T56 rebuild?

[j0n]

how difficult would it be for someone with tools and a mechanically inclined mind to rebuild a t56 in their garage in their spare time??
think i could do a basic rebuild?(no gears)
full rebuild?(replace everything)
mild performance rebuild?(corvette shift fork and whatnot)

thanks!

[Untamed]

With transmissions, it depends on whether you want to pay for things twice. If something goes wrong, you may need a second opinion - which means opening up the trans again and paying for someones time to figure it out, while replacing a number of parts.

Unless you want the experience, best to take it to someone who knows what they are doing.

[bad64chevelle]

i agree with that Untamed said. I dont like messing with them I even sent mine out and it still is f*cked up...

[Fasterthanyou]

I've rebuilt a few manual transmission and they're easy so long as you've got the factory manual for them.
They're a LOT easier than an automatic. I know you could do it but you need to pay close attention to details and have a pretty good photo memory. It helps to have a lot of space to lay the parts out and take high quality digital pictures of it while you take it apart.
I would always rebuild a manual trans myself.
Last thing you HAVE to do before putting the trans back in is shifting through all the gears while it's out of the car. My buddy's cousin isn't very bright and he installed some gears incorrectly before I came back to help them finish... we installed the trans and it wouldn't go into any gears. This was on a front wheel drive SHO where you need to support the engine, drop the subframe and do a whole lot of work to get the POS out.
Get steel forks and if you have friction syncro's do NOT use a slick manual trans fluid like synthetic modil 1 crap. You NEED the friction to get the syncro's up to speed or you'll be fighting every gear!

[Little G]

Go pro-shifted!!

g

[Ian]

viper shift forks! 8)

[deadtrend1]

I have the factory manual in PDF format. If you or anyone is interested, ill link it on my ftp here

[Fastbird]

I have the factory manual in PDF format. Â*If you or anyone is interested, ill link it on my ftp here

I'd like to get that if possible, but I'm an idiot when it comes to FTP.

[89 Trans Am WS6]

I've rebuilt a few manual transmission and they're easy so long as you've got the factory manual for them.
They're a LOT easier than an automatic. I know you could do it but you need to pay close attention to details and have a pretty good photo memory. It helps to have a lot of space to lay the parts out and take high quality digital pictures of it while you take it apart.
I would always rebuild a manual trans myself.
Last thing you HAVE to do before putting the trans back in is shifting through all the gears while it's out of the car. My buddy's cousin isn't very bright and he installed some gears incorrectly before I came back to help them finish... we installed the trans and it wouldn't go into any gears. This was on a front wheel drive SHO where you need to support the engine, drop the subframe and do a whole lot of work to get the POS out.
Get steel forks and if you have friction syncro's do NOT use a slick manual trans fluid like synthetic modil 1 crap. You NEED the friction to get the syncro's up to speed or you'll be fighting every gear!

I agree, there not hard to bulild, ive built a T5 myself once or twice..if you look at how it goes together it all starts to make sense.

Auto trans's arnt that hard, its just easily intimidated people..but once you do one part of the trans..say a forward drum and its contents you realize that its the sam internally as the other drums and their contents..just takes patience..

[Fasterthanyou]

I've rebuilt a few manual transmission and they're easy so long as you've got the factory manual for them.
They're a LOT easier than an automatic. I know you could do it but you need to pay close attention to details and have a pretty good photo memory. It helps to have a lot of space to lay the parts out and take high quality digital pictures of it while you take it apart.
I would always rebuild a manual trans myself.
Last thing you HAVE to do before putting the trans back in is shifting through all the gears while it's out of the car. My buddy's cousin isn't very bright and he installed some gears incorrectly before I came back to help them finish... we installed the trans and it wouldn't go into any gears. This was on a front wheel drive SHO where you need to support the engine, drop the subframe and do a whole lot of work to get the POS out.
Get steel forks and if you have friction syncro's do NOT use a slick manual trans fluid like synthetic modil 1 crap. You NEED the friction to get the syncro's up to speed or you'll be fighting every gear!

I agree, there not hard to bulild, ive built a T5 myself once or twice..if you look at how it goes together it all starts to make sense.

Auto trans's arnt that hard, its just easily intimidated people..but once you do one part of the trans..say a forward drum and its contents you realize that its the sam internally as the other drums and their contents..just takes patience..
Right, but manual's are SO simple with 2 shafts, slide parts on and install making sure the forks are in the only place they fit :) . Done, nothing to it. Infact I'd rather rebuild a manual transmission than set-up a rear diff. Auto's yeah, they're not hard but they require special expensive tools and have seals all over the place. The complicated valve body doesn't help with the balls and wires falling around. Then there's the complexity of the different clutchs, torque converter and front pump. It's just a lot more complex than a manual when it comes to a rebuild but anything is easy once you've done it enough to get good.
I think Jon should just rebiuld it. We can remove it and crack it open in 1 evening to see the damage. Jon, I'll help you if you do me a small favor... I want that beer you promised me when I rebuilt your e-cutout :P

[j0n]

im in talks with a guy in pa that has a t56 in good shape for sale...if i can pick it up and toss it in ill do that...then we can crack my t56 open and rebuild it with good parts...then sell my temp trans and put the freshly rebuilt one in..that way i have no down-time and we have the time to do it right