Ok, I know it's been a while since I posted on this topic, but my project has been on hold due to finances as many people can understand with the state of our economy right now. I knew this part of my car's build would be an expensive one, so in the meantime I picked up a nice rust free 91 Z28 from Texas that the owner couldn't figure out how to get running. After pulling out a few of the hairs I have left, and putting some fuel injectors in it, and a sweet paint job on it, I sold it and made the money I needed to do this six speed thing. Yesterday I sold the car and this morning I ordered a T56 Magnum from Jeg's, along with the bellhousing kit from Mc Leod and a Centerforce clutch. Later this week I will order my flywheel from TA. I still need to decide who to get my hydraulic clutch kit from but I will also be ordering that soon. Let the fun begin!:grin:
Sweet! Im a little rusty on this subject now as ive got rid of my T56 to fund some other go fast parts. I see youre on pro-touring. I forget who the best hydraulic company is now. I know Mcleod is near the top, but i think theres one better, i just cant remember who. But in their description they explain why theirs is better than the competitors. hate to say this now if youve already ordered it, but are you aware of the RS600? Its a much better option than the Magnum. Im not sure if youre able to purchase it yet, but its very very close to release.
marginally less expensive and no floor cutting. Gear ratios are comparable as well. It is a 5spd though. EDIT: Not the same torque rating. Just noticed you said you bought it from Jegs. What first gear ratio did you pick? I imagine you purchased the hurst driveline conversion?
I got the 2.66 1st gear. I chose not to go with the hurst driveline conversion. Some of my reasons I mentioned in my thread on Pro-Touring: http://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?77555-T-56-in-a-70-Buick-Skylark-GSX
Glad you did your homework! Pontiac flywheel eh? That would have solved our problems long ago if we knew that.... :eek2: Also, I remembered the best hydraulic setup just now. Check out TickPerformance. Took me a while to find these guys, but if i ever lay my hands on a viper T56, its goin straight to them. :TU: Not cheap but these guys have a very "put your money where your mouth is" type attitude, which is what counts in the performance world. http://www.tick-performance.com/tickshift/parts/ls1fbody/hydraulics/
Call Keisler and ask them about the rsc-600 (TKO-600) with a case that will fit without modification to the trans tunnel. I believe it came about because of fitment problems (tunnel) on chevelles and skylarks and such. Same price as the TKO but no floor butchering.
One of the things I learned about this swap is that the stock starter will not work with the McLeod bellhousing. Strangely enough a freind of mine gave me a hi torque mini starter yesterday for no specific reason. The mini starter should work but I did have to grind the upper inner corner of the mounting block, and the top edge of the starter hole in the motor plate will need to be ground a little bit. It also looks like I will need some type of spacer because the input shaft is about 3.5mm too long. Removing the dowel pins to install the larger ones was a fun task. I'm not even sure that I really needed to do it. But it is done. I'll try and post some pictures later. It won't seem to let me right now.
Tim, Specfically what clutch did you use? Is the TA flywheel just a regular Buick flywheel or is it some conversion piece? Depending on the answers to the above, it sounds like the only special piece might be the Mcleod bellohousing? Thanks, Eric
I got my flywheel and my spacer so I was able to do some more work on this. It appears that the .250 spacer should work. The input shaft doesn't hit the back of the crank now and the slave cylinder appears to have about a quarter of an inch of room before it would bind and begin to apply pressure to the clutch. I'm not sure if that will change after it's bled. The bleeder is the new problem I have, it interferes with the spacer. I just took it out for now. I could cut it down and use a 1/4 drive extension and swivel socket to bleed it. I will also need to create some type of access to it in the trans tunnel. Unless I can come up with another plan for that. I also set up the master cyl. and bracket. Though I may go with an adjustable master for the final assembly.
Tim, any reason you cant just mill down the spacer a bit in that spot?? I know it sucks big time to pay that amount of money for something only to find out you have to modify it
If I did I would have to cut that section out of the spacer. That would leave me with a 2 inch peice of the spacer underneath where the bleeder is. I dunno, maybe.
Now my question of the day is: Is anyone familiar with LS1 style clutch master cylinders ? My dillema is that I have a used master and pressure line that were not connected when I recieved them. The o-ring on the hose doesn't look like it would form a good seal when installed in the master. Here's a picture of what I have:
