When I was looking into a T5 for my project the one thing I did do aside from the links I have provided was to talk to Toni the owner of A & M Automotive.It's a tranny shop that he has operated for well over 40 yrs. In order to prove his point he took me in the back of the shop and showed me a 55 gallon drum filled with parts he took out of T5's because they are a poor design.I have known Toni for gezz it got to be 20 yrs and I asked him about if I just drove it normally,he told me most of those parts in the drum where from drivers who he didn't think where out beating on their cars.Added that those trannies just don't hold up. It's the T5's that are a bolt in on pre 1990 Astro's with the correct shifter location given the power train offset to the passenger side.So because I am a stick shift guy I am kind of stuck not having a T5 work for me without spending a boat load of money and still not be sure it would last even if I built a World Class T5 as the link I left about the T5 upgrade.

So still not persuaded I did more research. I am a member of a major Camaro forum.There guys talk about the failure rate of the T5's with 305's and how it isn't under consideration when doing any 350 swap. The low torque rating being the major factor of only 175lbs(I corrected myself when I posted it being 170 lbs) That anyone doing any kind of 350 has to upgrade to a T56. And even those need parts upgrades as I posted which makes them very expensive.

So as it stands now I have concluded Don I have no cheap answer for a O/D stick shift. Kind of gave up throwing my hands up in the air.

With your current trans,maybe it is just you going back and readjusting the shifter and throw-out bearing. You didn't say if your trans was the one used while the car was being drag raced.Maybe it needs to be rebuilt which seems to me would be cheaper than a conversion to a O/D. With a O/D and those rear end gears you would have to change them too. The cruise RPM's I would think would be way too low.

What would you guess is the HP/TQ ratings of your 350??.