I have a 2nd gen with 383, 400hp, 425 tq, th400, 373gears. Seriously considering a 5 speed Tremec conversion. There are several places that provide a complete kit. Looks like about $4k.

Any word of advice on this conversion? What do I need to pay attention to? Things to consider? Suggested places to buy?

Also – the motor is balanced – will it need to be rebalanced for the new flywheel? Will the crankshaft accept the pilot bearing – I assume all crankshafts are the same??

If I do this I will have a few things to sell: th400 with shift kit, B&M 2500 stall converter, frame cross member, drive shaft, Hurst ratchet shifter and maybe more.

Thanks for the help,
Paul

 

Welcome Paul!
If you go with a Tremec you'll probably want to get the one modified for use in a 2nd Gen, or get a kit that has the parts to modify it for correct location of the shifter. You might use your crossmember modified, so don't sell it until you know for sure.
You might also save some money finding a good T56 donor tranny, as most of the new Tremec T56 are about $500 more. The right T56 from an early 4th Gen will still bolt to your engine.
Not sure on the crankshaft, as it depends on what engine you started with when you built the 383. If it was a 2nd gen 350, then it most likely has a recess that will accept a pilot bushing, but until you look I'm not sure.
You'll of course have to set up the pedals, which means finding a donor car that was a stick to rob brake and clutch assembly. Then you'll have to modify those to work with the hydraulic master and add a slave to the bellhousing.
I remember Super Chevy magazine, and I think Hot Rod (or CarCraft) magazine both doing an article on installing a Tremec or T56 in a 2nd Gen Camaro. Might do a search of their sites and see if they have that on their web site.

 

I swapped in a T-56 into mine. If you're going with a T-5 out of an older car I wouldn't just because they aren't made to handle power. A T-56 is rated to 450 foot lb's of torque stock and with a viper input shaft can handle almost anything you throw at it.

You can snag a T-56 out of an LT-1 engined car and it will bolt straight up to your GenI SBC. If you snag one out of a LS series car you'll either have to shorten the input shaft by .40 of an inch, replace it with a an LT input shaft or buy a bellhousing/scattershield. I bought an Quicktime Technologies scattershield that is made for the correct distance. Their quality is the best I've seen and if you go that route let me know as I know a place that sells them about 100 bucks less than retail of the 500 or so bucks.

You'll need a shorter driveshaft which is around 45.5 inches if I remember correctly. I was able to use my TH400 driveshaft but I cut the mounting pad off and fabricated a new mounting pad from a H-beam that I cut and welded to the bottom and braced with gussets.

For a clutch and flywheel I went with aCenterforce DFX ceramic clutch kit and RAM 1401 flywheel so I could put in any clutch I wanted at a later date. I kept the hydraulic setup along with a RAM adjustable master cylinder. Make sure you bench bleed the master before you put it in because it really sucks to bleed it once it is installed.

The crank should have the provision for a pilot bearing. I put a roller pilot bearing in mine. Make sure you have a high temp/high pressure lube in there but be careful not to put too much in otherwise it will act like a hydraulic pump when you try to install the transmission and the input shaft will compress the lube and push the bearing out.

Other than that it was a pretty easy install. I'm sure I'm forgetting something somewhere. If you have any other questions just let us know.

 

Thanks for the welcome and the great info guys. I just pulled the th400 out and the crank does look good - should be fine. It was a new 400 crank that we purchased when we built the engine (from the stock 350).

I was just considering mechanical linkage clutch - do you think I should do hydraulic? Is it worth it?

What do you think of a kit like this, (besides the fact that it is probably more expensive than shopping for the individual parts, i'll have to call them): http://www.americanpowertrain.com/gm...0-81_auto.html

Now I just need to figure out how to get the trany cooler lines out. Nothing that a hack saw can't fix, but those are new lines

 

My Th400 lines came out with any problems. I assume your cooler isn't stand alone but part of your radiator. Should have line nuts on there that you take off with a line wrench. Get some plugs for the lines and block off that part of the radiator. You can lift the front end off the ground and the aluminum lines should come out pretty easily if you pull from front to back.

As far as that kit goes it looks pretty good and solid. I didn't see a price or anything but you can turn pretty much any clutch setup to mechanical since it relies on the linkage/clutch and not the transmission really. The bellhousing just has to have the provision to feed the mechanical linkage into it.

You might also want to check out pro-touring.com. There's a lot of people over there that have done numerous different transmission swaps into numerously different cars. Plus a lot of the vendors prowl that site and help out with technical questions a lot. If I were buying a kit I would definitely go with Keisler Engineering. They helped me out a lot and I didn't even buy anything from them. Their owner and tech team know what they're talking about backwards and forwards and I know you've seen their stuff in magazines and on tv and probably didn't realize it. Their stuff is top notch.

There's a number of companies and you'll find a lot of them over at pro-touring. Everything from full kits to individual parts you can find over there.

As far as the mechanical vs. hydraulic it's really up to you and your preference. I just went with a hydraulic clutch because I knew the LS transmission I had would work with that with no problem and Quicktime only made a hydraulic setup at the time. You can get mechanical setups from McLeod and Lakewood if I remember correctly.