Thread: Project Car Blues...

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I've lost interest in the Elky. This makes me so sad because I was so excited about this car. I even bought a new block and tires already. I don't know what the problem is. I think the main thing is that I want a standard and the el camino has a rather stout th350 in it. If I could change that I would probably be excited about it again.

So that brings me to my question...How hard would it be to put a T-56 or a M22 in place of the TH350? I also wonder what kind of parts I would need to get in order to make this change.

Also, by switching from an automatic to a manual would I be making an already bad traction problem into a worse one or could there still be hope to actually plant the ol' birds feet into the ground?

My plan for the motor would be to take my 400, put a fat bearing in it and build the 377 out of it with roughly 10.5-11:1 compression, won't be running nitrous probably because I'm not building the motor for nitrous...

Just find a Chevelle or ElCamino donor car that was a standard transmission in the junk yard, not sure what all years are the same, and get the pedals. Hang the pedals in the car. Drive shaft may have to be changed, I'm sure the chebbie guys will be along and let you know for sure.

Oh yeah, remember the first two rules of Hot Rodding:

1. It's going to cost more then you thought.
2. It's going to take longer then you thought.

So I've been looking through some standards the last few days and here's my options as i see it:

t-56 6 speed, Muncie 4 spd, or Saginaw 4 spd, and the Super T-10

Like I said in an earlier post, I'm taking a 400 and building a 377 out of it. Therefore, I will be turning this motor pretty hard and I'm shooting for about 450-500 horses. This is my first time using a standard in a performance operation and I am unfamiliar with all of these transmissions so any help on which is the better out of these 4 trans. for my application would be great.

I should also say that this el camino is going to be used in street/strip type of thing with a posi rear but i haven't figured out what ratio just yet. So basically i need a tough trans, that i can use with a lot of rpms, and actually use on the street as well.

Oh yeah, remember the first two rules of Hot Rodding

:

1

. It's going to cost more then you thought.
2. It's going to take longer then you thought.[/QUOTE

]
HAY DAVE,were you talking about my first marriage or the ELCAMINO

Just kidden dave,Any way Hopper no matter witch trans you go with spend the cash and buy a (BLOWPROOF-BELLHOUSING AND A DRIVISHAFT-LOOP )that are SFI-approved.Even if your ELCAMINO dosn't run 11.99et Iv seen 12.00sec street cars Granade a clutch and it's not pretty.and whan you do go in the 11.00's your one step ahead of the game and you still have both your feet and other vital body parts.since the car will see some street duty I would go with the 5 or 6 speed that way you could put like a 4:11 /4:56 some thing like that in the rear and still drive on the street,you will kill the gear once your in 5th and 6th.(FYI) when chooseing rear end Gear keep in mind not all trannys are geard the same.

EXAMPLE=GM-T10 4spd/1st:2.43 2nd1.61 3rd1.23 4th1.00
Richmond GM=6spd 1st:3.28 2nd 2.14 3rd1.57 4th 1.24 5th1.00 6th.76

Originally Posted by FIDO

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1]
HAY DAVE,were you talking about my first marriage or the ELCAMINO

Yup !!!! and you could also include all 3 of my marriages and numerous project cars!!!!!


Hopper, that is good advice on the scattersheild. All I ever run is manual trannies, every one of them gets a scattersheild. Very cheap insurance against not going through the rest of your life walking on a stump!!!

The Super T-10's are a tough tranny, I've never had much luck with Muncies though I'm sure others will tell you they've done well with them. There are also a lot of companies now building some really nice Tremec's capable of handling 600 foot pounds of torque, Techinspector got me checking into these awhile back. Some very good deals out there.

Oh yeah, friend of mine just picked up a Super T-10 and a spare tailshaft on eBay for $375.00 to the door! There are some deals out there if you look around.

Yea I've been doing some investigating today on these trannies and it seems that the saginaw is a "no-no" as it is the weakest one of the 4.

It was described to me as "The saginaw is a 4 speed standard duty transmission, the muncie is the heavy duty more performance friendly. However, the t-56 6spd is probably the toughest, most user friendly, and bang for the buck. The super t-10 is a really good one as well except that with the t-56 you get 2 extra gears to play with." So, I think I'm going to start checking out some t-56's and start saving my money. I have about $800 dollars that I can spend right now and I really have no bills other than gas money. So my money is about 95% play money.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Just find a Chevelle or ElCamino donor car that was a standard transmission in the junk yard, not sure what all years are the same, and get the pedals. Hang the pedals in the car. Drive shaft may have to be changed, I'm sure the chebbie guys will be along and let you know for sure.

Oh yeah, remember the first two rules of Hot Rodding:

1. It's going to cost more then you thought.
2. It's going to take longer then you thought.

You forgot rule #3: If you think you're done with it, you're not

I think what i'm gonna do is concentrate on building the motor and getting the el camino ready to go back on the street again. Then i can start saving my money and buy a good t-56. I'll wait until i get the new tranny to setup the posi rear though.

With a really hot 377 and a 6 speed how would you guys gear the rear end up? I'm really new at all of this since this is my first project car...

If anyone has any sources for a t-56 for under $1000, I'd be interested.