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PolarBear · 10-09-2017, 01:45 PM

So, with my piles of parts lying around I am trying to use the same transmission I already had in the car at one point. It is the "aftermarket" T56, and I had it on the BBC with the 3rd gen bellhousing and hydraulics. Now that I will be putting in a LSx I needed to make sure everything will work together. I bolted up the bell and measured the spacing for the input shaft, and it will work with the large diameter roller bearing that mounts in the end of crank, where the snout for a torque converter would mount. The problem lies with the throwout bearing situation, the 2nd gen engine swap headers come down fairly close to the back of the side of the block. This is the area where the external slave for the 3rd gen would normally go, so that's not going to work.

I called Hanlon and spoke with Bob a few times about all this, and he is fairly sure that I will be able to use an aftermarket style hydraulic bearing. I gave him the measurements of the bearing retainer that came on my setup, and it looks good right now. I will have to mount up my flywheel and clutch setup and make sure I will have the proper clearance between the slave in the collapsed position and the fingers on the pressure plate. If I don't have quite enough space, Bob said he can machine down the bearing retainer I have to get me a little more room.
I cannot recommend Hanlon enough here. Bob is a great guy, and very knowledgeable on all things Tremec

He was even somewhat familiar with the transmission, seeing as they were never offered in a production vehicle, he had still seen a few of them in his time. The nice thing about this transmission is that is a "close" ratio compared to the LS T56's, at least that is my understanding. 2.97, 2.07, 1.43, 1, .8, .62 is the spread, so it has a slightly lower first gear compared to the other.

Over the weekend I also got the garage cleaned up a bit more and a little more of the 5.3 cleaned up. I got a complete gasket set, and I got one head completely clean and all the valve seals replaced. I didn't realize though, that one head has a broken exhaust manifold bolt in it

when I got it I saw two broken bolts, but they were broken flush with the manifold, so I had something to grab with the vice grips. One was easy and the other gave me a fight, but I didn't see the third bolt broken flush with the head. I can get it out, I just wasn't expecting to have to deal with more broke stuff. I'll try an easy out, gently, and then if that doesn't work I will break out the welder and weld a nut to it.

10-09-2017, 01:45 PM	#341
PolarBear Ebearnezer Scrooge/Power Member/Lips Join Date: May 2006 Location: Hamilton, Mercer county Posts: 4,141 iTrader: (16)	So, with my piles of parts lying around I am trying to use the same transmission I already had in the car at one point. It is the "aftermarket" T56, and I had it on the BBC with the 3rd gen bellhousing and hydraulics. Now that I will be putting in a LSx I needed to make sure everything will work together. I bolted up the bell and measured the spacing for the input shaft, and it will work with the large diameter roller bearing that mounts in the end of crank, where the snout for a torque converter would mount. The problem lies with the throwout bearing situation, the 2nd gen engine swap headers come down fairly close to the back of the side of the block. This is the area where the external slave for the 3rd gen would normally go, so that's not going to work. I called Hanlon and spoke with Bob a few times about all this, and he is fairly sure that I will be able to use an aftermarket style hydraulic bearing. I gave him the measurements of the bearing retainer that came on my setup, and it looks good right now. I will have to mount up my flywheel and clutch setup and make sure I will have the proper clearance between the slave in the collapsed position and the fingers on the pressure plate. If I don't have quite enough space, Bob said he can machine down the bearing retainer I have to get me a little more room. I cannot recommend Hanlon enough here. Bob is a great guy, and very knowledgeable on all things Tremec He was even somewhat familiar with the transmission, seeing as they were never offered in a production vehicle, he had still seen a few of them in his time. The nice thing about this transmission is that is a "close" ratio compared to the LS T56's, at least that is my understanding. 2.97, 2.07, 1.43, 1, .8, .62 is the spread, so it has a slightly lower first gear compared to the other. Over the weekend I also got the garage cleaned up a bit more and a little more of the 5.3 cleaned up. I got a complete gasket set, and I got one head completely clean and all the valve seals replaced. I didn't realize though, that one head has a broken exhaust manifold bolt in it when I got it I saw two broken bolts, but they were broken flush with the manifold, so I had something to grab with the vice grips. One was easy and the other gave me a fight, but I didn't see the third bolt broken flush with the head. I can get it out, I just wasn't expecting to have to deal with more broke stuff. I'll try an easy out, gently, and then if that doesn't work I will break out the welder and weld a nut to it. Last edited by PolarBear; 10-09-2017 at 01:46 PM.