Took apart T-56...made a mess

[Red_94Formula]

i took both covers off to see if i could see anything wrong with it. some little pieces of metal in the magnet filter but i did not see any chipped gears. also the whole bottem of the inner casing was covered in black goo. is that bad?

i cant put the the covers back on due to the internals coming off alignment...but berfore i put them back on i want to make this tranny able to hold about 700hp at the crank. im going to buy that book tremec makes for rebuilding the t-56 but exaclty what parts will i be buying to make it capable?

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Red 1994 Formula (V8,M6,3.23)
K&N fipk,MSD coil,Hooker Exaust,SLP 1 3/4 headers,LT4 KM,CAM 220/229 .547/.544 112LS,Taylor Wires OVC,160°T-Stat,LT1 Edit,ZR1 rims 315's,EGR!,AIR!,Meziere H2O Pump,3"Cut Out,Power slot rotors,Earl's Brake Lines,Mac Girdle,!CAT,M6 Conversion,SCR SFCs,!MAF,MAC LCAs,Kirban Shifter,!ALT,200 Amp Alt,7/16's 1.5RRs,NGK TR55's,SLP STB,Polyurethane bushings everywhere,SLP Bilstiens,Susp Tech springs #63045
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Best 1/4 13.47@103.87 (no where near current)
Installing:SLP flywheel+RPS clutch,3.73's,Auburn Posi,light weight starter, MS PA K-member+A-arms,Trans Am body, LS1 drive shaft

[RunRiot]

There are people making that much power with stock internals. It's a pretty strong tranny, the only real upgrades are the cast iron shift forks.

BTW the Helm manual for the 94 has a detailed T56 section, you might want to get that since it contains everything for your car.

[rskrause]

Mine is holding up to over 700rwhp and over 800rwt. If it breaks I will strongly consider a G-force or a Lenco since I like to shift! The Lenco is a superb box, but it's huge and would require major floor pan mods. The street version is rated at 1,200hp! G-force rates their street 5-speed at 1,000hp.

As far the T-56 goes I am unaware of any useful upgrades. I have read about cryogenic treatments, etc. But if mine breaks I think it will be time to replace it with something stronger.

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'95 Z-28 383 with Vortech, nitrous, etc.
"1FASTZ28"

[Injuneer]

Every time I've looked at the Lenco, the info I got was that it wouldn't survive for more than about 15 minutes on the street without an oil cooling system being designed and added to it. I know George B. looked at it, and they told him the same thing. One of the magazines was going to do a Pro Street S-10 for the Hot Rod Power Tour with a Lenco 6-speed, but I never saw any more about it. Would be interesting to see if anyone every managed to get one to survive extended street use.... and the size and weight would appear to be a major handicap...

But having a half-dozen shifter levers sticking up out of the console would be a real attention getter....

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Fred
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94 Formula A3: 381/TH400/N2O
Detailed Mod's List

11.513@115.59 on motor; 11.162@127.67, 1.643 60' on a 125-shot. Going with a 275-shot this year

[SABLT194]

Black goo doesn't sound good to me. It should be as clean as a watch in side. Black goo suggests that the friction material is gone from the syncro cones. I'm no T56 expert by a long shot, but it doesn't sound good to me.

BTW, I have information that says that it is possible to install a Viper output shaft in an F-body T56. Requires remachining the tail housing, new Viper shaft, viper bearing, viper seal, and rebroach the VSS reluctor with new snap rings.

Anybody done this for real?? or is this just more smoke & mirrors? If it can be done I'll give it a try aftery next boom.

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94 Formula M6 4.10 Strange 12 bolt Spohn Subs,LCA,LCA Brackets, & PHR,Moroso Cold Air, B&M Ripper w/ T handle/w switch , Hurst Line Loc,ET Streets, FLP's with B&B Triflow's, Taylor Wires
Street Twin, Spool
CC306, R lifters, Pro Mag 1.6's
Cloyes Double
Protune by me (Protune?)

3710# Pig Fat Race Weight
335 RWHP best 60' - 1.76
Best 1/8 - 8.05 @ 86.5
No 1/4 times yet

[Z28tt]

SABLT194 - I'm very interested in the upgrade to the viper input shaft, the machining required, etc. Do you have a page or more info on that, or possibly email it? The only upgrades I've heard of are the steel (billet, maybe?) shift forks.




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--
Andris Skulte
Skulte Performance Designs
Z28tt-89 IROC T56 DFI Twin Turbo
http://www.skulte.com

[nuke61]

Give D&D Performance a call...

http://www.ddperformance.com/GM%20T56.htm

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Hear LT1 cam WAVs, DIY head porting: members.cox.net/gmarengo

'95, !CAGS, CAI, ForceII, Hooker Shorties, 14.2@103

[SABLT194]

The mystery Viper upgrade that I've heard about is for the mainshaft (output) not the input shaft. I've talked to D&D and the fella I talked to knew nothing about a mainshaft upgrade to the Viper piece. The only one I know that says it can be done is John @ Donato Engineering. I'm just curious to see if anyone else has already done this. I hate to be Serial Number 00000001

Thanks
Steve

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94 Formula M6 4.10 Strange 12 bolt Spohn Subs,LCA,LCA Brackets, & PHR,Moroso Cold Air, B&M Ripper w/ T handle/w switch , Hurst Line Loc,ET Streets, FLP's with B&B Triflow's, Taylor Wires
Street Twin, Spool
CC306, R lifters, Pro Mag 1.6's
Cloyes Double
Protune by me (Protune?)

