i have a 1970 camaro split bumper. it has a 350 with and automatic trans. not sure but think its a th350. i want to swap out the auto for a manual shift and later down the road swap an lt1 or ls engine in. which one do you guys recommend and why? also what's the best car to get the donor engine from? i have the chanse to get one off a 88 vette or 90 firebird. do you know where i can find swap info. thanks for any help you can give me.

 

If you're going to swap just the transmission now then a t-56 from an LT1 will bolt up to a GenI sbc without special adapters. If you're going to swap an LS styled T-56 in then you will need a special bellhousing or adapter plate. Those run 300 - 500 dollars just for the bellhousings and 130 - 200+ for the adapter plates. Then on top of that you'll need something to convert the electronic sender for the speedometer to a mechanical sender and those run about 350 bucks unless you get an electronic speedometer and then you're looking at around 180 bucks and up depending on what brand you get. You'll need to have your driveshaft shortened and balanced to fit also or buy a new one. Custom crossmember for about 200 or so or an adjustable transmission mount if you had a TH400 in there for about 120. My clutch and flywheel alone was around 700 and that's not the special ones. I went with a RAM 1401 flywheel which allows me to use any 26 spline 11 inch diameter 1-1/8th clutch that I want with any genI internally balanced small block chevy engine. Then I went with a Centerforce DFX clutch setup. Then you have to get your transmission.

If you're looking for an engine then I would go with an LS series engine from 1998 and up vehicles. The LS series engines are great engines and with simple changes can be monsters.

 

Stick with the early 1st gen smallblock,it'll be a simple bolt in operation and save you a lot of money and headaches,why not just build a nice 383 out of the 350 you have now.
That '70 is a real classic,I wouldn't bastardize it with a later motor,besides you'll have to go though as much trouble to do it as if you were putting a Ford or Mopar engine in there,nothing will just bolt up.

 

Yeah, putting in an LS1 motor is a common swap nowadays and there are kits out there to do it. Buuuuut, you'll still have to notch the forward crossmember for the low mount LS series' alternator on the passenger side. That is unless you go to a custom forward crossmember which I'm seeing people do now.

 

hello guys,
1st i want to say thank you for your insite. I'm thinking that the building up my 350 that i have now is the best way to go. the car is not a matching # car so i'm wanting to change the automatic tranny to a manual. i'm thinking to buy a used one and have it rebuilt if necessary. now you are saying that a t56 tranny is the way to go? what's the best car to get one out of? when you did your conversion did you buy a kit or did you use donor cars for everything? this is my 1st conversion and any tech info you glady appreicated. any comments as well are to. i'm kind of new to some of this. lastly i just want to say thanks again.

 

Well, both of the Tremecs from LT1's and LS1's are rated up to 450 foot lb's of torque which is a good bit. You can have them rebuilt for more torque if you want and are running a monster engine. Mine isn't really a kit but a research of parts that will work and talking with people who have done it before. I'm still in the process of my install and hope to finish it not this weekend but next.

A T-56 is a good solid tranny with a 2.66 first gear and two over drive gears for highway cruising (.73 and .50). So if you want some strong street gears like 4.10's then you'll have a pretty mean first gear at 10.9 and an insane 2.05 final gear for highway driving. Even in fifth gear you're seeing a drive of 2.99.

Here's a comparison of my tire setup on the same car but one has a TH400 with 2.56 gears and the other is a T-56 with 4.10 gears. With this setup on the TH400 it is geared more for top end speed but even then it has it's limits. You'll see that T56 beats the TH400 in the low end AND the top end where the TH400 is strongest with this setup. It's the best of both worlds. In the link I added you'll see that the T-56 has faster acceleration at the loss of top end for those first three gears but that I start to compensate for that in fifth and six gears.

Before you start building up your pre-existing engine btw, you may want to look at your total funds and think about just getting a crate engine and dropping it in. Always look at your projected cost on an engine build and atleast add 50% to it. You're going to miss things, especially little things, that will add up and nickle and dime you to death. I'm experiencing that with the T-56 swap. I even calculated extra and I'm still short now and it's just little things picking away at my sanity.

If you want a parts list for the T-56 swap I can give you one. No biggie.