T56 wiring...

Just got a T56 and had a few questions.

First off the tranny. I know the one on the passenger side is for the reverse lights. Then the one on the tail housing (lower) is for the VSS. What are the top one on the tail housing and the other one towards the middle off the car for?

Then on the peddals. I have a white sensor on the top of the clutch pedal. Is that for the Cruise Control? If so, would I just tap that into the sensor on the brake pedal.

Finally. I read somewere about something to do with a reverse lock out switch. You guys know anything about this?

Thanks, Ken

OK I figured out two of my questions. The reverse lockout is that top sensor on the tail housing. I guess the easiest way to use that is to hook it up to the brake pedal.

So one question still remains. Whats the one in the middle of the tranny on the driver side. Do I even need to plug anything into that one. If I recall correctly its just for the skip shift which won't matter anyway.

You are correct on all counts. The CAGS solenoid is the one on the top drivers side, just leave it disconnected and it won't ever cause a problem. The reverse lockout is normally engaged, giving it power when the brakes are on (through a relay of course) sounds like the way to go. As for the "white sensor"...that's your neutral safety switch. It prevents you from starting the car with the clutch engaged, you can eliminate it or wire it in series with the "start" terminal on your ignition switch, whatever works for you.

Thats were I'm getting confused. Theres a black sensor/switch that gets pressed when the clutch is pressed. I assumed that is were I would wire up the neutral safety switch. The white sensor/switch is on the top side and is depressed once the clutch pedal goes down. Thats why I figured it was a cruise control interupt switch like the one on the brake pedal.

Does that sound right?

Yes you are correct, the white switch is for the crusie and the black one is for the neutral safety sw.

Chad

Thanks! Now that we got that figured out. I have another question about the actuall wiring.

The neutral switch and reverse lights are pretty much a direct hook up right? I would imagine that the reverse lights are one prong for power and the other is the signal (return) line that activates the lights. And the neutral switch is just a matter of moving wires from the harness over to the pedal sensor?

The reverse lock out switch has two prongs. What are they for? Is it just a power and ground or is it somehting else?

Sorry for all the questions guys. I just figure it would be easier to go into this knowing what to do rather than trying to figure it out as I go.

Thanks again!!

The reverse lockout switch will have a power in and once the tranny is in reverse it closes the switch and power is sent out of the other pin. The ground for that circuit is from the reverse lights.

As far as the neutral switch can be left unhooked just remember to have the car in neutral. But if you want it hooked up find a wire that has 12 volts on it when the ignition switch is in the start position. Run that wire to on pin and the other pin will have a wire that runs to the starter. I am not sure if you car has the theft deterrent system or not. I am not too familiar with a 3rd gen.
All the info that I have about this is from the schematic in the back of my hanes manual for my 95 Formula. But the switches are just easy to get wired up. If you need more help pm me.

Hope this helps.

Chad

Thanks guys!

I was tinkering with the switches yesterday and got it to work fine. I guess there isn't any polarity issues with theses switches cause it seemed to work with power going to either prong.

BTW... I'm disabling the cruise cause the brake sensor won't fit probperly under the dash. One of the sensors on the steering columb gets in the way. I believe its the steering column lock.

Thanks again!

Okay i am looking at doing a t-56 swap... does anyone wanna explain what skip shift and reverse lock out are, and if they are needed at all, also how they work would be helpful too... THanks

The skip shift feature is for fuel economy. When the computer senses that your taking it easy it will lock out second and third gear giving you the only option of shifting into 4th just to save gas. People who have this in their 4th gens hate it and end up spending money on harneses to bypass the feature. Fortunatly for us 3rd gen owners. We can just leave it unpluged!

The reverse lock out is a gate that prevents you from shifting into reverse while driving. I beleive the 4th gen computers take the reading from the VSS and opens the gate to allow you to shift into Reverse only when the car is stopped. Rigging the signal up to the brake light switch will open hte gate ever time you hit the brake. Unfortunatly thats pretty much the only way to use this feature with the 3rd gens.

Okay but you can just jump from 2nd to 4th if you want anyhow because the tranny has sinchronizors...

Now since I am not a dumbass and I nkow better than to jam the thing into reverse if you leave the reverse lockout unplugged does it work like a normal tranny or do you need power going to it at all times... (its gunna suck if I do)

I'm not sure if you can completley bypass the reverse lock out.
I tried getting into reverse with no power and the gate is closed. It needs power to be open and stay open. Perhaps if you took it apart you could just take out the gate and selinoid(sp?) all together. I'd phone up a tranny shop though just to make sure.

what about having constant power to it or would this just wear the thing out and make it need replacing?

Thats a good question. I'm no expert but I would say not to do that because it would probably burn out the unit.

I would talk to a tranny shop about that one too!

What about hooking up a clutch switch...

The reason I am asking is cuz I don't always use the brake when I shift into reverse... and I don't plan on it

I guess you could. You'd still have to use a relay in there. It may cause premature wear on it. I would think it would be activated more often using the cluth than the brake. As far as I know those are your only three options.

1)brake switch
2)clutch swith
3)remove completly (check with a shop first)

I'm going to use the brake switch. You only need it to be activated to get the shifter into reverse. Once your in the gate can close and you'll still be able to get out of reverse.

Basically, you could be rolling forward but all you have to do is hit the break long enoguh to activate the gate and slide the shifter into reverse. Its not that big of a deal.

Its probably not the best idea for your tranny either. That is going from a forward to reverse gear with out stoping the car.

Just my $.02

Yeah I know i just like to be able to slam the thing into reverse when I am sitting there in neutral and go... What a stupid feature... My t-5 doesn't have crap like that and the only time it has ever come close to going into that gear is when I was teaching my g/f how to drive stick... I yelled and she stopped... Of course she was crying by the end because she stalled the car so many times, Grinded the gears once or twice and I made her spin the tires but that is a different story

Actually, now that I think of it you probably could pull out the solinoid. I was looking at a service manual for the T56 and the solinoid actually pushes out to open the gate. You might be able to just take out the solinoid and just throw something in there to keep preasure on that lever.

You could go a step further and get into the tail housing and completly remove the gates.

This is really all pulled out of the air so don't do it thinking I know what I'm saying. These are just ideas.

hmm I guess if I really wanted I could put a button somewhere or a switch... Hmmm maybe so it is activated when I try to put it in reverse... (where reverse would be mounted in the tranny tunnel right where the shifter goes) Damn I like that idea... the only problem now is finding a way to mount it so it doesn't get damaged and so that it still allows me to shift fine

Here's another method: take the reversre lockout solenoid apart....on the inside there is a spring that hold the gate closed when the solenoid is unpowered (if you push hard enough you can get it into reverse even when it's locked out). Pull out the spring and cut off 1.5 coils with some heavy wire cutters. This will give you a "biased pressure" reverse gate which basically lets you go into 5th or 6th easily but requires a little more pressure to shift into reverse. The difference is enough to keep you from missing 5th and hitting R, but it's not enough to make it difficult to shift into R. This is how I rigged mine when I swapped my T-56 in.

you got pictures of that?? I am sure I will rig something up when the time comes but I do like just figuring out stuff..

No pics....didn't have any way to take them when I did the 6-speed swap. I have a digital camera now but it's just a bit late (tranny's been in for over a year). Sorry...

Alright thats cool then