you buy it. A lot of people run their t56's pretty hard also so there's a chance you go through all the install only to have to pull it and have it rebuilt.

I think Keisler's transmission was around 2700 for in the quote I got from them and that was just the transmission. You'll have to get a new driveshaft or shorten and balance your old one. Cost me around 130 for that. My yoke was 80 dollars and the new joints were 60 since I went to a larger spicer joint setup. It easily eats up money with a lot of the small stuff. Buy a set of pedals (70+), adjustable hydraulic master (150 - 300), master mounting bracket (50 - 80), hydrualic slave and throwout bearing (90 for cheap, 230 IIRC for RAM)...

It all adds up. I thought mine was going to be cheap(ish) and I'm still having to spend money. Be prepared for it not going how you planned it either. Doing the setup also requires you dialing in your bellhousing so be prepared to possibly have to buy adjustable bellhousing studs (16 - 60). If you don't have a dial indicator you'll need that for the dial in. If you go with the LT1 setup I don't think you'll have to worry about that though since you can't due to the opening of the bellhousing's tranny mount.

It's a lot of work and if you're not doing it yourself you'll be paying someone 60 - 100 bucks an hour to do it. I know a lot of places won't do a swap like that so a performance shop would probably charge you a poopload more.

I'm not trying to dissuade you from doing the swap but it's not an easy swap. I did mine with an LS1 transmission and that requires a good bit more.

If you want more information about this type of swap you should head over to pro-touring.com and check out their manual transmission forum. It's filled with tons of people with older cars doing this type of swap. Plus certain companies offer members there discounts and promos.

You'll never see sixth gear with those 2.73 gears unless you're running a 10 inch high tire, ha ha. With that gearing and a 26 inch tire you're probably seeing 75 mph at around 2500 rpm's. With a .5 gear reduction in sixth your final drive would go from 2.73 to 1.37 which would mean you would be pulling 285mph at 5k rpm... but your radial tires would probably blow up long before 200. Hopefully you'd be on the salt flats and your car can have the power to propel the tires at that type of rpm if you're ever seeing that type of RPM. At 2k rpm you'd be pulling 114mph and around 80mph in 5th.

The best thing about a T56 is the ability to run a lower geared rear end for good launches, driveability and highway cruising. That's the purpose behind it.

 

Whatever you decide to do mechanically, do all of that first! Don't worry about the interior or the body until you've got the engine, trans, and suspension all dialed in to what you want. No reason to be crawling over freshly painted fenders, or worry about climbing into nice new seats with coveralls and gettting everything ruined.
I'd sure consider getting rid of those 2.73 gears as soon as money allows. If you're going with a T56 you can easily run 3.73, or 3.42 if you want a little more economy.