I have two T5 5 speed transmissions that I bought. A 91 world class and a 85 non world class. I was thinking of putting one in my 72 Buick skylark with a 455 in it. I know that I would have to rebuild the tranny and beef it up otherwise the 455 would trash it in no time. My question is has anyone ever done this before? Ive looked for threads but have not found anything. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance
I have not but I have an M21 in my GS350 with 3.08 gears. I'm interested in knowing what it takes to put on in a Buick if you go forward.
IMO it'd be a time bomb anyway you build it. The 4-spd with 3.08 gears is the most cost effective route or go all out for an aftermarket trans designed to hold the torque.
There's over 100 variations of the T5. The most common ones came in Camaros and Firebirds with 2.8 V6 engines. These have small input shafts and wont take much power. Be sure the one you use one that came from a V8 car. Either way they are a few inches longer then a T10, M20/21/22 and the shifter is too far beck which can't be changed. They do make a TKO that puts the shifter in the right place and should handle the power but they are $2,200.
Both T5's are from V8 cars, the 85 is from a trans am and the 91 is from a Z28, from what ive read so far it seems like this would not be a good match for the 455 even if I build it with stout components. Thanks for the posts, ill keep looking for someone that has done it sucessfully d
T5s are garbage. GM never put one behind a 350. They were barely strong enough for a 205 horse 305. Sell them off and forget about it.
In the late 60s early 70s they made a 3 speed with over drive. The over drive unit bolts to a 4 speed also. I have enough stuff to build 2, one with a 2.54 first gear another with a 3.11 first. I have an article from an old Hot Rod magazine on how to do the wiring. The tricky part is getting the linkage to go around the over drive unit for a Hurst CP shifter.