3710# Pig Fat Race Weight
335 RWHP best 60' - 1.76
Best 1/8 - 8.05 @ 86.5
No 1/4 times yet

[Leupold2]

John Donato is upgrading the shaft in the f-body t56's to the viper ones. I slmost had him do mine while it was there but he said you only need it with big 800+ hp and a WIDE set of slicks. Mine is a street car so I wasn't worried. He did however upgrade my synchrs to the viper style and the pads to kevlar w/ steel shift forks. I also have a Jebco trans pump for hard driving and going REALLY fast. I think for the pads and synchros he charges $700 change and up from there with more upgrades. Drop him an e-mail @ donatoeng@aol.com. Good luck.

Doug

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97 WS6, Arctic on Tan Leather, Aftercooled, 383, AFR, 6 Spd, all the goodies!

[Steve in Seattle]

Interesting idea, especially with the new (Oct 2002) issue of Road and Track article on the 2003 Viper:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">The Tremec T-56 transmission still has the same ratios,[same as 4th gens and the non-Z06 Vettes, but with a 3.07:1 rear axle ratio] but its gears have an upgraded heat treatment that along with the a new one-piece mainshaft ensures long-term durability</font>

I wonder if this new and improved "one-piece mainshaft" can be machined to fit a LT1 T56?

I've sent mail to John to see what the benifit is to the current Viper mainshaft, and to see if he has plans on trying out this technique on the 2003 Viper one-piece mainshaft.

(BTW the 5-page review of the 2003 Viper is damn informative... way beyond what I normally expect out of R&T. It's pages 108 to 113, with one page dedicated to a full page add for Valentine One radar locaters ... talk about product placement)

[This message has been edited by Steve in Seattle (edited September 06, 2002).]

[SABLT194]

Steve,

Keep us posted on what you learn. I'm still interested in making some changes.

Steve

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94 Formula M6 4.10 Strange 12 bolt Spohn Subs,LCA,LCA Brackets, & PHR,Moroso Cold Air, B&M Ripper w/ T handle/w switch , Hurst Line Loc,ET Streets, FLP's with B&B Triflow's, Taylor Wires
Street Twin, Spool
CC306, R lifters, Pro Mag 1.6's
Cloyes Double
Protune by me (Protune?)

3710# Pig Fat Race Weight
335 RWHP best 60' - 1.76
Best 1/8 - 8.05 @ 86.5
No 1/4 times yet

[Eric Bryant]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Steve in Seattle:
I wonder if this new and improved "one-piece mainshaft" can be machined to fit a LT1 T56?
</font>

Uh, as far as I know, all T56s have "one-piece mainshafts" (although mine may be downgraded to the two-piece version when I take the car to the track tonight ).

When I rebuilt my trans, I installed the new carbon blocking rings (more durable than the stock organic-based blocking ring material, but they tend to provide a notchy feel, especially when the trans is cold) and the cast-iron 3-4 shift fork (whoohoo - finally installed a Viper part on my car). The upgrade to the Viper mainshaft doesn't sound cost-effective to me.


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Eric Bryant
'96 Impala SS (LT4 396, T56, "firm" suspension)
'96 GMC K2500 (parts hauler/dune runner)
'92 Roadmaster wagon (winter beater)
'01 Honda Accord LX V6 Coupe (wife's car)
http://www.bryantperformance.com

[Steve in Seattle]

See, that's what I was wondering. Maybe the "one-piece" part isn't so important. Maybe R&T could have been more precise:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">The Tremec T-56 transmission still has the same ratios, but its gears have an upgraded heat treatment that along with the new mainshaft design, ensures long-term durability</font>

Still waiting on a responce from John Donato on the advantages/difference of the Viper mainshaft (and wether he has any information on the new Viper T56 that would be useful to us).

As for the heat-treating, you could probably do one better by going to the right cryo-shop. The good ones can heat treat objects to ~600*F (I think) and in one transition cool it down to cryo-levels. Apparently thats about the most you can do with a temperature-based treatment.

Might even be able to talk to a performance coating company before the cryo-treatment and see if you can get any journals/bearings anti-friction coated as well.

Just depends how much money you wanta spend I guess. If John Donato only reccomends the Viper mainshaft conversion for 800+hp levels, I think I'll save that money for a 12-bolt instead.

[rskrause]

Since last positng to this thread I drove my friends 5.0 on the return road at the strip. The car is occasionally street driven and has a 4-speed G-Force transmission. The thing is quite "notchy" when you try to shift it slowly but if you shift it fast it shifts smoothly and fast. They also make a five-speed and it can be used continuously, as in street or road race use.

Top gear is always 1:1, so for street use with my low-rev setup I'd need to go to 2.73's! But it could be made to work. The 4-speed is compact and light, I easily picked it up and I have bad back. The five-speed is bulkier, but probably no bigger than the T-56. I haven't gone so far as to make any measurements for possible fitment as it's unlikely I will need to seriously contemplate this conversion. The T-56 is still holding up to &gt;700rwhp in my &gt;4,000lb car and it's likely that this is the last year the car will see the track. I am seriously contemplating a race car for next year. If the T-56 breaks and I want to keep racing the Camaro with slicks I think the G-Force will be the way to go. The 5-speed is a bit less than $5K.

Rich Krause

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'95 Z-28 383: Vortech, nitrous, etc.
AIM: rstevenkrause

[Eric Bryant]

Since last posting to this thread, I broke the mainshaft on my T56. My car makes slightly less than 400 RWHP, weighs around 4400 lbs, and I was on full-tread street tires. I'm thinking that there was probably a manufacturing defect.

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Eric Bryant
'96 Impala SS (LT4 396, T56, "firm" suspension)
'96 GMC K2500 (parts hauler/dune runner)
'92 Roadmaster wagon (winter beater)
'01 Honda Accord LX V6 Coupe (wife's car)
http://www.bryantperformance.com