I'm thinking about purchasing a high mileage T56 for a decent price and getting it rebuilt.

The tranny has 145k miles on it. I know nothing else really. It'll cost me $500 for the tranny with the bellhousing. I don't want to get the tranny and wind up paying more than I would have for a rebuild from sixspeedsinc.com.

I can take the tranny to a local place that I've had recommended to me so I won't pay any shipping costs on anything.

What's the possibility of having to pay more than $1500 for a rebuild?

 

It really depends on what's wrong with the transmission. I rebuilt my old T56 myself with D&D parts. This is what I bought/replaced:

-had the case media blasted
-D&D bearing/synchro/shift fork pad rebuild kit
-steel 3-4 fork
-3rd, 5th and reverse gears
-3-4, 5-6, reverse synchro hubs
-Pro 5.0 shifter
-poly transmission mount
-front/rear seals

I did ALL the rebuild labor myself, was able to pick up all the parts from D&D to avoid shipping costs and have right around $2000 invested in the project. The transmission didn't even behave too badly before I rebuilt it save for popping out of reverse and sometimes being difficult to get into 3rd gear...if there is any significant wear to the synchro components beyond blocker rings, a rebuild with labor could add up. I had a lot of fun with the rebuild, learned a lot and have put several thousand happy miles on my new transmission, but I will probably just buy new/rebuilt unit for my next project.